The Journey Inward

Except for the hassle of checking in and getting through airport security, flying does not bother me. Once I’m in my seat and the plane takes off, I can easily occupy myself. I always carry a book of crossword puzzles and another book, one I’ve been meaning to read. Once the plane has leveled off, I first skim through the inflight magazine and do the crossword puzzle ( if someone hasn’t already done it). Then I start on the crosswords in my book. Since I never do crosswords, except on airplane flights, I’m not very good at them. I allot myself 45 minutes or an hour for each after which I look at the solutions and fill in the answers to clues I’ve been unable to solve. Three or four puzzles, a little reading, discreetly checking out my fellow passengers and wondering what they do and where they been and where they’re going, looking out the window if I can… all these keep me engaged. Before I know it, we are being to told to return to our seats and buckle up as the plane begins its slow descent.

Because we’ve traveled so often between New York and Los Angeles, a five hour flight is something I’m accustomed to. Anything longer can get tedious. On longer flights, I spend a lot of time following the progress of our flight on the video monitor. I note the current speed, the altitude, the distance we’ve already traveled, the distance to the destination, the outside temperature and the ETA. As they keep changing, I do all sorts of mental math with the numbers. Still, there is a limit to how long I can keep myself busy. On long flights, like the 14 hour non-stop from New York to Tokyo, the last two or three hours seem interminable.

That is why I was fascinated by Pico Iyer’s account of his twelve hour flight from Frankfurt to Los Angeles which he gives in his book The Art of Stillness.

The passenger next to him was a young attractive German woman who  exchanged a few friendly words with him as she settled into her seat. She then sat quietly, saying nothing , doing nothing for the rest of the flight. During that time,  Iyer himself dozed a little, dipped into his novel, checked out the options on the monitor and visited the toilet. She however never moved, wide awake but absolutely still and completely at peace. As the plane began it’s descent, Iyer asked her if she lived in L.A. She said not, that she was off for five weeks of vacation in Hawaii, a welcome respite from her stressful job as a social worker. She told Iyer that she liked to use the flight to decompress and get the stress out of her system. Thus, she could arrive at her destination relaxed and ready to enjoy her vacation.

How different this is from what most of us do. When we are on vacation, our minds are rarely still. We are constantly worrying about tickets, connections, hotel accommodations and sundry other details. Or we are worrying about things we should have done before we took off. Or we are worrying about what’s happening at the office while we are away or what awaits us when we get back. And , even in the plane, we are keeping ourselves busy with books, inflight movies, crossword puzzles and the like. We are never truly at rest.

On his next trip, from New York to California, Iyer decided to emulate his co-passenger’s example. He didn’t turn on his monitor and he didn’t read a book. As he writes, ” I didn’t even consciously try to do nothing; when an idea came to me or I recalled something I had to do back home, I pulled out a notebook and scribbled it down. The rest of the time ,I just let my mind go foraging – like a dog on a wide empty beach. ”  Iyer relates that when he arrived in L.A his mind was absolutely clear and refreshed.

We are going on a flight to Europe next month and I’m going to try this out myself. Even though the journey isn’t boring ,it can be tiring. I must admit that when we arrive at our destination I am far from refreshed. Let’s see if the anonymous German lady’s technique works for me.

P.S Just in case it doesn’t I’m taking along my crossword book.