Skallagrim

With its name taken from an old seafaring saga, a SAS Airbus 320neo is taking me down to Stockholm this morning. Just walking across the apron in the freezing autumn air made me feel very grateful for not having to cross the North Sea in a longship. Instead, I got to relax with a good book and look down on the brackish waters Gulf of Bothnia glowing away thousands of meters below.

Even if the onboard service remains suspended, flying has not lost its magic. Still, all the border closings have clearly deprived the world of a transcendental element, a connection to a future in which we see the best in each other rather than remain trapped in old prejudices and solitary identities. Hopefully, the pandemic will not last forever and the world will soon bounce back, maybe even having understood that isolation does not make us stronger.