March 8, 2010
Flying
Boarding an airplane for an international flight instantly takes me away both physically and mentally. For the last 35 years I have flown from the United States back to my native Amsterdam at least once a year. There is no trip which so completely relaxes me, and washes away all the worries and anxieties of everyday life so quickly. It truly is the beauty of flight, of being lifted away from the ordinary, to be whisked to a new place and a new life. Or, in my case, to a reminiscence of my old life!
Most of my years in the United States I have been spoiled by living in major cities: Boston, Chicago, Washington. So I’ve always had a plethora of travel and flight options. When I moved to Portland in 2008 to become PSU’s president, it actually struck me as funny, and a bit provincial, that so many people proudly told me about the just inaugurated direct flight from Portland to Amsterdam; I just always assumed there would be one! But I liked seeing the billboards advertising the flight, featuring a windmill and a canoe with paddles; I took them to be auspicious welcome signs!
My first experience with the flight actually didn’t work out as planned. On the return flight, the famous snowstorms of December 2008 had closed the Portland airport, so we were diverted to Minneapolis. I got to visit the Mall of America, not an experience I recommend to anyone with jetlag (or ever, probably). Even worse, I knew I would have to give up my bottle of tax-free genever (Dutch gin) at security! The next day the trip continued, but again we were diverted, this time to Seattle. We finally made it to Portland 24 hours late. Because of the snow, I could only make it to downtown, and had to stay in a hotel there for another night, before finally getting home. Not such a direct flight!
But this February everything went smoothly, and the direct flight really paid off. What really struck me is that it really is less of a trans-Atlantic flight than a trans-Canada flight. Most of the flying time is across the frozen wastes of northern Canada, then across Greenland, then a quick conclusion over Iceland and the United Kingdom. We went just for a long weekend, to see my family, and the direct flight makes that feasible. In November my wife Alice and I also used the direct flight to Tokyo for meetings in Portland’s sister city Sapporo, and with electric vehicle manufacturers Nissan and Mitsubishi.
Wim Wiewel and his wife, Alice
Where to next? I am hoping for direct flights to the Middle East, because Portland State draws lots of students from there; and Singapore, for further Asia access. Our future is as an internationally competitive university serving a global city, and you can’t do that if you can’t get there from here!
Wim Wiewel, President
Portland State University
Photos courtesy of the office of President Wim Wiewel
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