Transatlantic Flights: Why We Love Them

Transatlantic Flights - Views of Iceland and the East Coast of Canada

Granted: not always offer Transatlantic flights such beautiful views as during our flight to Toronto in late January 2015. We were on the way to Winterlude in Ottawa and wanted to experience the winter in Canada. We had heard a lot about how cold it should be there and how much snow should fall there in the winter months. We wanted to know that firsthand. A true Winter Wonderland was waiting for us in Ottawa. What we had not expected, however, were the breathtaking views of the winter Iceland, the east coast and the wintry expanses of Labrador.

The view is not always good

Flight routes of the transatlantic flights over the Atlantic do not always run over Iceland, Greenland or the region in North Labrador. Our return flight from Toronto initially followed the course of the St. Lawrence River and then ran over water until we reached Ireland. Since we took off at night on our return trip, something could only be seen again over Europe, even if only the cloud cover, until we landed in Munich. But sometimes you're lucky!

Views of Iceland and Northern Canada

The view during our transatlantic flights on arrival was completely different: Over Iceland there was a view of the winter landscapes. We could see streets, but also how rare places are on the island in the North Sea. I found the coastline in western Iceland to be the most beautiful. There we could see how far the bays extend into the interior of the island. As so often, Greenland was hiding under a blanket of clouds.

The east coast of Labrador

We were very lucky off the coast of Canada. There the weather cleared up again and we had a good view of the ice floes and icebergs below us. At first it was difficult to tell whether it was sea ice or already land. It was only when we approached the coast that it became clear where the land began and the sea ended. Suddenly recognizable structures could be seen: bays in which the ice floes collected and behind which the coastal landscape rose steeply. A wild and rugged landscape with no towns or signs of human settlement.

We encountered a few hundred kilometers north of Goose Bay on Canadian territory, and if you take a closer look at the map of this region, you realize that there are virtually no traces of people there. The expanse of the wilderness could still be seen as we flew further over Canadian territory: there were frozen lakes and snow-covered hills and mountains, but also snow-free areas in the lower elevations. In other regions, the landscape below us was deeply snowy, only a striking river valley cut the white spaces like a scar on the ground. When I see such wild landscapes below me, I always feel very small. How awesome nature and wilderness are! And thank God, there are still places like these on our earth that are not accessible to humans.

About southern Quebec

Only when we approach the southern Quebec, the winter cloud cover closes below us again. There is a blizzard on its way to the coast right now, and the clouds are not opening again until they reach Toronto, where it is snowing. You have to be lucky enough to have views like these on his transatlantic flights. However, when the cloud cover opens, I am not interested in boarding or food on board. Then I want to see what's going on beneath me, and I think of the situation of the people who first crossed the Atlantic with simple Viking boats or even the curraghs of the Irish missionaries, trying to imagine what they felt have on their journey into the unknown. Or I think of the tragic fates of the Titanic, which sank by colliding with an iceberg in the North Sea.

These were not our first transatlantic flights, and we're curious to see which places we can see and see from the air on our next flight. And maybe there will be a chance to look at at least a part of these places ourselves. Who knows? If you want to fly further after such a flight, you can do it with this one, for example Air Canada flight from Vancouver to Brisbane in Australia do.

With this post about transatlantic flights we participate in the Blog parade "Above the clouds" by Gudrun Krinzinger.

Source: On-site research. We would like to thank the Canadian Tourism Authority and Tourism Ontario for the transatlantic flights to Canada.