Day 1: Physics makes everything awesome!

I am sitting in Auckland Airport, waiting to board my flight to Europe via LA. Looking past my reflection in the window and out onto the tarmac, I can see one of the enormous jets of the 777 that is about to carry me over the Pacific. The compressor is spinning slowly, the little spiral in the centre rotating. By the landing gear of the plane stands an official with his hands folded behind his back. I wonder what he's thinking?

For me, just a moment's reflection on the physics underlying the journey on which I am about  to embark is dizzying - both in terms of the technology that will take me to the other side of the world, and the nature I will travel through to get there.

Looking at the world and trying to make sense of its underlying physics makes everything awesome.

I am a high school physics teacher. I have won a scholarship to travel from New Zealand to Switzerland and Germany to visit some of the most awe-inspiring science and technology sites from Geneva to Berlin. As I make my way through a packed itinerary, I will use this blog to sustain my curiosity about the physical world and ask questions along the way that I may share with my students on my return. This blog is for asking questions about physics.

As I wait to board my plane, all around me people are sitting, running their fingers over their tablet screens, fanning the stuffy air past their bored faces with their boarding passes. A child is climbing under the metal frames of the seats.

As Louis CK says, everything's amazing and nobody's happy.