Flying 'home'

I find it increasingly moving to return from somewhere to a London airport - purely by coincidence, I have ventured only East on my big life adventures, with the exception being University in Yorkshire. Now, on a Zurich - London Heathrow flight, with Swiss Air's new and improved in flight route maps lighting up the screens, it hits me that I am not just flying home - as in to the UK - I'm flying over the homes I have had in the past. The Zurich - London route takes you north of Paris, very close to Lille and therefore Valenciennes where I had some amazing experiences and met some of my favourite people in the world. Then over Calais. Living in amongst the HLMs of Calais, teaching in the troubled schools was one of the most formative experiences of my adult life and there too I met some life-changing people. I know this part of France sparkling in the night sky below the airplane not only from school geography lessons; it is very much part of my life map.

On this particular flight, we're not going quite so close to Calais, but rather over Dieppe, where I had my first French kiss! Then we'll cross the channel - something I have done for years; for everything from family holidays to weekend trips to party with old friends in Calais and elsewhere in Europe. Dover and Kent approach. Dover is again a place where I met some of my closest friends; one summer in the private school. Obviously heading towards London from the sea involves coasting above Kent and Sussex where I grew up.

The view of the Channel from a flight on a clear night is so different from the equally stunning view you get from a ferry that is queuing to enter the dock mid-way between France and England. The boat spins slowly affording you a view of the White Cliffs of Dover and then back to the less pearly cliffs of the continent; the long stretches of sandy beach. From an airplane window it is easy to imagine why Bleriot first sought to cross the channel in his rickety craft.

I remember once; I think I was returning from a stint in Italy, I flew over Brighton on bonfire night; just as the Preston Park firework display was getting into full swing. It was truly beautiful; fireworks from above are fascinating; lighting up the ant-like figures underneath, glowing gracefully in multi-colour. I was sad to have missed my favourite British traditional festival for another year as I flew home, but I was so excited to have got another perspective from the skies.

Then finally London; the familiarity of home and yet a place I have never lived in; where the biggest concentration of my friends are. The tourist monuments, the beautiful Thames snaking its way across the twinkling city, Canary Wharf flashing and the Houses of Parliament majestically holding fort on the waterside; it is stunning to fly so close to the reasons London is such a great city.

It is such a peculiar feeling flying back to the UK from Switzerland; I feel like if I were to die, it is the view from this flight route that would flash behind my eyes. Just looking out of the window evokes all the fantastic memories I have of the people, the places, the smells, the languages, the experiences and the crazy nights out I had way down there on the ground below. The places are not geographically that distant, or that different in terms of my experiences I had in those places, but the feeling of going over the last few years of my life during an hour and a half flight is rather surreal.

I love it, and I wonder where it will journey to next...