Solitude on Flight

A long flight with one transit in between is the longest I’ve ever been on a plane actually. Fortunately, British Airways is actually quite decent, and I enjoyed most of my flight from Singapore to Heathrow and then from Heathrow to Copenhagen.


The Singapore-Heathrow segment of the journey to go visit my aunt consisted of a full 12-hour flight which meant that my ass would be seated for a very long time. That aside, it also meant I would have a lot of time to kill. As expected, I managed to watch FOUR movies in between napping, going to the toilet, and eating. Strangely enough, the long flight offered me a solitude which I did not know I was longing and the movies that I picked allowed me to catch up on shows that I’ve been saying I wanted to watch, but never got around to. During this time, I reflected on many things, and remembered many things that were important to me.

I remembered the importance of good friends, and the joy of having loved (together with the pain of having lost such love), and the greatness which is family. I remembered compassion and possibility; I remembered happiness and the wonder of clarity of thought. I remembered the beauty of the world and its significance to me, and I remembered the insignificance of man and the boundless struggles we create against the forces around us.

I felt connected, once again, to these things, and was reminded of the things I have learned over the years and the people and things which have made me the person that I am today. Flying alone in a navy blue sky allowed me to truly reflect and experience (again) the wonder of the human spirit, and the things that motivate, inspire and love us.

The strongest, and part of the flight which I remembered the most, was when I was nearing the end of Up, and the protagonist was slowly flipping through a scrapbook which contained memories of his wife and their married life together. For some reason, as he was doing this, I started to cry. I saw how I needed to let go of certain things, and continue to look forward, no matter what. I saw how I was making my memories ‘wrong’ by feeling unhappy about them and longing for them. In the end, it’s really about Tennessee’s famous, “It’s is better to have loved and lost, than never to have love before.”

After crying, I looked out the plane window, and right outside were three things: the wing of the plane, the horizon between the night sky and the white sea of clouds, and the glittering silver of stars encrusted into a navy blue piece of velvet. Then I remembered, and it felt like the stars and the night sky were comforting me. Telling me to be strong and to remember that there are many things ahead and important for me to do, and not let the ‘bad’ things get me down…for those things were not truly ‘bad’, but just lessons to learn and ways to make me stronger and better than before.

It’s time to move on and enjoy my time in Copenhagen, seeing what I need to see, and doing what I need to do. And going back into myself and recreating myself all over again. =)