I got on the tiniest plane ever this summer.
Okay, I exaggerate a little…but not by much. It has definitely been a while since I’ve been on an airplane that has propellers and only one aisle, so I thought I’d write about it. Especially because I got great pictures, too!
Sitting by the boarding gate at Itami Airport, I saw a tiny plane land right outside my gate from the corner of my eye. I thought it was a cargo plane or something and didn’t even give it a thought. But then my flight to Matsuyama Airport was announced and once we passed the gate…we were guided outside.
Well, that doesn’t happen very often.
I’m not a nervous flyer at all but I’d be lying if I said my eyes weren’t glued to the propellers when we lifted off (not that I could do anything if they had stopped). I definitely felt the G’s, which was kind of fun. Also, because the airplane was cruising at a lower altitude, I had a great view of the Seto Inland Sea from above. All in all, I loved it!
Do you prefer larger airplanes? Or enjoy smaller ones?
Boarding our Bombardier DHC8-Q400 airplane!
Going up up up above the city of Osaka.
Onaruto Bridge (大鳴門橋) connects Awaji and Tokushima across the Naruto Straight.
A view of Seto Ohashi Bridge (瀬戸大橋), which goes from Okayama and Kagawa.
I’m almost positive this is the island of Nakajima (中島) near Matsuyama (松山).
We also had a super moon the day before…so pretty!
I love how the clouds look like cotton candy!
Enjoying the beautiful view while simultaneously checking for loose screws (just in case!).
It was too cloudy to see from below but we got a good view of the moon from here!
Isn’t this like an oil painting? Love the colors!
Ta-dah! We landed safely at Matsuyama Airport!
My sister’s airplane from Tokyo landed a little later and we both headed home to Imabari together!
Kaori Square Feet 
Amazing serie , love the first pic !
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You flew in the Dash 8? Lovely little Canadian plane. 😉 I flew in one once from Vancouver to Seattle. Wasn't a bad trip. A bit noisy overall and really small seats in the plane I was on. Thankfully they had space in the back for us to stretch out and take a couple seats each. Imagine 4 guys all crammed into the seats. 🙂
Only thing that scared me in the Dash 8, the landing. While I had no problems with the landing itself, watching the rear landing gear “float” to a rest after the wheels touched down was a surprise. Looked like it dropped half a metre. Talk about surprise!
PS: Lovely photos as always. Might have to try it myself someday.
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Merci Babzy! The view from the airplane was amazing because we were flying at sunset 😀
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Is this a Canadian plane? I had no idea! Our plane wasn't full so I had two seats to myself, which was nice. It was fun because you could really feel the airplane moving! I wish I could have seen the rear landing gear like you did! How thrilling 😉
I'm glad you like the photos. I'm trying to learn how to work my camera lately. You should try taking a few photos on your next flight! I used to sleep before we lifted off and sometimes had to be woken up by flight attendants after we'd landed…but lately I've been staying awake a little during the flight to look out the window. The view is always different and I love seeing the different colors in the sky. Especially around sunset, it's amazing! 😀
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I never sleep, or actually rarely sleep, on planes. I usually get a window seat too, so I enjoy looking out and day dreaming. I always love looking at the clouds and wishing I could surf on them. Kinda like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQa39YVeV6c
Skip to about 1:00 to see some of the cloud surfing. Couldn't find a video of nothing but cloud surfing.
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Itami airport! I used to live near there. =D
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Amazing photos, Kaori!!! I'm actually terrified of flying. (Even though I've done the NY – Tokyo flight so many times I can't remember.) And I definitely prefer larger planes. Here's a funny story though–while we were living in Nagoya, my husband (well, then-boyfriend) K chartered a Cessna on Christmas eve one year to take me on a flight above the city. His plan was to propose to me during the flight. Well, I'm not only scared of flying but I also get airsick so the flight (which consisted of the pilot in front and me and K squished in the back) was pretty traumatic for me. When K saw how terrified I was he told the pilot to turn around and cut the flight short. And of course, he didn't propose to me then. haha… He should've known better since we've been friends since high school and he actually knew that I hate planes!
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Talk about old school shows! I usee to watch tailspin but completely forgot about it! And yes, cloud surfing looks amazing! 😀
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Really? It must have been convenient for travelling! I used Itami a lot when my parents used to live in Osaka 🙂
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Aw that sounds so romantic and at the same time unbelievably horrific for you! (I really shouldn't laugh…) I think I'm the opposite of you, I get motion sickness on everything else except the airplane. Apparently 上下 movements don't bother me as much?Well, despite your dislike of plane rides, I hope you get to take a flight with little E back to the US soon! xx
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I love your travel stories!
What plane do I prefer? Anything that gets me there alive. Thus quoth the veteran of many an African airline. Twin prop plane over the equator, flying so low the bonobos could hop aboard. Twin prop plane emergency landing near Kitwe in northern Zambia (on our way to http://www.chimfunshi.de/?lang=en). DC-9 emergency landing during Harmattan in Nigeria. Egypt Air better known as Egypt Scare. Shall I go on? 😉
PS: Beautiful moon shots!
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Are you kidding? I love YOUR travel stories! I'm think you should do a blog post on all the plane flights you've survived through…I need to hear these stories in detail!!!
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I loved Tailspin. Fun show for kids.
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