Flight Route

　　Having a meal, looking down through the window, I was surprised. Under my eyes, there was a vast expanse of ocean. The sea of Japan couldn't be that wide. We should have flown over the southern part of the Korean Peninsula averting the threat of North Korea. I made sure where I was on the backseat screen and found that I was flying over the Pacific Ocean. The plane was headed to the east. I knew the route should be diverted avoiding the conflict between Ukraine and Russia and I assumed that the plane would have passed over or around India. I recalled a Malaysian aircraft which had been shot down flying over eastern Ukraine in 2014. I understood this eastbound route would be the most secure way to avoid Russia and Ukraine.
　　Soon after, I hit upon a good idea. I decided to take snapshots of the screen which told the location. I've never flown east of Canada and wanted to record the route and the pictures of the ground for later consideration. I didn't know much about the northern part of Canada, Greenland, and Iceland. As for Greenland, I didn't even know its capital city. As for cities of Iceland, I only knew Reykjavik because it's the city in which a historic talk between the U.S. and USSR took place. It is said to have been the commencement of the end of the Cold War. Some journalists from Japan reported its possibilities as a tourism country at that time. Several hot spas in the land literally called "ice"land....Fantastic! People in Iceland apparently started the Spirit Boat Procession just like those of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Aug. 6th and 9th every year since the talk. I'm eager to visit the country just on these days some day.
　　If the plane had flown a little south, I would have been able to see the sweet scenery of Canadian mountains. I tried to change the configuration of the location map on the screen, but I couldn't find anything about British Columbia in Canada on the map. Vancouver was far away from my location at that time.

　食事をしながら下を見て驚いた。北を避けて韓国上空にさしかかっているはずが、大海原だったから。日本海がこれほど広いはずがない。前席のシートの後ろに付いているディスプレイで位置を確認すると飛行機は東へ向かっていた。ロシアとウクライナの戦争地域を避けて飛ぶとは聞いていたが、インド辺りを飛ぶのだと思っていたので東へ向かっていることを知って驚き、かつ安心した。２０１４年にマレーシア航空機が撃墜されたことを思い出した。
　位置を確認したと同時にルートを記録しておこうと考えた。カナダより東を飛んだことがなく、北部カナダ、グリーンランド、アイスランド上空を飛ぶはずだ。これらの地域をほとんど知らない。グリーンランドはその首都も知らない。アイスランドはレイキャビクだけは覚えている。東西冷戦を終わらせるレーガンとゴルバチョフの歴史的な会談が行われた場所。余り知られていないが、長崎、広島のような灯籠流しがそれぞれの原爆投下の日、８月６日と９日に行われている。知っているのはこれくらい。
　もう少し南を飛んでくれたら懐かしいウィスラーの山々を眺めることができたかもしれないのが少し残念だが、遠回りは出来ないから仕方ない。ルートマップの設定を変えながらBC州の方角を眺めて見たがバンクーバー辺りは遠すぎて見えない。