Up, Up and Away!

I enjoy flying. They say it is the safest way to travel. However, as soon as that teeny door closes, and we start the ascent, I start feeling claustrophobic. Nothing serious, just my brain continuously sending me little reminders that I am trapped in a small, uncomfortable space, jam packed with sweaty strangers for the next several hours. My chest gets a little tight when I think about it, but there are always several distractions around to ease my discomfort. But, like I said, I enjoy flying, so when Henry invited me for a ride with his dad, I was game.

Henry's dad has been flying for 5 years now. He does it recreationally in these small airplanes. Kind of like the ones in Top Gun. I was really looking forward to an aerial tour of Denmark, until the time actually came to jump in the plane. When we arrived at the big, open, and rather bumpy looking field, my first question was, where is the runway? Come to find out, the field was the runway. Then I had a look at the plane. It was smaller than I imagined, and I knew my claustrophobia would come back to haunt me. I started to feel nauseous, and I was still on the ground, but there was no way I was chickening out and missing the aerial tour.

I hesitantly climbed in beside Henry's dad. I was like the co-pilot, how freaky is that? I got strapped in, and had a headset on so we could hear each other over the noise of the engines. I was really feeling like Tom Cruise at this point, totally Top Gun style. As we took off, my brain started going in to freak out mode saying, Hey Lindsay, you are trapped in a tiny plane 2000 feet in the air with your boyfriend's dad. Did you notice how hot it is in here?

Regardless, I overshadowed these thoughts with positive ones about how cool it was to be doing this, and his Dad seemed to read my mind because he turned the heat in the cabin down right away. After I settled in to the ride, I could enjoy the view. It was such a cool experience to be looking down on all the brick houses with red roofs, and trying to count all the windmills. We also flew over a really beautiful fjord, and some old army bunkers that were built in the water by the Germans in World War 2.

I'm not going to lie, it was a slightly scary experience, especially for the take off and landing parts. I was nervous I would chicken out, as the older I get, the less brave I seem to be. I am so glad that I faced my fear and got to experience the beauty of Denmark from the sky. Thanks again Otto, I look forward to the next flight!