I extract the magazine from where it’s sandwiched between the safety card and the faux leather back of the seat.
I pry it from underneath the tray table with the precision of someone who wants to dislodge the sickbag that’s clinging to its corner while avoiding the ultimate faux pas on a plane - disturbing the person sitting in front of you.
I’m greeted with a full-page photo of a pristine beach.
Two pages in and I’ve got Chris Hemsworth staring back at me.
It takes a few more pages before I’m assaulted by the duty free section.
Buy me now.
Don’t get me wrong - I love in-flight magazines.
I love their glossy pages, stylised fonts and break-out listicles filled with the places to “stay, see, and visit”.
I love the “where to eat” section.
In this case, it features ribbons of pasta, artfully arranged on an array of plates, captured in high contrast. Sitting against a backdrop of cutlery - silver against gold, a pop of orange against a splash of blue - a collection as eclectic as the one my auntie’s been hoarding in her cupboards since the 1980s.
In the corner, a saucer of olive oil, rising up the edge of the page, a sunrise over the horizon.
I skim the lists with with a ferociousness - as if somehow I can curb the chaos (the beautiful, exploratory, affirming, relationship-breaking chaos) of travel with dot points and justified text in 10pt arial font.
The thin pages of a magazine seems at odds in a world where youtube videos, instagram, tiktok and social media can show - in glorious 1080p - the minute details of every destination.
And admittedly, vlogs/ reels/ stories offer a more immediate experience for a traveller.
And yet.
There’s an intimacy to writing that I’m drawn towards.
(isn’t it funny how there’s things we will never say aloud - but we’ll text, type into our notes app or scribble on the back of a receipt)
Most of all, I enjoy interrogating travel writing.
How they’ve chosen to frame a particular experience.
What they’ve chosen to leave in.
Whose paid them to keep that in.
What they’ve left out.
I love hearing about the one bottle of wine the author cracks open, the one that reminds them of a heartbreak, a home, a story beyond the one captured in frame.
It reminds me of my own travel diaries - which honestly started as blogs that were part of the terms of a student exchange program I participated in (#student life).
And back then - when iPhones weren’t really a thing, and all electronic devices had to be switched off for take off (because there was no such thing as flight mode), travel magazines really were another way for me to travel.
In the same way Harry Potter took me away from home.
In the same way in the way my iPod classic (black, 120gb tyvm) could take me to a concert in Tokyo Dome.
Travel magazines let me imagine a world where I could travel - destinations I couldn’t even afford.
Sure, travel magazines weren’t my first magazine (that awards goes to K-Zone, followed by Dolly and then literally many suitcases’ worth of Japanese pop magazines).
And sure, I flick through the pages now with a more discerning eye - with the consciousness of tiptoeing the line between travel and culinary tourism (listen to Alicia Kennedy’s interview on the Taste Podcast at 16:10 onwards); with the eye of someone who wants to write and contribute one day.
(I’d write about markets in Taiwan, HK, Japan, Seoul , Vietnam and China. An onsen tour. A trip around the MTR. Snow, oh god I love snow).
That’s all to say, inflight magazines remain great companions for me, especially after making the rookie error of having my phone half charged and ebook reader stowed in the overhead baggage compartment.
Plane etiquette forces me to stay quiet and read.
The senses of this month:
taste: soup noodle szn is HERE
sight: watched Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
smell: tea from a tea ceremony with blueapocalypse
listen: lo-fi classical
touch: the pages of a book. Started of the year with a goal of reading 30 mins a week (to wind down). It has naturally evolved into an hour, even a whole afternoon. This month I’ve really enjoyed Nina Mingya Powles’ “Tiny Moons: A year of eating in Shanghai” and Cheuk Kwan’s “Have You Eaten Yet: Stories from Chinese Restaurants Around the World”
Yes to this, Ange! “In the same way Harry Potter took me away from home.” 🙌