As a child I always loved the excitement of traveling by plane. It´s slightly surreal to stand in an airport and realize that most people around you will -24h later- be at all corners of the world. Back in the days, crossing the Atlantic -with Lufthansa- was always the ultimate delight! We could visit the pilots in the cockpit, we got plenty of toys (small Lufthansa planes, white Porsche toy cars, books,…). It´s not all that hard to imagine that one of my childhood dreams became to always be able to travel. I didn´t end up working in aviation, but traveling continued to be an important part of my life.
My worst souvenir would probably be the one time a pilot announced on the intercom that the breaking system didn´t work. At first I felt a slight panic coming up, especially when the air hostess said to the passengers “no worries, everything´s OK” (meaning; “things are actually NOT OK, but it´s my job to say all is fine!”) …until I came to the conclusion that no matter what; there was either way nothing I could do about it. We flew in circles, and ultimately got derived to Stockholm's main airport, which would “improve our chances to make a more successful landing”. In those minutes you make a recapitulation from your life and the minutes before touching ground there was not a single word being spoken by anyone. Eventually everything went well, and we landed without any major issues. A more detailed explanation was never given.
But besides that trip, a few air turbulence's and a missed plane in Heathrow (due to having gone to the wrong airport… yes), most souvenirs are very nice. During my recent SAS flight from Copenhagen to Tokyo, while flying over Siberia, I saw the amazing Aurora Borealis or Northern Light, and probably something like 15 falling stars in 1hour only! Who needs an on board entertainment system when the best reality tv is just outside that little window?!
What are your worst and best plane souvenirs?
