Photo by Jenny
In honor of my upcoming trip to Europe, here are a few flight songs…
This Sunday night, my husband Bill and I will be boarding a flight to Venice, Italy. From there, we will travel to Rome by way of Florence. After a couple of nights in Rome, we will board SeaDream 1 and take a week long cruise on a luxury yacht, from which we will disembark in Athens, Greece. Then we will spend three nights in Athens and come home on May 21st. Naturally, I won’t be doing much, if any, writing during the next couple of weeks. I do hope to collect some experiences that will inspire me to write when I get back to the States, though.
As much as I love to travel, I have grown to hate the experience of traveling by aircraft to my destination. This time, we’re flying “US Scareways”. Just kidding. In all honesty, I have no reason to dis US Airways. The last flight I took with them wasn’t bad at all. Most transatlantic flights in coach are pretty unpleasant, though, so I’ve invested in a new pair of Bose noise canceling headphones to help drown out some of the noise and maybe enjoy some tunes on my iPod as Bill and I journey across the pond. And while we’re flying, maybe I’ll listen to a few flight songs. Off the top of my head, the Steve Miller Band had two fitting ones…
Ahh… “Fly Like An Eagle” is a nice chilled out song to coast along the clouds to. This song has nothing to do with airplanes, really, aside from the word “fly” in its title. But it would be good to be as relaxed on the plane as Steve Miller sounds when he sings this song.
Perhaps more appropriate is “Jet Airliner”, which really is about leaving home on a jet airliner. And it’s nice and spunky, too.
If Bill and I were feeling wistful or fearful about going to Italy, I might choose a song like Peter, Paul, and Mary’s “Leaving On A Jet Plane”…
Maybe Bill was thinking of this song when he deployed to Iraq. As it stands, though, we’re happy about our trip. I look forward to seeing Bill freak out in Italy when we visit the Uffizi Gallery. He’s unusually sensitive to art and tends to get overwhelmed by masterpieces.
We won’t be on a 737 when we fly to Italy, but Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Travelin’ Band” makes pretty good traveling music.
The first time I heard this song, I was in fifth grade. The band teacher at my school had the sixth grade band students playing this. It wasn’t the most impressive rendition I’ve ever heard, but I give the teacher props for trying.
Maybe after our trip is over, I’ll be eager to go home and Joe Cocker’s version of “The Letter” will be on the brain.
Hopefully, we won’t be eager to get home because of an emergency, like we were when we took our last trip to Europe. Last November, we went to Scotland, proceeded to have a great time celebrating our tenth wedding anniversary, and came home to the news that one of our dogs was dying of a spinal tumor we didn’t know he had. I’m praying nothing like that happens this time.
Mostly, I think we’re just ready to “Fly Away”, a la Lenny Kravitz.
I’m a firm believer that people need to take vacations. I’m grateful that we’ve had the ability to travel as much as we have. I have a feeling that after this trip, our trips abroad will be sharply curtailed as my husband retires from the Army and becomes a civilian. But for now, we can have our fun…
So let’s hear it for “Vacation” time!
As of Sunday night, I will officially be on vacation for a little over two weeks. Hope you enjoy the next two weeks as much as I think I will.
Ciao, y’all! See you in a couple of weeks!
