Me gusta sentarme junto a la ventana durante el embarque, porque así veo cómo el avión se prepara para despegar.

Because gustar works differently from English to like.

In Spanish, gustar literally works more like to be pleasing to. So:

• Me gusta sentarme... = Sitting down... is pleasing to me
• More natural English: I like to sit down...

So:

• me = to me
• gusta = is pleasing

You use gusta here because what follows is an infinitive idea: sentarme.

Compare:

• Me gusta viajar. = I like travelling.
• Me gusta la ventana. = I like the window.

Sentarme is the infinitive sentar(se) with the reflexive pronoun attached.

• sentar = to seat, to place
• sentarse = to sit down

So:

• sentarme = to sit down myself / simply to sit down

With infinitives, reflexive pronouns are often attached to the end:

• sentarme = to sit down
• levantarme = to get up
• ducharme = to shower

You could also sometimes separate the pronoun in other structures, but after gustar, attaching it to the infinitive is the normal form:

• Me gusta sentarme...

Because sentarse means to sit down, while sentar usually means to seat someone/something or to make someone sit.

So:

• Quiero sentarme. = I want to sit down.
• Voy a sentar al niño. = I’m going to seat the child.

In your sentence, the speaker is doing the action to themselves, so the reflexive form sentarse is needed.

Junto a means next to or by.

So:

• junto a la ventana = next to the window / by the window

Yes, it is very common and natural in Spain.

Other similar expressions are:

• al lado de la ventana = next to the window
• cerca de la ventana = near the window

Junto a usually suggests being right beside something, so it fits well here.

Because junto normally goes with the preposition a:

• junto a = next to / beside

So you say:

• junto a la ventana

This is just the standard fixed expression. Spanish often uses prepositions in places where English does not.

Durante means during, and el embarque means boarding in an airport or plane context.

So:

• durante el embarque = during boarding

In Spain, embarque is very common for air travel. You may also hear expressions like:

• la puerta de embarque = boarding gate
• la tarjeta de embarque = boarding pass

Because embarque is a masculine noun in Spanish, so it takes el.

There is no deep logical reason that always helps predict gender; it is mostly something you learn with the noun. Here, the correct form is:

• el embarque

A useful habit is to learn nouns with their article:

• el embarque
• la ventana
• el avión

Here así means that way, like that, or by doing that.

In the sentence:

• porque así veo... = because that way I can see...

It connects the first idea to the result:

• I like sitting by the window during boarding,
• because by doing that I can see what happens outside.

This use of así is very common.

Compare:

• Siéntate aquí; así verás mejor. = Sit here; that way you’ll see better.

Here cómo means how.

So:

• veo cómo el avión se prepara para despegar = I see how the plane gets ready to take off or more naturally, = I watch the plane preparing for take-off

The word cómo with an accent is used in indirect questions or exclamations, including after verbs like ver, mirar, explicar, saber, etc.

Examples:

• No sé cómo funciona. = I don’t know how it works.
• Vi cómo abrió la puerta. = I saw how he opened the door.

Because it is being used as an interrogative/exclamative word in an indirect question.

Even though there are no question marks, the structure still contains the idea of how:

• veo cómo... = I see how...

Compare:

• como = like / as / I eat
• cómo = how

So the accent mark helps distinguish the meaning.

Prepararse means to get ready or to prepare oneself.

So:

• el avión se prepara = the plane gets ready / the plane is preparing

This is a reflexive construction. Spanish often uses reflexive verbs where English might use a non-reflexive phrasing.

Compare:

• Me preparo para salir. = I’m getting ready to leave.
• El avión se prepara para despegar. = The plane is getting ready to take off.

In English, a plane does not literally “prepare itself” in a human sense, but in Spanish this phrasing sounds natural.

Not with the same meaning here.

• El avión se prepara para despegar = The plane gets ready to take off.
• El avión prepara... would mean The plane prepares... something, which sounds incomplete or unnatural unless the plane is the thing doing the preparation of another object.

So in this sentence, se prepara is the correct form.

Because after para you usually use an infinitive when the subject stays the same or when you are expressing purpose.

• para despegar = in order to take off / to take off

So:

• se prepara para despegar = gets ready to take off

This is very common:

• Estudio para aprender. = I study to learn.
• Se vistió para salir. = He got dressed to go out.

In aviation, despegar means to take off.

More literally, outside the flight context, it can mean to unstick or to detach from a surface. That original idea helps explain why it is used for planes: the aircraft leaves the ground.

Examples:

• El avión va a despegar. = The plane is going to take off.
• No puedo despegar la pegatina. = I can’t peel off the sticker.

There actually is an article before embarque:

• durante el embarque

That is because embarque is a noun.

But despegar is an infinitive verb, not a noun here:

• para despegar = to take off

So:

• el embarque = the boarding
• despegar = to take off

Spanish uses infinitives very often where English might use to + verb.

Both are possible, but they mean slightly different things.

• Veo que el avión se prepara... = I see/notice that the plane is getting ready...
• Veo cómo el avión se prepara... = I see/watch how the plane gets ready...

With cómo, the focus is more on the process or manner. The speaker is watching the preparation happen.

So cómo is a nice choice here because it matches the idea of observing the plane during boarding.

Grammatically, it could be either, depending on context. The sentence itself just says the window.

But the most likely interpretation is the seat by the airport window, because the person says they like to sit there during boarding so they can watch the plane getting ready outside.

If it meant the airplane window, the sentence would still be possible, but the context strongly suggests a window in the terminal.

Not exactly in the same way.

• ver = to see
• mirar = to look at / to watch

Here, veo works naturally because the speaker is talking about what they can see from that place.

You could rephrase with mirar, but the structure would change a bit:

• ...porque así puedo mirar cómo el avión se prepara para despegar. = ...because that way I can watch how the plane gets ready to take off.

So ver is more direct in the original sentence, while mirar would put more emphasis on intentionally watching.

The comma separates the main statement from the explanation:

• Me gusta sentarme junto a la ventana durante el embarque
• porque así veo cómo el avión se prepara para despegar

It helps readability and sounds natural in writing. In shorter sentences, commas before porque are not always required, but here it works well because the sentence is fairly long.

Yes, it sounds natural and idiomatic in Spain.

Especially natural features include:

• junto a la ventana
• durante el embarque
• así
• se prepara para despegar

A Spanish speaker from Spain would understand it easily and would very likely say something similar.