I guess you could say I was brought up there. People tend to lean towards it being an annoying place, or full on the worst possible scenario to find oneself in. Personally, some of the earliest memories I have, both good and bad, revolve around being 35,000 ft. up in the air. The spectrum is quite varied, as there were amazing memories filled with curiosity and wonder, yet others dark and terrifying sprinkled with some pain here and there. Interestingly enough, I still am amazed when I meet someone who has yet to step into a plane and go through air travel. It is a good reminder of just how big the world is, and how lucky I have been to experience it the way I have.

I do not recall the exact age at which my first flight took place, but I’m quite certain it was either before I was a full year old, or shortly after. Details on baby health and travel are not at the top of my mind, but I guess I turned out OK, so no need to fret there. The reason for which I traveled at such a young age is directly linked to the whereabouts of my family. Living in Mexico City meant I was around my Dad’s side of the family almost year round, but when summer rolled around, all I knew was I would be seeing my Mom’s side of the family at the Jersey Shore, in a place called Long Beach Island (L.B.I. for short).

The whole thing turns out to be a good seven to eight hours of travel, with five-ish being in the air. To be fair, it has always been a full day ordeal with my mother being so anal about getting to the airport three hours in advance for any sort of international travel. As a kid this never really bothered me much, since time management or should I say, time wasting, is quite a strong suit for an only child. No, what I feared was far more complicated. Sure, I had my bag full of toys or crafts, but they were nothing compared to two major factors surrounding travel, my mother and my ears.

One of the worst things I have worn was because of my mother. A lot of my friends think I made an ass of myself for putting on a dress and performing in a drag show, which I thought to be a normal show for which I had been nominated for that turned out to be a full on drag show with professional drag queens running it for gay pride month, or something along those lines. Anyway, not the dress, nor the bra, or the wig and makeup compare to the leash. I guess as a kid all I wanted to do was get as far away from my parents as possible, so for about three years my mother would strap me into a child leash. I fucking hate the leash. I must’ve suppressed the feeling of it, or my tantrums, because all I can really recollect is the image of it followed instantly by rage. The other half was my ear. I do not know if it is a growth situation, but as a child all the way up to my early teen years, taking off and landing would be the most painful experience of the year for me. So much so I would have to pray with my mom during the whole thing as she tried to appease the excruciating pain surging through my head. For all you non flyers, the pressure changes really mess with you at the point it feels like someone is drilling into your ears further and further and there is nothing at all one can do to make it stop, make it less painful, or even take less time to go away. A true gamble, and I rolled the die every time I stepped onto an aircraft. It is quite the price to pay to go and see the family.

Painful as it was, there was something that made it all worthwhile. The only condition I had with my Mom was that I HAD to be in the window seat. If there was anything in the world that would take my mind off of anything, it was that window. Seeing everything from such a height has such a profound and simple effect within me. I can’t really explain what it is, but being so high up in the sky puts a lot into perspective. Everything below moving so slowly and calmly, even though one knows that the plane is going at an insane speed to stay up in the air.

It feels like gliding honestly. Motionless, you can see everything below so incredibly small. In the palm of your hand, a whole block of houses with people and their lives, all unaware that someone is watching over them. A little bit more into the flight and the block becomes a town, and even furthermore a whole city. More and more life starts to become such a small thing. I think that is what attracts me the most to aerospace exploration. Being weightless in space, with a whole planet fitting in your hand, God that must be so peaceful.

So much life, so much happening all at once, its weird to realize just how small we all are. All of our problems, disputes, wars, tragedies, all the races of all the beings on planet Earth, just a spec of dust in the vastness of existence.

I think that is what I like the most about flying. No matter how many times I get delayed, how many times I must seep on the floor at the gate, no matter how many complications arise or how long I have been going without sleep. Everything goes away once that seat belt sign goes off indicating that cruising altitude has been reached. If I have learned anything in life is that everything is not as big or problematic as we think it is. It is important to once in a while take a few steps back and survey the entirety of things. It is crazy to come to the realization that everything you have been experiencing, billions of others are as well, all at the same time.

I honestly feel that everything becomes more beautiful once you appreciate the mere fact that it exists in a world where everything is pretty much left to chance, causality. I have found a new love for people, stranger or friend, different race or language, no matter what I feel the same love for a human being as I do for an animal or plant. The realization that everything we know belongs to this tiny little blue dot floating in an infinite sea of unknown content or nature. It makes me want to excel at life, it makes me want to be happy with what I have done as well as know I did all I could to help others as well.

I suggest that the next time you take a flight you take the window seat and peer out into a world so vast, that is almost seems impossible that you probably have only seen a couple of states during the flight. So far I have only been to five countries, and the fire in me to see everything that our world has to offer burns hotter than ever. I want to take everything our ancestors have left for us to learn from, and experience all the living things that have existed since before we ever did. I hope maybe one day I meet you fellow traveler, if you decide to follow me in this quest to take everything in. I will say this though; If you find me sitting next to you on the plane and I’m in the window seat, good luck getting me to move. ~ad astra ultraque