On the Wings of a Plane

By Sophia Vann-Adibé

“All flight attendants please report for landing.”

Most of those reading this will probably recognize this statement as how the captain announces that we will be landing soon. The average reaction to this is to tighten your seat belts, or maybe the most paranoid of us will look anxiously out the window, but nothing more. Many people will probably still be snoring, or finishing that soap opera. My brother sleeps throughout the whole take-off, landing, and any turbulence in between.

I, on the other hand, usually spend my flights sitting rigid in my seat, the open book in my hands unread, and clutching my mother’s hand at the slightest sign of any turbulence. This would be hard for any child that has relatives far away, but I have it pretty bad. My grandparents and my cousins all live in Europe. In fact, my Grandma also has an apartment in Hong Kong. On top of that, my family has a house in Italy and a house in France. As you can probably imagine, this adds up to quite a lot of airplane flights for me!

I have never felt like I really belong anywhere, because ever since I was small, my family has taken me on a lot of trips. I don’t remember most of these, but my parents have recounted multiple embarrassing stories of the adventures I had as a baby in different places (just kidding!). However, with the feeling of not belonging anywhere, there comes a certain joy in enjoying these beautiful places as they are, not thinking longingly of home (which I occasionally do). I suppose if I had to pick a place, I would choose here, the Bay Area, as where I belong. I have been here since I was born, so I guess I am a San Francisco girl through and through.

If I sometimes feel like an alien, I am not sure how my parents first felt when they came to America. My dad was born in London, and my mother was born in Hong Kong. They met at university in England, and then moved to America. My parents are both constantly amazed at the length of our summer break.

“Twelve weeks? Do you know how lucky you guys are? Why, when I was a lad, we only got six weeks of summer break….” My dad loves to remind us of how lucky we are to be traveling so often for so long. I agree with him. Even my classmates, who are, albeit, a little bit obsessed with grades and test scores, hardly ever get out of the country except to go to China. I go to a bilingual school called CAIS (Chinese American International School), in which we, as the name suggests, learn both Chinese and English. Most of the people who are at my school go to China often, whether to visit relatives, or practice speaking Chinese.

This coming summer I’ll travel with my family around Europe. We will fly to Paris, then drive to our house in the countryside (traffic around the Perifique is horrible, and it can take anywhere from 2 to 5 hours). We use France as “home base”. We fly into France first, and then drive everywhere else from there. After a few weeks in France, we drive to London. This may seem impossible for those of you who are not as familiar with Europe’s transportation, as the United Kingdom is separated from France by a large channel of water. No, we do not have a car with wings that flies us from France to England. There is a car train, onto which we simply drive, and it goes into an underwater tunnel. Voila! We emerge in England! 

My three grandparents all live in or near London, so it makes visiting them relatively easy. This year, we will stay in London for two weeks, then bring Grandma (on my mom’s side – we call my dad’s mom Oma) back to France. After that long drive, we drive to Italy, which sometimes takes all day and all night. We usually stay overnight in a hotel in the beautiful city of Lyon; this year, however, there will be a slight change in plans. We were thinking of stopping in Zurich, Switzerland to stay with my father’s newlywed friend, Mark. 

When we arrive in Italy, our friends have helped us rent a banyo (which is basically a shade thing, with a box in which you can lock valuables, and two deck chairs) for the whole summer. You have to pay money to get access to the banyo, and in turn the beach on most Italian beaches. That means fun in the sun! I have a school friend, Emma, who has family on the island Corsica, so we have planned to visit her there. I am so excited to go to these new places, meet new people, and see new sights! 

Even though I love traveling, I also love coming home, and settling back into the (somewhat boring) routine of school. What are you doing this summer?

About me:

I was born in San Francisco, but my family moved to London when I was six months old. I stayed there for two years, during which time we made frequent trips to our house in France. We returned to San Francisco and our house in Cole Valley. Next year I will be graduating from CAIS as an eighth grader. I have ambitions to be an author when I grow up.