UK Travel Stories
Gliding: A Lesson in Cloud-Watching - Ashford, United Kingdom
I suffer from motion sickness.
Ever since I was a little girl, my mom would suffocatingly hold a sick bag to my face during the take off and landing of an airplane. Too many a time had I sprayed her with the contents of my digestive track for her to take a chance without it.
I was one of those kids that would get dizzy by swinging on a park swing for too long, was eventually banned from getting on merry-go-rounds, and whilst traveling by car I was always told to face front and look straight ahead.
And with age this hasn't improved. Like the time in Uruguay when we went fishing with Ed and as soon as I stepped on the boat I knew I was going to ruin it for everyone. Or when we went snorkeling in Mallorca and after 20 minutes I had to swim back because the constant swaying of the water made me dizzy.
So when Ed told me we were going gliding in Kent, I was excited at first but soon became distressed. I suddenly envisioned myself in an enclosed cockpit twisting and dipping in midair while my stomach rolled over and rose up to my esophagus, accompanied by the unpleasant dizziness that always goes hand in hand with the nausea. The fact that the glider lacks an engine was the least of my concerns.
Nonetheless I was still excited and resolved that I should try to control it, not let it get a hold of me, and enjoy the entire experience. (In the meantime I would go out and buy the strongest motion sickness pills available in the pharmaceutical market).
So Saturday came along and we drove down to Ashford with Lucy and David. We were going to meet John, David's good friend from BT and Ed's current manager. Apparently John was the culprit for setting up this little aviation escapade for us, to share his passion for flying. continue...
Glider Galore!
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