15. Travelling. Travelling by Air

There are various means of travel. We can travel by train, boat, airplane, car and finally we can travel on foot. Let’s talk about the method of travel you like best.

For me there is nothing like travel by air: it is more comfor­table, more convenient and, of course, far quicker than any other method. There is none of the dust and dirt of a railway or car journey; none of the trouble of changing from train to steamer, pushing your way through crowds to get from the boat to the Customs (if you travel abroad) and then to another train. A taxi or bus of the Airline Service takes you to the airport. There on the runway you see a sleek and beautiful jet-propelled passenger liner ready to carry you to your place of destination.

When the formalities of registering yourself and weighing your baggage are over, you get up the gangway and board the plane. If you are travelling for the first time, you may apply to the stewardess and she will see you to your seat and give you all the information you need as, how to strap your belt, how to adjust your seat and so on. If you feel hungry, you will be pro­vided with an excellent lunch. Strange though it may seem, it actually comes out cheaper, considering what you save in hotel charges or sleeping accommodation on the train, meals and so on.

But it is not only on account of the convenience, comfort and speed that I like air travel. The whole experience is a spiri­tually thrilling thing for me. I enjoy greatly the feeling of flying. As you leave the earth behind you, you, seem to belong to another world, a bigger, wider, freer world than the one you left. What loveliness there is on earth when you see it from above; the rapid changing scenes below are of indescribable beauty.

What can compare in beauty with the view one beholds when flying, for instance, from Moscow to Yekaterinburg? Just as the early tinges of dawn flush the eastern sky you take off from the Moscow airport leaving behind the huge city in deep slumber; the sun has not risen, but the bird-like machine is flying to greet it. Looking down you gain a magnificent view of a charming landscape—to the right are fields carefully cultivated, to the left—pasture-lands, ahead— a cheerful river winding its way through the lowland. On you fly past villages and cities, hills and valleys, each following the other in quick succession. There in the far distance you perceive the outlines of a moun­tain range.

You scarcely have time to realize that the mountains ribbed with sharp steep ridges and clothed with vegetation on both sides are the Urals when you find them below you and in another minute or two far behind.

On and on you fly with the ever-changing scenes below till you safely land at the airport in Yekaterinburg.

No, you will never make me believe that there is a better way of travelling than by air.