Reflections from the plane - Choir Tour Day 1

I wouldn’t really be a wandering Canadian if I didn’t at least try and blog about my travels.  I am currently on route to Venice, Italy, participating in the Ottawa Bach Choir’s European tour.  Venice is our first stop, and we will later go on to Leipzig, Germany, Lübeck, and then over to Gröningen and Amsterdam in The Netherlands.

As I write this, I am still in the air, high above Europe and looking down at clouds and as-yet unidentifiable parts of the continent.  It’s 5:18 in the morning Toronto time, but I’ve had some coffee and am trying to adapt to local time as early as I can.  Sleep is for those who stay home.

As we left Toronto at 9:30pm, the moon was giant and deep orange, rising above the lights and chaos of the city – a nice send off.

This is a terribly blurry picture but I hadn't had a
chance to fiddle with the ISO when I saw the moon

The flight attendants introduced our choir over the speakers, which was a nice touch. After catching up with a few people, I eventually slept for several hours, only to be woken by the sun peeking over the horizon.  Morning in Europe but still only 2am Toronto time.  But how could I go back to sleep, with the sun shining like that, lighting up the clouds in pink here and there, until eventually the entire sky was full of pink and orange clouds and it was officially morning.

Sunrise over the clouds

I wrote these thoughts in my paper journal at that moment – “It’s jarring; a bit of time travel. I wish I could see what was under this swirling mass of clouds.  Often flying this high above the clouds, it seems as if you’re not moving at all, but with the sun there, it feels as if we’re getting closer to something wonderful and mysterious.  Don’t know if I should go back to sleep. I don’t want to miss anything. Every sunbeam on every cloud. Every second ticking by. Life is short, and sleep is for those who stay home.”

I often feel overwhelmed by the idea that I’ll never get to visit and experience every place in the world.  There are so many countries I’d like to visit, cultures I’d like to immerse myself in, and so many parts of even my own country that I’d like to see and experience.  People often comment to me that I always seem to be traveling somewhere, or going from one experience to another without taking a rest. They wonder where I get the energy or the time. I have no answers to these questions, for I don’t know any other way to live. I am constantly aware of the very brief time we have here on the planet to do anything at all, and I can’t fathom any other way of life but to squeeze in as much LIFE as possible.

I need to cut this post short - we’re passing over mountains and I don’t want to miss this.

Mountains... either the Alps or Dolomites?
Not sure where we were but they were incredible regardless