Finally the frog jumped!

It took me 7 days...yes 7 days to pack, starting exactly one week ahead laying down piece by piece of my rolled clothes into my 30" luggage, countless sleepless nights wondering how it feels to finally board my first flight, how it feels to defy the gravity and floats among the cotton sea of clouds. My mom would continue checking for that 7 days if I have enough clothing and getting equally excited for my maiden flight. She would go through them once again on the night before my flight. No, I am not a pilot...just a passenger.

Roughly 800 flights later...and I now called myself a traveller, it takes me no more than 30 minutes to pack and my mom would not even know where I am flying to though she would always remember to wish me safe flight the night before.
After a warm shower, depuffing my growing eye-bag with my newly purchase Kiehl's eye-cream, putting on a comfortable night tee and slipping into my Adidas jogging suit, grabbing my Bose noise cancellation headphones, I am ready for my next flight....10.20pm flight from LA to Hong Kong.

In the first time, the Cathay Pacific airplane picked up speed, accelarating through the windy morning, lifted off and suddenly Penang shrank to the size of a Lego town. Below me, an unbroken blanket of cotton candy stretched away into the distance. Above me was an endless expanse of blue sky, endless light and an endless visibility. For the first time, I was 30000 feet above the earth and for the first time, 30000 feet away from the earth's problems. The first time I flew, I was in heaven.
That was in 1993 and I flew from Penang to Hong Kong. Landing in then Kai Tak International Airport was so spectacular that it would still be a daunting task for an experienced pilot. Manoeuvring the plane in between the skyscrappers requires "real" flying skills and not any ah-tu ah-kao pilot using auto-pilot. Too bad it has to close down for expansion and safety reason. I flew only 2 more times for the rest of the decade in 1990s. In the 2000s more frequently, and in the 2010s, air travel became second nature to me, just like driving a car to work. Obviously, no one enjoys sitting still for ten hours. And I cannot say that every stranger who sat beside me was a bundle of laughs, nor was I so much fun for my neighbours. I have been asked countless of times if I am bored of flying, if I am tired of flying. But when you grasp your first sunset over Grand Canyon, or first full moon over the Himalayas or the snow capped Alps mountain, first experience of the turquoise Cancun sea, when you first approach Hong Kong which was so spectacular, for me even the second, third, fourth time felt like the first!
The things we take for granted sometimes do occur to me. But thinking back, in the 1960s and 1970s....my grandfather cycles to work, in the 1980s...my dad rides to work and then drives to work in 1990s. In this century, I have the opportunity to fly to work. Now that didn't look that bad, did it? So, yes I love flying to work and here I am...looking forward to many more flights and travels. The Pyramids, Mt Kilimanjaro, Andes, Alaska, Antartica....hopefully it will not be another 800 flights later I hit those bucketlist. Till then, gonna wrap myself with the ever comfortable 500-threadcount comforter and sipping my champagne. Bose up and Good Night!

Finally, the frog jumped!