From Childhood Fascination to Adult Reservations: My Evolving Perspective on Air Travel

Growing up, I can remember how my childhood friends and I sang and ran after an airplane each time we saw them fly across our street; it's quite a delightful experience, and I remember how I always fascinated myself on an airplane in the near future, traveling across the street and waving at my friends. You know children's thoughts can be funny sometimes, but growing up, my thoughts have changed concerning this, especially given the numerous news reports of plane crashes all over the mass media.

So I literally went from longing to fly in an airplane to being afraid of it for fear of dying and the like, and till present day I haven't ever flown in an airplane, although I've been inside before during my childhood days when my elementary school then took us on an excursion to the airport to see what it looks like, go inside the plane, interact with the staff and pilot who briefed us about a few details relating to the plane, and I can remember most of us left there that very day with the mindset that when we grow up we'll love to be pilots.

If it materializes for others, I really can't tell, but for me personally, it obviously didn't because that was the last time I paid a visit to the airport, not to mention being in an airplane after that experience, and although it's not like I'm scared of dying any more, it's just that traveling by air is super expensive and the value keeps skyrocketing by the day, so most times, even though I know traveling by air is faster, more seamless, and more convenient, I delve into other modes of transport for financial reasons.

While watching movies or communicating with friends that have traveled by air, I've overheard them discuss their favorite seat position on the plane, and the most common is the window seat or aisle seat. I've come to understand what both mean via those discussions, and if paraventure I board a plane and want to travel by it, I'll prefer the window seat because of the views it offers, and that's not forgetting it'll give me an edge to rest on and not get disturbed by the movement of those beside me going into the restroom.

So now I believe we've established the fact that I've never traveled by air before, even though I've been on it before. On the second question of this prompt, it's worthy of noting that although I was scared of flying by air after hearing several news stories of place crashes and those who went missing and never seen again till present day, presently, that fear has been curbed to a substantial level; although it's still there, it's not as strong as it used to be, and I know it'll most likely emanate the very day I try to travel by air.

Down here in my country, although we've got most modes of transport such as air, land, rail, and water, the land mode of transportation is still the most common and effective because most of the others don't really connect the country together like the road network does, so when I'm traveling, regardless of whether it's a long distance or close, I tend to travel with the aid of a vehicle such as a bus or car.

This isn't usually convenient because the driver carries many passengers, making the space tight and also suffocating for passengers, but I manage to sail through and make it work for me for financial reasons since I can't afford to travel by air that's more convenient and faster. Although I remember one time I was traveling from Lagos to Yobe, and I know by road it usually takes at least 2 days to arrive at my destination, being in such an uncomfortable position for two days in a bus would be a terrible idea, so I took a train from Ilorin to Kaduna, which lasted almost a day before taking a bus the following day to my destination.

Like I said, I've never traveled by plane before, and the land and road transport I've used isn't always palatable at all. From having to deal with how close others are to you, literally perceiving their sweat and body odor, to not having space to put your legs due to how the drivers have used all the space in the boot and under each seat to carry luggage, and that's not forgetting the terrible road and how one is literally thrown up and down when the bus enters a pothole, it's just annoying.

Talk about fantasy modes of transport. I'll love to be real and also love to travel. Because some of the futuristic movies I've watched usually show flying cars that fly midrange without getting to the peak of where an airplane does. This mode of transport, I believe, would solve a lot of things, and one of these is reducing the need for the government to invest in road construction. Since most vehicles now fly, this would also reduce the rate of gridlock, make transport more seamless, and let people arrive at their destination in no time.

This is my entry for the day 29 of the #mayinleo prompt of the #inLeo initiative, if you'd love to participate, you can read days about it in the announcement post.

That's all my take on these. I hope you enjoyed the read!

_{Thumbnail designed on canva}