As I a child I had only been on the plane three times. I suppose that could count as having flown frequently for a child, but in these days there are so many who have traveled from a young age that I doubt 3 is such a high number. The first time was before I had started elementary school to visit my grandparents in Korea. I still remember being given a small pin by a stewardess. It was a pin with wings, perhaps the logo of the airline. I was sorely disappointed to learn in future flights that they don’t always give you such pins. Apparently dentists were more generous in giving out small tokens or treats than airlines were. In any case, I eagerly sat in the window seat and wanted nothing more than to stare out the window for the entire flight. You don’t get to fly everyday after all! Of course, they don’t allow you to keep the windows open during international flights as it can be quite bright up there and many passengers wish to get some sleep!
My third flight around was the summer after having finished 5th grade. To my dismay, my parents had decided to move back to Korea. The morning of the flight I remember willing the trip to be canceled with all my might, but it did me little good. I was whisked onto a plane headed to Korea and my sole comfort was that the entertainment system included games such as Super Mario Bros. Once I reached Korea, I didn’t have a chance to set foot out of the country until high school. During Easter Break I went on trips to the Philippines and Thailand for volunteer service. These were rather short flights from Korea and as I was flying in a group I had no choice over whether I would sit in the aisle or window seat.
In college I started to fly more regularly as I went to a university in the US. This was when my preference changed from window seat to the aisle. As flight times from Korea to Seattle range from 9 to 11 hours, I found myself wanting to get up and walk around the aisles every now and then. Windows have to stay shut during most of the flight anyway,so it was far nicer being able to get out of my seat and into the aisle without having to awkwardly climb over a stranger.
As I was always flying alone and usually arrived at the airport for my flight early, I never had any trouble getting aisle seating. This past month however, I traveled to Europe with my brother and was unable to get an aisle seat. It wasn’t so bad though, as I was able to look out the window as we approached Heathrow airport in London. I should have taken a better photo of how orderly the buildings were. It was a strikingly different view from the ones coming into ICN airport or SEATAC airport. Houses all neat in a row with small gardens in the back. It reminded me of Sim City where you can build rows and rows of the same houses to strike a uniform look. I was pretty happy to be able to see this characteristic of the UK from a viewpoint I wouldn’t normally have access to otherwise. So what do you think? Aisle or window?
