Relativity more or less

You know the old optical illusion of two lines with arrows at the end going in opposite directions on each line and the question asked is which line is longer? And although it looks like there is a difference, there isn't. I thought about it during my flight from Frankfort to Calgary. The 9.5 hours of air time is approximately the time it takes to go from Argelès to Geneva give or take a few minutes EXCEPT the flight seemed hours longer.

Now granted, there’s waiting time on both trajectories. On the train I change once or twice.
But on the train I can arrive just as the train is ready to leave the station, while for the plane there’s the dreaded check in line. (The one in Geneva was for all airlines and took well over 45 minutes from start to finish because only four windows were open – but that wasn’t included in the 9.5 hours).

On a train you can walk a lot further going from car to car, but on a plane there’s less room to wander even on the jumbo jets, although the new Airbus might make for better hiking trails. Maybe movability is part of it.

Because the plane had three movies (two could have been nominated for the worst picture of the year and the third I had seen) the time should have gone faster. If I wanted to I could watch at least one film on my laptop before the battery wore out on the train, and I often do use the time to write.

Even on a direct train I know I can get off at periodic stops. Taking a walk outside when the plane is at 38,000 ft. altitude is not a good idea. The scenery is prettier from a train, so watching the countryside change could make a ride seem shorter, although looking at the clouds, does produce day dreams.

I came to no conclusion on why the Frankfort-Calgary leg of my trip lasted so much longer in my senses than the Argelès-Geneva trips despite the clock ticking off almost the same number of minutes. It will stay up there with other mysteries like who really shot JFK or where is Hoffa buried.