I've been in a lot of airplanes lately, what with the trip around Australia and the visit to SF - oh, and don't forget the side-trip to Boston and Maine. You'd think at this point that I would have enough frequent flyer miles to earn a free one-way business class ticket to the moon. But alas, the different airlines make for no miles worth a hoot. Z flew all the way to NY and back and around Australia on one airline and now has almost but not quite enough miles for a one way trip to Sydney (a 1.5 hour flight). This further supports my theory that frequent flyer programs are a bunch of baloney.
On the charter flights to and from Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef, I got to sit up front with a splendid view of the cockpit (on one flight, I actually sat in the co-pilots seat, where I had to refrain from making jokes like, "Hey Mr. Pilot, what happens if I grab this lever and pull like this?"). These premier seats gave me a splendid view of the altimeter, which is when I had a big realization: 300ft above sea level isn't that far up. In fact, it makes the water look close enough to touch. So what, you ask? Well, the maximum workable depth for most scientific research projects is about 70ft, which is literally just skimming the surface albeit in an upside down kind of way. Floating in a small plane 300ft above the ocean and miles below the upper reaches of the atmosphere underscores just how not-deep (uh, the word I'm looking for is shallow) most of us will ever go. And the kicker? When you're down at 70ft, the surface feels a very long way away, especially when the water's murky. It was quite a powerful experience to realize just how shallow I am. When I'm diving, that is.
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