(English translation below)
Yup travel through Russia’s heinous war againstUkraine even sitting, seemingly motionless, drinking champagne and watching a movie. It’s a harmless, safe way, without bloody images, yet anything but virtual and tried directly on one’s skin and clearly perceptible.
It is not cheap, several thousand euros depending on some variables, but it also allows for some appreciable secondary effects – such as a visit to Japan. To access it, go to the website Lufthansa or of the All Nippon Airways (the companies I used, but others are fine) and buy a return ticket from Frankfurt to Tokyo.
Otherwise, and more simply, we get lost in the poetic contemplation of world air routes, whose map is a sort of avant-garde artistic creation, threads that bind, expressions of the most crowded places and the most solitary ones.
On the site invisible date the routes traced by the planes have the logic of the direct road, the air line which is always the shortest. But with the war, this is no longer the case.
The outward journey will be long, about twelve hours, flying over Kazakhstan and then China. What you do in Tokyo doesn’t matter here. To understand what a war with Russia is, the experience begins with the return trip.
To the traveler embarked in Japan and bound for Europe, war imposes its law, subjecting him to a ban (Russian, in response to the European one which bans Moscow’s planes from our skies) to fly over this vast territory of eleven – eleven! – time zones from Kaliningrad to the Bering Strait.
It wasn’t like that before. But now, unable to fly to China from overcrowded skies, nor pass over Russia, nor even over the Pacific which is in an entirely different direction from home, the plane has no choice but to head northand begins a long straight line climbing, climbing without hesitation leaving the Pacific coast of Siberia on its left, skirting Alaska, approaching the North Pole.
But where are we going? In Frankfurt? Only when clear of Russia’s northern border does the aircraft make an angled bank and continues up there, on top of the world, until it reaches northern Canada. It is then the turn of Greenland, finally of Iceland, and, after more than fifteen hours, the flight ends.
Jokes of history, of war,
to geography
You return from the east coming from the west. Even the famous arctic route east from Helsinki, the shortest, needs to be rewritten – war dictates its laws.
It also does so by keeping at a distance, in the form of exclusion. And not even by closing the land borders, which remain open even if more problematic, but the freest there is: the skies, the skies at high altitudes, where at six thousand meters of height they establish themselves and respect sovereignties and prohibitions.
The traveler is left disoriented, because it corresponds to the paradoxes of a sort of inversion of the cardinal points the paradox of the so real impact of war at such a great distance and in such an inappropriate, almost obscene context – sitting, in fact, with champagne in hand, watching a screen with the Flight information which explains the story, and saved only by the shape of our planet: the sphere can lengthen the journey, but it always allows the return. Let it be a metaphor for finding your way home even from this war.
ENGLISH VERSION
The Invisible Data site to understand the illogical reality of long new air routes
not to fly over Russia
The war in Ukraine creates endless new airways to avoid Russia. It is the reflection of the war from the earth to the sky.
one travels through Russia’s hateful war on Ukraine while sitting, seemingly motionless, drinking champagne and watching a movie. It is a harmless, safe way, with no tough images, yet anything but virtual and clearly perceptible. It is not cheap, several thousand euros depending on some variables, but it also allows for some appreciable secondary effects – such as a visit to Japan.
To access it, go to the Lufthansa or All Nippon Airways websites (the two airlines I used, but one can choose among many others) and buy a ticket from Frankfurt to Tokyo and return. The outward journey will be long, about twelve hours, flying over Kazakhstan and then China. What you do in Tokyo doesn’t matter here.
Otherwise, and more simply, we can get lost in the poetic contemplation of the world’ air routing, through maps which are a sort of avant-garde artistic creation, threads that bind, expressions of the most crowded places and the most solitary ones.
On the invisible date site the routes traced by planes have the logic of the direct road, the “line of sight” which is always the most short. But with the war, this is no longer the case.
The experience begins with the return journey, which will make you understand what a war with Russia implies.
The war imposes its law on the traveler embarked in Japan and aimed at Europe, since it imposes him the prohibition (a Russian one, in response to the European one which bans Moscow’s planes from our skies) to fly over this immense territory of eleven – eleven! – time zones from Kaliningrad to the Bering Strait.
Before it was not like that, but nowadays, China airspace being too busy, prevented to fly over Russia, the Pacific Ocean being in an opposite direction, the plane has no choice but to steer north, and begins a long straight line climbing, climbing without hesitation leaving the coast peace of Siberia to its left, skirting Alaska, approaching the North Pole – and we wonder whether we really going to Frankfurt. Only when it crosses the northern border of Russia, the plane makes an angled turn and continues up there, on top of the world, until it reaches northern Canada. It was then the turn of Greenland, finally of Iceland, and, after fifteen hours, the flight concluded.
Jokes of history, of war, of geography: you return from the east coming from the west. Even the famous Arctic route to the east from Helsinki, the shortest, needs to be rewritten – war dictates its laws.
It also does so by keeping at a distance, in the form of exclusion. And not even by closing the land borders, which remain open even if more problematic, but the freest there is: the skies, the skies at high altitudes, where at six thousand meters above sea level they establish and respect sovereignty and prohibitions.
The traveler is left disoriented, because the paradoxes of a sort of inversion of the cardinal points correspond to the paradox of the real impact of the war at such a great distance and in such an inappropriate, almost obscene context – seated, precisely, with champagne in hand, watching on the screen the “Flight Route” option – which is a sort of history book. We are saved only by the shape of our planet: the sphere can lengthen the journey, but always allows the return. Let it be a metaphor for finding your way home even from this war.
The illogical reality of long air routes not to fly over Russia