Flight always has a certain romance. It starts with the planning which in itself is strangely romantic. There before one on the screen are destination that one has only read about and imagined. Places like New York, Canberra and Khazakstan are suddenly accessible. One has only to click on a few boxes to be there.
Negotiating with a web page is necessarily clear and straightforward without any haggling. However, there are choices to be made and these can have emotional implications. One might have to choose between the patriotic duty of supporting a national airline or choosing an unattached business operation with no affiliations and a lower price.
Having ticked the correct boxes the passenger flits to his email window and there is his boarding pass, a passport to the romantic place that he wants to visit. He has only to arrive at the airport with a well stocked credit card and he can be on his way.
On the same site it is possible to book an hotel. Here again there is romance. One can look through a range of exciting rooms, restaurants and spas. Assuming that the funds in the credit card are unlimited one can put a tick next to two as the number of people occupying a particular room on a day in the not too distant future.
Some people at airports like to give the impression of being frequent flyers. They move from one spot to another, sit down with a sigh and open their laptops. Even such displays of boredom and indifference cannot deflate the atmosphere of excitement that pervades an airport. People are on the move, massive iron birds are taking to the sky or dropping from it. People are laughing, weeping and smiling as they either meet or bid each other farewell. Human dramas are played out continually.
Even when departures are delayed an air of anticipation hovers in departure halls. When the boarding lights come on people form into long queues looking forward expectantly. Leaving the protected airport buildings and walking the short distance to their aircraft they seem suddenly vulnerable as though exposed under bright light. They clutch their hand luggage and mount the steps to a waiting air hostess who welcomes them into the maw of the waiting aircraft.
The boarding process has its own short period of romance. Strangers are tossed together. As they squeeze past each other, bodies touch and arms are raised to stow hand luggage in overhead lockers. These gestures are somehow intimate and so the relationships between strangers are briefly suspended and placed on an unusual footing. Then, individuals are strapped into their allotted seats and normality resumes.
One particularly romantic trip took place some years ago. A girl called Amanda was unexpectedly upgraded to business class and found herself beside a handsome, smiling kindly man with an air of wealth about him. As they flew together over Africa from Johannesburg to London she told him shyly that her name means, 'worthy to be loved' and he took her at her word. Years later they both remember their truly romantic flight.
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