TRAVEL. PHOTO ESSAY.

A Photographic Documentary of Our Landing in Innsbruck

Arriving in the alps from above

There is something that fascinates us humans about seeing the Earth from above. Flying above the clouds, being closer to the sun, and just floating through the sky.

It’s unreal.

Yet we can experience it. That makes it very real.

And flying always inspires me. It inspires me to write. And write. And write.

My thoughts go wild above the clouds. My fingers fly across the keyboard. My eyes focus on the screen. I just lift my head from time to time to soak in the beauty outside of the airplane window.

I’ve flown a lot. Cross-country flights. Flights across entire continents. But also flights to altitude. Yet, I don’t get tired of the views up there.

The latest flight I was on was just a one-hour flight. From Vienna, the capital of Austria to Innsbruck I was flying. I had never been on such a flight before. A flight that takes me into the heart of the mountains.

I’ve been to the Alps before. A lot. But I always arrived by car. It’s different to see the mountains from the ground than from the sky.

So yes, I was looking forward to this flight.

And I know, I published already an article on our entire journey. But on this leg of the flight, I took more photographs than I could fit in one article. This is why I decided to dedicate a second photo essay to the Vienna — Innsbruck flight.

Soon after take-off in Vienna, we climbed above the clouds and my hopes of great views vanished rather quickly.

But the sky began to clear and while it didn’t open up entirely, the broken cloud layer let me hang on to the last bit of hope.

My eyes were scanning the sky. For any signs of mountains. The first landscape feature I could identify was a river running through the valley.

And then, just as the cloud layer was closing again, I spotted the granite. A massive mountain peaking through the clouds.

And another one moving in just underneath us.

Now, my eyes were all sparkly.

We were descending.

We were crossing several cloud layers. After each one, another glimpse of the Alps was offered.

We were now low above the mountain ranges identifying the villages in the valleys below.

I could spot the river “Inn”.

And yes, it is a truly magical landing in between massive mountain ranges and thick clouds.

Finally, we crossed the last cloud layer just as we could spot the city of Innsbruck underneath us.

I could almost wave at the people on their balconies. The residential houses appeared so close to us.

This is a different kind of city sightseeing.

I did see the large cathedral of town, the bridge across the river Inn and the old town.

I also saw lots of buildings with flat roofs covered in green gardens.

Beautiful.

But aren’t we going to touch down soon? I can still see buildings underneath us.

There is the runway.

We made it.

Only one other plane is standing on the airfield.

We arrived in the Alps. On a very spectacular flight.

And now our vacation can start.

"In the end, we only regret the vacation we didn't take."

Read more about part one of the journey:

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