38,000ft (1097 hits)
Category: NoneLabels: UberPlanet
Rating: 1.73 on 36 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by <> (View user info) at 2006-01-31 06:37:27 EST
The first words I hear upon landing are 'service cancelled' and 'we apologise for the inconvenience' and I know I'm back in England. I always expect some show of camaraderie on arriving back in London, as though my accent should now be a passport to smiles of familiarity instead of the curiosity it prompts in Midwest America. No matter how long the journey or how crowded the airport, I'm always exuberant to be off the plane - everyone, from the customs officials to the baggage claim to the coffee man, gets a grin and a 'good morning.'
But Britain stamps it out of me within fifteen minutes.
Jetlagged, cold, and already greyed out by a January morning in London, I board a train and my thoughts turn to bills to pay, laundry to do and rooms to clean - the icy water of 'real' life that you plunge into at the end of a vacation. But no matter how oppressive the familiar or how grinding the return to routine, one thing will keep me going today.
This morning, starved of sleep and prickly from the dry cabin air, I stared out in wonder at something so routine and so meaningless that it happens every day without fail.
Some people slept. Some chatted to their neighbour. Some leafed through the impulse buys that had helped them kill time in the terminal. But most, like me, sat with their nose pressed to the icy window watching, amazed, as an arc of azure crept up into the blackness, dragging behind it an orange band that dimmed the stars. As we travelled along at a speed I can hardly comprehend, over a floor of cloud so solid it seemed we were coasting just above a calm sea, the world turned into a new day.
I'd say it's good to be home, but home is supposed to be where the heart is.
I left mine with the sunrise at 38,000 feet.
User Reviews
Submitted by polyamorousaj (user info) at 2006-01-31 21:09:34 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by FilthyAssistant (user info) at 2006-01-31 20:52:53 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2006-01-31 20:42:25 (#)
Ranking: -1
Did you leave out a few paragraphs...you know, the ones where something actually HAPPENS???
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I'm saving all the graphic sexual detail for my first feature film. You'd be amazed what you can do with a soap dispenser in the confines of an airplane toilet.
Submitted by Maddog (user info) at 2006-01-31 20:52:04 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Schlongy. Keeping his perpetual asshole streak alive.
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2006-01-31 20:42:25 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
Did you leave out a few paragraphs...you know, the ones where something actually HAPPENS???
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2006-01-31 20:36:09 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by mbstateside (user info) at 2006-01-31 15:46:43 (#)
Ranking: 2
As for what brought me over here. It was a combination of work and women! I worked for an Aerospace company back in England and they sent me over here on a 9 month temporary contract. I like it, meat a chick
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Heh heh, I bet you did, guv'ner...
Submitted by FilthyAssistant (user info) at 2006-01-31 18:16:49 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Snark (user info) at 2006-01-31 17:50:24 (#)
Ranking: 2
Thank You.
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You're welcome - you can borrow that dress anytime dude. Just don't scuff the heels again.
Submitted by Snark (user info) at 2006-01-31 17:50:24 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Thank You.
Submitted by mbstateside (user info) at 2006-01-31 15:46:43 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
What! I don't believe it darlin'
I used to live right on the river too. A shitty little town called Tell City (pop 8,000) Now I live in Indianapolis which is MUCH more fun. I travel to Louisville fairly often too to hang out with friends that I have down there.
As for what brought me over here. It was a combination of work and women! I worked for an Aerospace company back in England and they sent me over here on a 9 month temporary contract. I like it, meat a chick and we stayed in touch when I came back home. Then another oppurtunity came up this time a permenant one and based in Indianpolis rather than hickville U.S.A and I jumped at it. The rest as they say is history.
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2006-01-31 15:05:35 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
This was kind of powerful, sad, and uplifting all at the same time.
Submitted by FilthyAssistant (user info) at 2006-01-31 12:37:05 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by mbstateside (user info) at 2006-01-31 12:21:43 (#)
Ranking: 2
Oh great!
I don't find out your in the American Midwest UNTILL YOU GO HOME. Just my bloody luck.
Have a Bacon Sarnie for me please.
So where were you based?
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The Indiana-Kentucky border. I'll definitely be going back so if you want me to bring you some Yorkshire pudding and respect for democracy, just let me know. What's your story - what are you doing out there?
Submitted by mbstateside (user info) at 2006-01-31 12:21:43 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Oh great!
I don't find out your in the American Midwest UNTILL YOU GO HOME. Just my bloody luck.
Have a Bacon Sarnie for me please.
So where were you based?
Submitted by MrSparkle847 (user info) at 2006-01-31 12:21:17 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Sweet pictures.
Submitted by PokeyPecker (user info) at 2006-01-31 12:11:39 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Jesus Christ. How long were you over here anyway? 4 fucking years?
Submitted by FilthyAssistant (user info) at 2006-01-31 12:09:22 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2006-01-31 09:34:12 (#)
Ranking: 2
Stay out of my country you dirty Brit. We're trying to keep the level of intelligent life at a bare minimum.
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Heh. This from someone who is intellectually challenged by the condiment ailse in Wal-Mart....
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2006-01-31 12:08:58 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Joe Ed thought so too. :D
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2006-01-31 12:08:26 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
"I'd say it's good to be home, but home is supposed to be where the heart is."
Yea.
That was beautiful.
Submitted by The_Yellow_Dart (user info) at 2006-01-31 12:02:13 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
"I left mine with the sunrise at 38,000 feet. "
Well now you have an excuse to go back up there to retrieve it.
I obviously never miss the point.
Submitted by ruthless (user info) at 2006-01-31 11:32:57 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Where have you been all my life?
Submitted by TheSpook (user info) at 2006-01-31 11:30:27 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Now get a picture of the bottom.
Submitted by Drone_of_Industry (user info) at 2006-01-31 11:05:12 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
sigh
Submitted by TigerLilly (user info) at 2006-01-31 09:49:29 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Mr_T (user info) at 2006-01-31 07:45:36 (#)
Ranking: 0
I AIN'T GETTIN' IN NO AIRPLANE!!!! CRAZY MURDOCH THINKS HE GONNA FLY. HE GONNA FLY ALRIGHT - WHEN I TOSS HIM!!
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BWAHAHAHAHAHA..who is this jokester?
Great pictures. Flying always seems to amaze me as well. Especially since I am a Project Engineer for a company who designs airplane engines. Those fuckers are huge.
Submitted by Maddog (user info) at 2006-01-31 09:46:23 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Nice images and imagery.
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2006-01-31 09:36:46 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Nice. I have some great pictures of a sunrise, taken from an airplane, but I never bothered to post them. Maybe I will at some point. More likely, I'll forget to do it and they will moulder, alone and unloved.
*emo tears*
Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2006-01-31 09:34:12 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Stay out of my country you dirty Brit. We're trying to keep the level of intelligent life at a bare minimum.
Submitted by Badlands (user info) at 2006-01-31 08:34:31 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by DCWoody (user info) at 2006-01-31 08:30:38 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
comment
Submitted by ozzy (user info) at 2006-01-31 08:02:54 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I know how you're feeling.
I just got back from 9 days of snowboarding in Bulgaria. If I hadn't started missing my girl I would have quit my job and stayed there until my money ran out.
Submitted by precision (user info) at 2006-01-31 07:52:14 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
you came to america, and you didn't come to see me, I'm crushed...ok, well maybe not...nice pics, hope you had a good time.
Submitted by Mr_T (user info) at 2006-01-31 07:45:36 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
I AIN'T GETTIN' IN NO AIRPLANE!!!! CRAZY MURDOCH THINKS HE GONNA FLY. HE GONNA FLY ALRIGHT - WHEN I TOSS HIM!!
Submitted by Nellypaal (user info) at 2006-01-31 07:09:30 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I saw the most incredible sunset of my life in similar circumstances, but descending through cloud level for an awesome above AND below effect.
Simple pleasures.
Submitted by williamson (user info) at 2006-01-31 06:59:30 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Beautiful.
25 days until my trip from Brisbane to Singapore to Bangkok to Osaka.
Submitted by Davros (user info) at 2006-01-31 06:49:52 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
"I was thinking along the lines of 'Goodnight Sweet Ezekial: Ass-banditry in Amish Country' "
You can always rely on Filthy.
-Dave
Submitted by FilthyAssistant (user info) at 2006-01-31 06:46:45 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Davros (user info) at 2006-01-31 06:42:15 (#)
Ranking: 2
I hope we are going to get a nice piece with an imaginative title like...
"Buggery and Damnation in the American Midwest".
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I was thinking along the lines of 'Goodnight Sweet Ezekial: Ass-banditry in Amish Country'
I have about three days of sleeping to do first though.
Submitted by Davros (user info) at 2006-01-31 06:42:15 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Nice pics.
I hope we are going to get a nice piece with an imaginative title like...
"Buggery and Damnation in the American Midwest".
-Dave
Submitted by Berty (user info) at 2006-01-31 06:41:40 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Nobody should ever be happy at airports. The staff resent it.
Submitted by redskieslookfake (user info) at 2006-01-31 06:38:43 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Twelve hours of sunset. Six thousand miles.