A spacecraft orbits the earth. Over and over again. I finished listening to the audiobook, and the descriptions of the orbits were almost hypnotic – different places highlighted, different stories told, as the orbit shifted slightly each time.
And now, I’m sitting on a plane, watching the flight map. The plane moving (slowly) across the screen – we are finally on our way to Australia.
And just like in the book, the places I’m looking down on resonate in different ways.
After taking off from Birmingham at just before 8am, I’m eating breakfast over Germany, seeing the names of places I first visited as an 8yr old – with my bright red backpack.
Mr T spots (on the map) Grossglockner as we’re over Austria – I climbed that once, he says, and I learn about a family holiday when he was a teenager.
Down through Italy, spotting Trieste on the map, then Ljubljana and Zagreb just to the east of our flight path – more memories; this time of a trip by bus and train in 2018. We started in Trieste and finished in Bratislava.
Further south now, skirting the adriatic … places I’ve never visited but which trigger other memories. Seeing Sarejovo, I think of Torville and Dean winning Olympic Gold in 1984.
Tracking east and west on the map – I see Athens and think about a visit in 2001 (I think). Whatever happened to those photos? There’s Mount Olympus – and I’m transported back to school and my GCSEs in archaeology and Greek.
Progress seems slower as we fly over the Mediterranean – looking at nothing but blue sea on the screen.
So I scan to the east, Cyprus and Turkey. More memories. Some recent, some lost in time.
Then, over the Red Sea and, before long, we’re coming in to land at Doha. A pause in watching the screen. It’s time to be back on the ground for a while – long enough to find an indoor garden and an oreo cake.
Then we’re back on the plane – only a third of the journey complete; 13 hrs to go until we reach Melbourne.
This time, nearly all our journey is over water. Progress seeming almost non-existent, despite the screen telling we’re flying at 600 miles per hour.
In between watching the screen, I read, sleep, eat, listen to more storis, and get up for a walk along the aisle every couple of hours.
Finally, we reach Australia. But there’s still another three hours of flying to go – almost there, but not quite.
Another breakfast is served.
And then we’re on final descent, the journey almost done.
It’s not quite an orbit, but after watching a dot on the screen for 19 hours, we have actually travelled halfway around the world.
We made it. We’re in Australia and ready to explore.
52 for 52 in 2025 #4 – weekly blogs in 2025 inspired by the books I’m reading.
27 Hours In Twizel 
2 thoughts on “Watching a Dot on the Screen”