Above The Clouds

SONY DSC-RX100 (10.4mm, f/5, 1/100 sec, ISO125)

In my life I traveled a lot and I collected a lot of miles but am I bored of flying? No way! I still love it and I can’t wait to get my old life back.

Over a year ago a little virus changed everything. Since them I’m essentially grounded like most of us. I feel like I’m under house arrest and I don’t even know what for. It’s strange. Meanwhile I’m happy that I can eat in a restaurant again or that I can hug friends. What was perfectly normal before Covid still feels special now.

SONY DSC-RX100 (37.1mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec, ISO125)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (23mm, f/5.6, 1/450 sec, ISO200)

Back to flying: Of course I don’t love everything about it. Airports are more or less the same and especially if you visit them repeately there is nothing left to discover. There are exceptions like the old airport in Hanoi, Vietnam with its small and exotic shops. Of course it’s gone now replaced with an airport that looks like all the others with shops that offer the same thing no matter where you are in the world.

There are some exceptions though. On airports in Japan you still find food and also tech that’s exotic and sometimes even strange. How about some eel cookies? I love eel and I love cookies but rather one after the other. Or a swinging device for the perfect jaw line or a 1.000 USD face cream from Shiseido. The very nice sales staff ask me to try it out. I told her that I want to use a tiny bit because I want to avoid that my wife won’t recognise me anymore.

And of course it is still something special to fly with a Boeing 747. Like the 747-8 from Lufthansa. I’m alway excited because in Europe this is an exotic plane and even on the long distance flights to the USA or Asia you have to get lucky. It’s much more common to sit in a Boeing 777 or in a 787 or of course in an Airbus A350 or A380. The Airbus A380 os impressive, comfortable and quiet but it is also rather ugly. The 747 is just elegant and it’s my age.

Apple iPhone XS (6mm, f/2.4, 1/400 sec, ISO16)
Apple iPhone XS (4.25mm, f/1.8, 1/1400 sec, ISO25)
Apple iPhone XS (4.25mm, f/1.8, 1/160 sec, ISO32)

And what’s better than to fly off in the worlds most amazing plane from the world most amazing city. Usually I fly to Narita airport because there is a direct flight but that evening I flew off from Haneda, Tokyos city airport.

I immediately regretted that my camera was in the overhead compartment but luckily my iPhone Xs is not a bad camera at all.

While we flew into a long lasting sunset I took some more shots, had dinner and finally put on my sleeping mask because as much as I enjoy to fly there is no way that I stay awake on a 12 hours flight. Next stop Munich. From Sushi to WeiƟwurst.

Apple iPhone XS (4.25mm, f/1.8, 1/85 sec, ISO80)