Planes…

… yep, this is what this post is all about… PLANES…

Just a few days after Christmas, we were at the airport to see off yet another international student. Then less than a week later, we were back there again, seeing off… you guessed it… another international student.

For those who don’t know, off and on we get international students who come to our church while they are here studying. In the last few years, most of them have come from either Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, generally Asia. And having been international students ourselves, we know how it can be hard (not saying that it always is for every person, it certainly wasn’t for me) and we remembered how much we missed home-cooking during those times. So to these ones who come, we invite them over and we do some home-cooking, usually involving a sleep-over too. And some of these students stay for internship and at the end of that, they sometimes come stay with us for a few days or a couple of weeks. It has been wonderful having them around, they have been a blessing to us as much as we have (i do hope so) been to them.

Anyhow, we saw at the Zürich Airport that they have opened their new observation deck (since end of 2011, i believe) and we thought we go check it out. It now costs CHF5/. for an adult and kids from 10-16 pay CHF2/. It used to just cost CHF1/. But then there was a little less technology involved.

Here’s what i mean:

You can now track the planes you see moving around the terminal and taking off. All you have to do is point a special binoculars type thing at the planes, a yellow circle appears and it tells you what plane it is and where it is headed. It also gives you technical specifications on the planes. Very cool. It can zoom in pretty far too. There are a few of these around the deck so you won’t be waiting too long for your turn, even if it is crowded.

You are actually standing on top of Gate B, so if there is a plane which is ready to take on passengers, the board next to the stairs leading out onto the arm of that gate will tell you all you need to know about the plane and where it’s going. Once again, very neat little feature.

Of course, they have the good o’ playground, just upgraded and new now.

They also have a little restaurant right there on the Observation Deck B. It doesn’t serve lunch/dinner type meals but good snacks and of course at “airport” prices.

There is also an Observation Deck E but that is only open during the summer months. Maybe we’ll try going once. Although i imagine they would have to bus people to Deck E as it is not directly connected to the terminal itself. But i’ll post about that when we do visit there.

It’s a pretty good place to spend an hour or two with the kids if you happen to be at the airport either sending off or picking up someone. Oh, i forgot to mention, you do have to go through a small security check before being allowed on the Observation Deck.

So being inspired, the next two days or so, we had a little plane fun. Tobias had gotten a plane making set for Christmas; the rubber-band powered planes. And so he and Daddy set to work and here they are flying their creations 🙂

Hope you have a plain-sailing “plane-flying” week 😉

syc