Flight - Auckland to Los Angeles (Sleepless flight)

I'm not sure what it is about flying but it is one of the most uncertain things I've done to date. Sitting there in my seat all I cold think from time to time was what if the plane loses altitude? Does that guy look shifty, he looks slightly middle eastern, would they have checked him for box cutters, or is it that guy, you wouldn't expect an average white guy would you? So my mind is turning over and over. I'd look out the window as I'm sitting next to the wing and I can see the wing move up and down slightly and then BANG! The wing tears off, smoke and fire are bellowing out of the aircraft, with debris streaming out. Then I blink and come back to reality and the wing is still there moving just as it did before, all is fine and nothing is going to happen, the only thing to fear is fear itself, and my overactive imagination. This would vary as sometimes the engine would fall off or the tail of the air craft would fly off in front of us as if the fuselage had snapped in half. So after imagining these scenarios one after the, I soon learnt to let go and completely place all trust in the pilots hands. They get paid a bit of money, and they're very well trained, so the odds are on your side, but if something is going to happen it will, and you can't control it, I guess your number is up! Sitting in the seats it's so confined and I was search for some little sense of privacy from the person next to me and the closest I found was to fold my head rest up on both sides creating like a little enclosed box or U shape for my head to rest in, plus this helps when you sleep so that your head doesn't end up on your neighbours shoulder. After dinner was served, Shrek 2 came on and I watched everyone from kids to grandparents watching, smiling and filling with laughter throughout the movie. The noise and humm of the aircraft was still very apparent even though it goes to the back of your mind after a little while. When the aircraft first leaves the airport they line up one after the other to take off, when it's your turn to go the engines fire up to what seems like full power and the ground and scenery rushes past at a phenomenal speed and what seems to be getting faster. You feel your stomach hit the ground as the aircraft gains lift and you can suddenly see the car park, airport and everything else get smaller very quickly. But you think the noise from the engines will calm once you're in the air, but it doesn't ever get better, it's just constant the whole way, this quiet loud HUUUUMMMMMMM, it becomes quite hypnotic. Now I've never found it hard to sleep anywhere really and have always considered myself to be a heavy sleeper, but I COULD NOT SLEEP on the airplane. The lights soon go out and one or two people have their night lights on as they read or talk to one another. You might find yourself lucky to get half an hour or even two hours of quality sleep, but it's never enough. It's not the kind of deep sleep that you wake up from feeling recharged. I found I got 4 hours at one point and I woke to see a very strange sight. I wanted to keep moving as to avoid deep vein thrombosis where blood clots can form on your legs from the altitude and not moving enough to keep the circulation in your body going. These clots can quickly move to your organs like your heart and KILL YOU! So as I got up from my seat for a toilet break I noticed everyone was asleep, it was like a colony of hibernating people, almost from a movie. I couldn't believe my eyes, as I'd never really seen so many people all sleeping at the one time, I will never forget it. What's more is that I'll never forget the pure feeling of envy for them I held. I who always considered myself able to sleep through anything, could barely grab a wink and wished I could sleep as well as they were. It would take me to put on my blindfold (which makes me feel very on guard cos then I can't look around and keep watch - psychological thing with me I guess) and putting ear plugs to get to sleep. Even then I'd be drifting off and the engines would change over, they do something and that loud HUMMMMMM I was talking about before just stops flat! About 1 second passes and it's back on just like a second ago, and sometimes they do it twice in a few minutes as they cycle the engines. Originally I thought it was me and as I was fading in and out of sleep, it was my brain doing it, but I had others comment on the noise that just stops and I knew it was from outside (my head at least). The other thing that would wake me would be turbulence but only when it got particularly bad over the Atlantic Ocean for example. I was sleeping and in your sleep you can vaguely feel the turbulence but your body and mind adjust and learn to cope with it until... BANG! THUMP THUMP BANG! BANG! and then I'm shitting myself and you hear the BING! of the seatbelt light come one and the crew move to their stations fast but not too fast hat they scare you cos you think something is wrong. The captain may even turn the lights on and page in to say "Ladies and Gentlemen, we're just experiencing some moderate turbulence at the moment, we're just trying to find some smooth air and we should be moving out of it shortly, thanks for your patience." and I'm there all along thinking "Thanks buddy, but can you step on it and get me the hell outta the 'plane is going to crash' air! now!!". I can be a bit of a panicker in those situations and not the coolest cat that I'd like to be, then I look to my left and the guy from San Diego and his wife are out cold, not even worried in the slightest, I think "I wish I could do that!". So as the night just keeps going and going, I woke up after what must've been 5 hours that I was out, I got some quality winks and am feeling good, but it's still dark as and I could get a few more. So I notice this red glow coming from all the windows and curiously open up the blind next to me to see if I can see why it's red outside and I'm blinded by the intense white like never before, the whole cabin light up! We must've been flying inside a thunder storm cloud and the sun was shining directly into it, it was all white and nothing else, it was quite a surprise. After a couple of hours we flew out of the cloud and you could see the ocean all the way down below, well just blue. I often thought of Cast Away with Tom Hanks and if that could ever happen these days and if it did how would you survive, what a trip for that to happen to you! I have quite an over active imagination as people can tell. So the pilot sticks on the video "Welcome to America" and tells us to fill out our immigration forms and "do not make any mistakes!" so I'm crapping myself now fearing that I will make a mistake, as the pilot has termed US customs being like "a really tough english teacher". So after that was done I look out the window to see land approaching and its US soil, it was amazing to see! The contours of the mountains and hills, small tiny tiny little dots are moving around won below and I can see a boat race happening and what looks like a little tiny model aircraft flying above the boats way way down below until I realise it's another plane, a Sesna! It's just that we're so unbelievably high that it looks that small, it was a trip to see! As we fly into LA, there are highways like spaghetti and pasta, running all over the place, my camera is working overtime and I can see the California Aqua duct that supplies the water to LA. There are words like "Crenshaw Christian Center Home of the Faith Dome" written down below in a car park. Then houses and houses and houses as far as the eye can see, with industrial areas on other parts. Smog was covering the hills but I could still see them, but just barely, and then I noticed Downtown LA with all of the skyscrapers, I'd seen them in the movies but always wondered how tall they'd be, they were certainly taller than anything Brisbane had to offer, but not as tall as I'd expected, and I knew New York could out do Los Angeles in that department. Finally we touched down and I was in Los Angeles, I was here already! I had the nice couple from San Diego say goodbye and we moved off the plane in single file, everyone stretching and glad to be leaving the small confines of the airplane to get some fresh air and walk off any thrombosis you may be suffering :-)

More Flight travel stories

• Flight - Auckland Airport
• Flight - Auckland to Los Angeles (Sleepless flight)