Airplanes have small windows but see big worlds.  They appear as huge metal birds on the ground but tiny specks in the sky. They feel spacious when you don’t have anyone next to you. They feel tin can small when the stranger next to you invades your personal space. Airplanes  are what they are but our perception changes according to our view, usually quite literally.  From utter awe to utter frustration, it is never about the plane but all about us. We can think small and be uncomfortable or think big, larger, expansive, mindful and be uplifted. Do you remember pre-Google Earth, pre-Internet when the concept of the world came from a map or a globe?

As I kid I would spin the globe and the world seemed so impossibly big. I dreamed of crossing oceans and continents and made an early bucket list at the age of ten. Three years later I boarded my first plane which stopped in Amsterdam,  Sweden and Helsinki, my final destination. My eyes were as large as those tiny airplane windows and they’ve never lost the wonder of crossing oceans within hours. I’ve barely made a dent in my bucket list but travel no matter how exhausting or at times disastrous, is one I can honestly say, je ne regrette rien.

There are 64 days left of summer. Think big. If you can’t travel, visit Google Earth which lets you fly anywhere on Earth to view satellite imagery, maps, terrain, 3D buildings, from galaxies in outer space to the canyons of the ocean.  Let the wonder of our planet inspire you and help you make your own bucket list. I hadn’t explored it in a long time and was wowed by awesome new features to go scary close to places from your past to your future. It brings new meaning to armchair travel.

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