上天下地入海简介： 这是一个涅磐重生的故事。。。如果是你，而立之年已过，是否还有勇气放下驾轻就熟的事业，去追逐极富挑战的梦想?王争做到了，在超乎常人的付出之后，她的人生也获得了无与伦比的突破和自由。
Finding freedom in the unknown, Finding myself in the freedom
未知中遇见自由，自由中遇见自己
Last summer, I became the first Asian woman to fly around the world. I’m also the first Chinese person to fly around the world solo.
What “solo” means in aviation is the ordinary English language meaning of “solo,”“a thing done by one person, unaccompanied.” It means doing it alone. It is the same flying an aircraft as it is playing a musical instrument.
Flying solo, I was alone on board my little aircraft for nearly 40,000 kilometers. It took about 155 hours of flying to circle the earth. I stopped every evening for a few hours of rest, but there were no other passengers or crew. Just me. My attention became very concentrated and refined, and that really shaped my experience of flying around the world.
So, other than the fact that I flew around the world alone in a little airplane, what else can I tell you about my circumnavigation flight? Let me tell you just enough of the details so that you get the general idea:
去年夏天，我成为了第一位环球飞行的亚洲女性，也是第一位单人环球飞行的中国人。
Solo这个单词在航空领域的意思和它在日常英语中(我们所熟知)的一样：‘一个人没有同伴，单独做一件事情’，就如独奏一样，驾驶飞机时‘单飞’意味着整架飞机里只有你一个人。
这次单飞，我在小小的驾驶舱中度过了155个小时，跨越了将近40000公里。当然了，每天晚上我都会落地停歇几个小时，但整个过程中没有任何机组成员或乘客的陪伴，只有我一个人。我之所以告诉你们这些，是因为如此旷日持久的独自飞行可以让你变得专注，你的注意力会非常集中，并会不断变得更加集中，同时这也极大程度上丰富了我的环球飞行体验。
(图片：穿越大片水域，都要穿救生衣，忍受这种密闭的炎热，是环飞的大小考验中其中之一)
那么除了我独自环球飞行这个实事本身之外，我还能和大家分享些什么呢?首先给大家讲一下本次飞行中的一点细节，让大家有一个基本的概念。
Here are the ingredients: take a woman and a small single piston engine propeller airplane, add some extra fuel tanks so her plane has enough range to fly over the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, fill those tanks up so that the plane is overweight but still legal, make sure she can fly the thing with that heavy extra fuel, make sure she can communicate with everyone she’ll need to communicate with. Make sure over-flight and landing clearances are being arranged properly and have plenty of American dollars on hand since half the world only accepts dollars in cash for aviation gasoline. Make sure you eat something and figure out how you’re going to pee in that little airplane. (Drink enough water but not too much!) Don’t forget to keep transferring fuel to your main tanks and don’t accidentally pump your fuel overboard. And avoid all wars, civil strife and areas of terrorism. Don’t fall asleep and don’t daydream. Take lots of pictures. Keep your fingers crossed!
来个环球飞行“构成成分”清单：一位女性，一架单发活塞发动机小飞机，几个装有额外燃油的油箱，有了这些你就可以飞跃太平洋，穿越大西洋。而加满这些油箱，会使飞机超出其最大起飞重量的25%，你得确保她可以操纵这架超出正常最大起飞重量的飞机，确保她能够随时跟需要沟通的空管进行陆空通话，确保她能获得相应的航路许可和放行许可，同时，美金也得带够，谁让大半个世界的航油只能用美金现金购买呢。还得保证你要填满肚子，至于上厕所的难题，你可得想好在这么个小机舱里怎么解决(一定要补充水分，但千万别喝多了!)记得定时给飞机主油箱注油!千万别超时注油造成溢漏!哦，还有记得避开一切战乱区域、一切地区冲突、一切恐怖袭击。还有还有，别睡着了!更别做白日梦!最后，别吝啬快门，可劲照吧!好了，该你做的都做好了，剩下的就交给老天了!
The experience of flying around the world alone changed my perspective of the world, and that’s what I want to share with you today, basically that all of life is flying in the clouds.
As a pilot, the first time you do this might be in a flight simulator but when it happens for real it will be uncomfortable because your guts are telling you there’s something wrong about travelling so fast and not being able to see what’s in front of you. You may even begin to feel sick in your stomach.
Aircraft have sophisticated navigation system but people not so much. We can’t see the road we’re on in life and we have very little, if any, idea about what’s coming around the next curve. There is no highway, no entrance ramp, no exit ramp, no signage. The best we can do is look backwards and make a story from what’s already happened, from the waypoints we’ve already passed.
独自环球飞行的经历彻底改变了我的世界观。这，就是我今天想与大家分享的东西，其实，生活如同云中飞行。
作为一名飞行员，第一次云中飞行可能在模拟机中训练，但当你真正开始在云中飞行的那一刻，可能会因为失去了所有目视参照物而感觉不适，那种快速前行却看不到前方有什么的感觉可能让你感觉肠胃不适，甚至你胃里开始翻江倒海。
飞机有复杂精密的导航设备，但是我们的生活没有。因此生活中，我们看不见脚下的路，对前方的路一无所知，不知道哪里会有下一转弯，不知道下一个瞬间会发生什么。生活可不像高速公路，没有入口，没有出口，没有指示牌。我们能做到的只有回顾过去，在过去走过的路里总结经验。
Look, how many of you believe that you know where you are right now? You will say “in Tianjin,” right? And where is Tianjin? In China. And where is China? In Asia. And where is Asia? On Earth. And where is Earth? In the solar system. And where is the solar system? In the Milky Way Galaxy. And where is the Milky Way Galaxy? In the Universe? Ok. Where is the Universe?
So in a very real sense we don’t know where we are. Thinking you do know where you are is just relative thinking. It’s not incorrect that you believe you’re sitting at this TED talk in Tianjin but it’s hardly the whole story. It’s like looking at only one side of a coin.
你们有多少人相信你们知道自己现在身在何处?你可能会毫不犹豫地说：天津。那么天津在哪?中国。中国在哪?在亚洲。亚洲在哪?在地球?地球在哪?在太阳系。太阳系在哪，在银河系。银河系在哪?在宇宙。好吧，宇宙在哪?
所以很可观地说我们并不真的知道我们身在何处，我们觉得我们知道自己在哪其实只是一种相对的概念。当然没错，你相信你现在坐在中国民航大学的TED演讲大厅，但很难说这描述了事实的全部，就好像我们只看到硬币的一面。
(图片：王争拍摄，太平洋的云)
As we travel through life – our natural condition is the opposite of what we think. Our “default” state is “lost” and we’re hardly, if ever, “found”. Life is an uncertain journey that we try to organize into an orderly thing. We don’t know where we came from, we don’t know where we are and we don’t know the final destination of our life journey. But don’t let the word “lost” be a trigger for panic. In reality, you don’t have to understand “lost” as a bad thing. If we can come to accept the reality of the unknown in our life — the other side of the coin– at least we can experience some freedom from the anxiety of being lost. If we ignore the labels that others attach to us and fully participate in a great boundless universe I guaranty you that you will feel more free.
I’m a pilot – for now anyway – so why am I telling you this story that may sound somewhat philosophical? Because this is my experience from flying around the world. When we change our perspective of the world, we can transform our own experience.
当我们穿行在我们生命的旅途，我们的客观处境与我们的认知相反 -我们的“默认”状态是“迷失”，我们很难“找寻”到自我，生命是一程不确定的旅程，尽管我们努力让它变得有序与可控。我们不知道我们从哪来，不知道现在在哪，不知道最终去向何方，但是不要被“迷失”吓到惶恐不安，实际上我们不必把“迷失”当成坏事，如果你可以接受生命充满未知和不确定性这个现实——硬币的另一面，至少我们不必为“迷失”而感觉不安。如果我们撕掉那些为定位自己展示给别人的、或者别人给我们贴上的标签，放任自己的身心在无边的宇宙，我保证，你会感受到前所未有的自由!
我是个飞行员 – 至少现在是 – 为什么我告诉你这个可能听起来有点哲学的故事? 因为这是我在世界各地飞行的经验。 当我们改变我们对世界的看法时，我们可以改变自己的体验。
My solo around the world flight was mostly compressed into 18 days of flying with many single flight legs lasting over 10 hours. Toward the end of the circumnavigation, Day 16, departing Lisbon, Portugal, landing Azores, Portugal, and preparing to do my second oceanic crossing — which would be around 12 hours from Portugal’s Azores across the mid-Atlantic– to Newfoundland, Canada, I set myself up for a very long day that ultimately would keep me awake for nearly thirty hours straight.
The Azores over the east Atlantic has one of the most beautiful oceans I had ever seen, where the pure, bright saturated blue of the ocean confounded all my expectations of the Atlantic as being dark and nasty. The Lisbon-Azores leg had already lifted my spirit dramatically.
One reason I took a west-bound route was to squeeze a little more daylight out of each leg, chasing the sun every afternoon. That day, even the Little Prince would have been amazed at the sunset, it seemed to be never ending.
我的单人环球飞行持续了18天，大多数航段都是超过10小时的飞行。在环飞进入尾声时，第16天，我从葡萄牙的里斯本出发，落地在亚速尔群岛的圣玛利亚岛，准备开始第二次跨洋飞行，这一段将耗时12小时，以葡萄牙的亚速尔群岛为跨洋起点，至加拿大的纽芬兰结束，跨越中大西洋。长时间的飞行中，我都要保持清醒，这是非常漫长的一天，这一程横跨大西洋让我将近持续30个小时不能睡觉。
东大西洋上，亚速尔群岛周围的海可谓是我见过最美的海，蓝得清澈，蓝得明亮，蓝得深邃，彻底颠覆了我对大西洋的认识——我原以为它会漆黑又恶劣。这段惊喜——里斯本至亚速尔群岛这段航程，已经大大振奋了我的精神。
我的环球飞行选择了不常见的西飞航向，其中一个原因是为了让白天飞行的时间多一点，每天下午我都追着夕阳飞行。我想，那段日子，就算是小王子也会为之惊讶，仿佛落日永远不会结束。
(图片：王争拍摄，大西洋日落)
Eventually, night fell and, with a bright moon above and a carpet of moonlit clouds below, I flew on toward Canada for another seven hours in darkness. At some point everything had become quiet. My mood had taken on a surreal feeling and I was as relaxed as I could possibly be. Flying above the ocean at night, there was no horizon, no city lights, no landmarks. There was only the light from the cockpit instrument gauges and the hum of the engine. I had never known feeling such a vast expanse. The feeling at that time was like my very being had expanded out to meet the vastness and I no longer existed just in my little body. The world was vast and so was I. At that moment tears were welling up in my eyes; for how unexpected it was, that on this journey in an airplane, all alone, I would meet myself.
最终，夜幕降临，明月高悬，月光洒向云海在我身下给我铺就了一层云毯，我在夜空里飞向加拿大纽芬兰，就这样在黑暗中又飞行了七个小时。有那么一瞬间开始，似乎全世界都安静了下来。那是一种梦幻的感觉，我彻彻底底地放松了。夜晚飞在茫茫大西洋上空，眼前没有地平线、没有城市灯火、没有地标，有的只是驾驶室里的仪表盘和我的双手，还有发动机的轰鸣。前所未有的一种感觉强烈袭来——无边的广阔的逃离，那是一种灵魂离开小小的身体融入到无边宇宙的自由。世界很大，心在其中。在那一刻，眼泪夺眶而出，我想都没想过这次旅行，一个人的旅行，我会与一个陌生的自己相遇。
(图片：王争拍摄，大西洋月升)
As I approached St. Johns near midnight, I welcomed the lights of the city and the very bright, colorful lights of the airport runway. I felt that reaching North America was significant because I would be familiar with the air traffic system, have friendly controllers who spoke perfect English and the next two days would be a breeze. Well, not exactly.
当我到达圣约翰(纽芬兰)时，临近午夜。城市的灯火通明，机场上明亮的五彩斑斓的跑道灯，仿佛在欢迎我一样。到达北美之后，有一种宾至如归的感觉，这才是我熟悉的空中交通管理系统——友好管制员说着流利的英语，接下来的两天可以喘口气了。然而，并没有。
As I stepped out of the plane and the brisk northern air pelted my face, a duo of Canada Customs and Border Patrol officers were waiting for me with a barrage of questions: “Who are you?” “Where are you from?” What are you doing here?” “Where are you going?” I was being interrogated like a criminal. Who said that Canadians are like Americans, only nicer?
The Canadians decided not to arrest me for what turned out to be a minor paperwork slip up by the St. John’s handling agent. What struck me, however, was the feeling of stepping out of the cockpit after flying those almost spiritual seventeen hours, and after being awake for 29 hours and then being barraged with all those questions; it was so strange, there was almost no one there to answer but predictably all the labels instantly returned.
I always tell people: follow your heart. But the hardest thing is to know your heart, to know yourself. Night flight crossing Atlantic Ocean alone, I had the amazing and rare good fortune to meet myself.
当我从舱门里出来时，凛冽的北风吹打着我的脸颊，两位海关人员和边检机构人员正等着我，接二连三地盘问着我，“你是谁?”“你从哪来?”“你来这里干什么?”“你要去哪?”我像个犯人一样，被审问。谁说加拿大人和美国人差不多的，只是比美国人更友好?
最后加拿大海关决定放过我，是因为查出究竟，由于当地FBO的失职，我的入境计划没有递交到海关。关于加拿大海关和边检的问题很快就解决了。但，真正让我震惊的是一出机舱的感觉，在刚刚经历了17个小时灵魂洗礼的飞行后，那时我29个小时未眠，当被问到“你是谁”这些看似简单的问题时，我的“人世间”的标签迅速被贴回来了。
我常说，遵从内心。但是最难的事情就是知道自己的本心所在。我们总是了解别人比了解自己更多。夜晚，我独自穿越大西洋上空时，我真真正正地和自己相遇了一次。
(图片：环飞结束，向飞机吻别)
Childhood dreams are pure and naturally from the heart. That’s why they are powerful. If you plant a seed of your dream, it will grow when the conditions are right.
I grew up surrounded by aerospace engineering-professors. And I loved “The Little Prince” a story about a pilot who crashes in the desert and meets a little prince from another world. I was fascinated with space and flying to me was living in the sky. The seed was planted but didn’t grow until I moved to the United States.
When you’re fascinated with something, it won’t let go of you and you won’t let go of it. I was already in my late 30s when I started my life in aviation after a career in advertising. All of my friends and my parents advised me not to switch careers, “it’s too late” they said, “and you’ll lose all of your advertising career value.”
Bob Dylan has a song, that ends with: “When you ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose. ”There’s also a Chinese rock and roll lyric by Xu Wei: “You stand on this bustling street, cannot find the direction you should go. You stand on this bustling street, feeling flustered. Your dream is a warm light, lighting up the darkness……”
I looked up at the sky. I was never afraid of failure but I worried that one day I’d be too old to chase my dreams and would regret not having tried.
童年的梦想是纯真的发自干净的内心的，这也是为什么那时的梦想对一生都有巨大的影响。
从小到大，我的身边都不乏航空航天工程师，再加上我很喜欢《小王子》这个故事，它讲述的是一名飞行员坠机沙漠后，邂逅了来自另一个星球的小王子的故事。
因此我很喜欢太空，喜欢遨游天空的感觉。当你痴迷于一件事的时候，你念念不忘，必有回响。于是，这在我的心底埋下了梦想的种子，但直到我去了美国之后，它才开始发芽，茁壮。
之前我从事的是广告业，进入航空领域是在而立之年之后。我所有的朋友以及我的父母都建议我不要再开始新的事业，一是太晚了，二是我在广告领域丰厚的职业积累也会付之东流。
Bob Dylan有一首歌唱到：“When you ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose. ”所有的患得患失都是自以为是地不敢放掉手上握住的一点点“财富”。中国的摇滚音乐人许巍的《那一年》这样唱到：“你站在这繁华的街上/找不到你该去的方向/你站在这繁华的街上/感觉到从来没有的慌张/你曾拥有一些英雄的梦想/好象黑夜里面温暖的灯光……”。
我抬头仰望天空，我对自己说：“我不怕失败，只怕有一天我老到无能为力尝试任何曾经的梦想时，会后悔，后悔我在能追梦的年华，都不曾一试”。(文章转自微信公众号：上天下地入海)
