Have we forgotten about plane letters?
Varsha Patel
I’ve recently started using GoogleDocs again. This is in part due to my reluctance to pay for a Microsoft Office licence myself (it’s an expense I refuse to accept as necessary). But it’s also due to a recent Google workshop I attended, which reminded me that my anger at the pre-installed ‘Notepad’ program (it’s horrible to use!) was no longer a reason not to write, as my GoogleDocs account was still there. So now that I had no more excuses — although, as a “writer”, it’s not long until I dig out another creatively absurd excuse — I logged into my GoogleDocs account which I used before university and was eager to see what I was writing about six years ago.
Now, I mostly used it during my sixth form years, so I was unsurprised by my A2 Politics essay discussing whether the US presidency is ‘more imperial or imperilled’ — though I was surprised by how I managed to write anything at all on this topic. I was intrigued by some articles I wrote during a summer internship that feels like a lifetime ago, as well as a very old, very bare CV. But there was one type of writing that I was not expecting to see, and it took me aback because it’s something I haven’t thought about doing in years and years: a plane letter.
Mine certainly weren’t the romanticised version of plane letters: pages of hand-written gush with accompanying printed photos and in envelopes spritzed in my signature perfume scent. This isn’t a black and white movie, which is why my plane letters were more the 21st century edition: digitised, printed off, and stuffed into any old envelope my mum had at the back of her cupboard. In fact, I’m pretty sure I folded them as if I was going to put them in an envelope, and just handed them to my friends with a treasured promise that they would not read them until takeoff.
In fact, my plane letters were almost the opposite of romantic. See below the preamble — yes, there was a preamble to this one — to my best friend of 12 years, written to her as she was leaving for Camp America one summer:
“Hello there. Word on the street is that you are going to America today. (Selfish cow.) Just kidding, I’m so glad you are finally leaving me alone. (Just kidding again, I am dying inside.) Given my amazing writing skills, it is inevitable that I would write my BFF/girlfriend/wifey/twinnay/lifepartner/sister/cousin/everyrelativepossible/traveller an amazing plane letter to bid you goodbye, and also to keep you busy on the god-awful plane journey.”
So you can see that we were young. I mean, we were still using the phrase ‘wifey’ as a key measure of our friendship. Nonetheless, I loved writing these and I hope my best friend (or BFF/girlfriend/wifey/twinnay/lifepartner/sister/cousin/everyrelativepossible/traveller as she sometimes likes to be known as) also loved reading them.
And while I read these plane letters with that glowing warmth of nostalgia you get each time you relive fragments of childhood, I realised that plane letters have become somewhat of a forgotten art. In fact, just doing a quick Google search on plane letters barely pulls up anything! There is a brief Urban Dictionary definition, but apart from that, there’s nothing I’d really associate with the old-fashioned plane letter to be found. They can be beautiful, funny and pure entertainment for the traveller who has become tired of the in-flight entertainment, or is already feeling homesick. In a world where we rarely stop to see where we are, should we start embracing plane letters again to check back into the forgotten reality of appreciating those around us?
I’m sure there are people who still write plane letters, and I want to try to be one of them. In just the last two months of my life, my best friend and her boyfriend have travelled around Vietnam, my sisters have been to Costa Rica, Rome and Canada, and my boyfriend has just got back from Sardinia. These were all missed opportunities for some good old plane letters. So why didn’t I stop to write any?
Was it that it is too time-consuming? Did I have nothing to write about? Did I not think the person receiving them would appreciate them? Because in all honesty, I do have the time: they don’t all have to be pages and pages, sometimes just a few paragraphs would suffice. I certainly would have things to write about. If anything, I could just list a few hidden gems they should consider visiting at their destination. And with regards to the person appreciating them, while it certainly depends on the type of person, I think a little piece of home before you’re jetting off somewhere is always something you’ll cherish, both in the moment and in the long run.
So why not try to inject a little dash of the past into your loved ones travels? You could slip a handwritten (or printed copy) into the book you know they are taking with them, or you can share an iPhone note with them just before they take off. Whichever way you do it, why not give it a go?
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