My last plane trip was more than a decade ago.*

Even before the plane ride begins the process of air travel isn’t great. The lines of people are horrible. The staff seem beleaguered all the time, save for the occasional old black or white porter who always seem oddly cheerful. There is also the matter of time. Yes, your plane trip is short, but your time getting to the airport and on to your flight is miserable. Once you leave their giant facility in the middle of nowhere, you then drive however far (and it will be far) you need to get to your destination.

For thet trip I went to Toronto on business and had a pleasant enough time on the ground. Though Canadian friendliness didn’t seem to exist in abundance in the city.  I remember feeling adverse to checking luggage and I’d made sport of getting all my belongings into a computer back pack and one small personal bag. Maybe I did this cause airports themselves are another layer of hell, an odd mix of DMV office and overcrowded shopping mall. The thought of staying a minute longer in an airport after the hatch opens seems like madness. The flight there was uneventful… I guess the trip back was fine, if you call holding a strangers hand tightly in your own and praying you land or at least die quickly a good trip.

Every flight I’ve ever taken has included at least one moment where I was convinced I wouldn’t survive. It would be easy to write this off as nervous-flyer theatrics, but that’s not it. I book my seat, brace for the inevitable near-miss with an overhead bag, and even indulge in a signature airplane-bathroom selfie. The beginning  of the plane journey is fine, the plane taxis and lifts off and any trepidation fades to Spielberg grandeur. I feel like a child and I’m amazed that it works. It Is just when you fly through clouds of lightning, or the plane suddenly drops ten stories and you see people being flung out of their seats and luggages bins springing open, the magic fades.  That’s when I start questioning how we went from fragile gliders that barely got off the ground to these massive steel cylinders, defying gravity with sheer stubbornness. If you really want a sleepless night, look up the term takeoff decision speed—a concept that should make you rethink the whole enterprise of air travel.

Car can go far is the next chapter. I don’t know how long I’ll be punning away.