Mer’s Bites of Bytes » Dream of Flying

When I was little, I always dreamed of flying. I wanted to see the earth from above. I dreamed of seeing the cloud closely. I read that book Around the World in 80 Days and thought that someday I’d fly around the world, too. Of course, just like most lower class Indonesians, I didn’t have a chance to fly when I was a kid. I flew for the first time in 1996, for free. The I flew again once in 1997 and nothing happened in 1998. My academic flight started in 1999, with a trip to Taiwan funded by TungHai University — that was my first academic trip. Then second one was in summer 2000 with a trip funded by the National University of Singapore, to Singapore of course. I came there as perhaps the youngest conference presenter. I was so happy! Little did I know that I’d speak at conferences regularly after that.

2001 marked the beginning of my academic jet-setting, with the first big trip across more than one-third of the globe to the Netherlands. And since then, I’ve been flying for free for more than 160 times! (Yes, I did try to count it — in August 2007, it was 157 times, but perhaps I missed some flights).

Crazy, now I fly more than 12 times a year (or perhaps nearly 20 times?) — yeah yeah, that’s why my carbon print is too high no matter how green my non-fly activities are. Do I love flying? Technically, not really. Unlike my childhood dream, apparently flying aka sitting down on the airplane is not enjoyable. Mostly because I am not so good in being in any moving transportation (car, train, bus, airplane) — except for bike and motorbike. But I love traveling and indeed, I’ve been flying around the world.

It’s funny that when you stopped wishing, the chance is just coming to you. Again and again and again. People just love to fly me. And now I have become an airport worm. And still, as much as I dislike getting on board on the airplane, near or far, I am always excited about traveling! I just love seeing new places.

Coming back to my childhood dream of flying. I also literally dreamed of flying. A lot. And I still remember how it was to have such dream. They are my favorite dreams and they seem to be very real. In my dreams I usually fly like a bird. It was such a positive and liberating experience. I felt that I could finally abandon my earthbound physical limitations.

Freud, of course, associates dreams of flight with sex. But well, oh, Freudian psychology associates so many things with sex anyway! Carl Jung, however, indicates in a dream flight we express our desire to break free of restrictions and limitations. I do think that dreams aren’t just dreams. Dreams have much to do with what’s in our mind and thus (indirectly) are related to our real life. Contemplating about my own case, I think dreams of flying may indicate to our aspirations. They may suggest the desire to rise above things, to reach a higher level, to be free from the rules and (cultural) norms.

Once I had a dream that I was flying low then saw a pair of footprints up high in the sky. I then heard a voice. So loud. It said, “Put your feet there and follow me.” The voice came from very high above. I was shaken and felt scared. But the loud big voice soared again and again… “Put your feet there and follow me” and only stopped when I finally put my feet on the print. Indeed, they were my footprints. Perfectly fit. And the footprints took me flying higher and higher. It was pleasant and exhilarating. I woke up feeling exhausted, yet very excited. I remember that I was telling my mom about it the next morning. Only recently, about 20 years after that night, my mom reminded me about the dream. She said, “Don’t you remember that dream of your footprints in the sky? Your feet now are really up in the sky.” Wow!

Dreams, they might not do anything for some people. But in my life, many dreams, or most of my dreams, came true. My mental dreams as well as my night dreams. Yes, I am a dreamer. I dream when I am sleeping, I dream when I am awake. I dream with my mind. I dream with my spirit. I dreamed when I was a child. And now I still dream like a child.

Never too old to dream. Who are you to stop dreaming? Who are you to stop your childhood dreams?

And when you dream…. don’t dream of falling….. better dream of flying!

p.s. For your amusement — perhaps my Flying Thriller stories here can be entertaining! Enjoy

12 Comments so far

Oh teh … merinding bulu romaku .. hihihi. Again, I’m so touched by your story. Like you, I also believe in dreams and been dreaming since I was little. Too bad, unlike you, I’m a person with limited talents and still juggling to keep my head above the water. I kept on dreaming and working hard though, and so far I think I’ve been doing well enough for somebody of my level .. LOL. Yes, let’s keep on dreaming!

You are so right. If only I do not keep dreaming, I possibly still live in a small town on another island. I’ll never do what I can do and achieve just because everybody does not believe in me.

I am so grateful that I believe in my dream, myself, and also God

This is a very nice piece Mer.

I probably fly more or less the same these days tho i never give it that much thought. I just like to land in strange places… not so much the flying part.

The idea of flying is, always has been, a huge human ideal. But the practice of it very often is an ordeal. At least my economy class experiences have tainted it in a rather radical way.

By the way: reading this sentence of your post:

“Freud, of course, associates dreams of flight with sex.”

you made me think of Erica Jong: “Fear of Flying”. Very Freudian book : flying, conferences and sex. I have to agree: old Sigmund is fun , but really is a ‘has been’, don’t you agree?

And another sentence, “But in my life, many dreams, or most of my dreams, came true.” brought this movie, “The Dreamers” (Bertolucci), to mind - about times when we (I mean quite a number of my generation) still believed their dreams might come true.

Sigh…

I just started this question inside my head since this morning (oil just broke USD 140/barrel in the news), with the increasing price of oil and the out of control internet communication, will flying as a mean of traveling become obsolete?

Will we just viewed the places where we would like to visit by future LCD panel on our living room? Or we can still travel by flying around the world, providing that we make tons of money by inventing talking paperclips or something like that?

Just being silly …

teteh, have u ever read my article in my old blog about flying?
hihi..the story was really alike.

as a kid i dream of flying, alooot of times. but without wings. just flying with my body. and someone or some books told me that it means i will achieve something. if i dream of flying then i can do anything i want. now i miss that dreams .but i believe in the meaning. i can do anything i want. this shall be my blessing, i decided .

my first plane trip was when i was 4, with hercules plane bersama rombongan transmigransi. it was military plane, no aircond no cozy seat and i got to peek other transmigrants lunch box only.

but like u, in 2004 i flew for the first time to Germany and in 2006 i flew with first class to Italy. FIRST CLASS!! totall different from the hercules plane..haha.

i never count how many times i have flew. but i mark a big map on my wall with dots, to which places i have been.

waaa..so many places i must visit, still..
hahaha..manusia gak ada puasnya kalo belom nelen dunia kali yaa.

aha!

so, your dreams when you were child come true!

It’s so awesome!

Dream of flying is my favorite too and like you, it gives a positive and liberating experience. But I never dream seeing my footprints in the sky, it is so, so a meaningfull dreaming!

Keep on dreaming sis, and let your dreams come true!

[...] Mine, What about You? Jump to Comments I read Mer’s dream. She said:- Dreams, they might not do anything for some people. But in my life, many dreams, or [...]

i just had a dream about flying and awoke only minutes ago. i googled “dreams of flying” and your blog came up. i have not had this dream in a long time; it is intermittent with a dream that i am loosing am loosing all of my teeth (i have researched this and it implies a feeling of loss of control). i am just beginning to feel like i have shaken a dark, long period of depression and last night had this dream. this morning, i feel amazing! thanks for sharing your experiences/interpretation.

and they say, eat the chicken wing and you’ll fly a lot!

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