Finally, after a long (and I mean really long - I reached the airport 3 hours early and finished checking in in half an hour!) wait at Dublin airport, we were asked to board the flight. On the way I noticed 2 very cute kids, a boy and a girl. The big sister was trying to look after her little brother. It looked so cute that I felt like taking out my camera and capturing the scene. That's when I heard a call, "Sarah, are you OK there?" from their mom, who was pulling a pram and 2 small pieces of baggage. Big sis gave an interesting answer, "Yes Mom, I'm fine. But Danny is not pulling his baggage fast enough!" Girls huh! Mom apologised to me for the traffic block posed by the two little ones. I smiled and said, "It's ok."
I speeded up and on the flight, was greeted by a pretty Asian lady. Normally when I get into the plane, I am usually told to take a right and go somewhere deep down inside, pretty much somewhere near the tail. So it felt really nice to be told to take a left (the advantages of going on a company sponsored business trip) to seat no. 9A. The little cabin around the seat was to be my world for the next 8 hours.
I had hardly gotten seated when an air hostess came to me and asked me if I needed anything to drink - I could choose between champagne, freshly squeezed orange juice and carrot juice. I chose the orange juice (Aha! I know you were expecting the champagne, right?). She brought me the orange juice, and it was freshly squeezed, like she mentioned, not the one from the carton that I used to get when travelling in economy.
I started thinking about how money creates barriers between people. While on the ground, people pay big money for big houses, whereas up in the air, they did the same for a 6 feet long space. Even though those travelling in economy paid a good chunk of their incomes to travel someplace, they usually have to travel in cramped spaces. Also, was there such a difference that those in economy got juice from cartons and in business class get it freshly squeezed? Was that all the value that the airline company gave me when I travelled in economy?
I was waiting for the entertainment system to be turned on so that I could watch some movies, but then must have accidentally hit some button, as my chair suddenly started vibrating, and that too in strange areas! (Don't get weird ideas my friends!) That's when I noticed that the chair was a massaging chair that does good massages for your upper and lower body. Hmm...interesting! I hadn't come across that on any of my previous business trips. However, I felt that that was not required. As the flight was turbulent at times (though not too turbulent), all passengers would certainly have gotten some kind of massage/shaken up feel!
As I slowly settled down, an air hostess sat down at the entrance to my cabin and started asking questions like she knew me for a long time. She was talking about climates, what kind of climate she likes, what she drinks, etc, but all my attention was centred on my stomach which was growling. I asked her, "Please could I get some food?" So then she took the order and pleasantly walked by. I then looked out of the window as the flight took off, and WOW! It looked beautiful! I felt like millions of candles had been lit, wishing me all the very best and a safe journey. I tried to take a photo with my phone. It didn't come out very good, but I did sort of capture the soul of the scene.
I then watched a couple of movies and tried to sleep for a while, but for some reason, sleep evaded me. To be honest, I was not feeling tired. That was strange. Probably I was excited about the journey, or it was quite more probable that I was excited about this new endeavour to write about the journey! :)
After many hours, the Captain announced that we were going to land and to please make sure that our windows were open. I opened my window to see us surrounded by a sea of white cotton, and as we descended, patches of emerald sea could be seen through the cloud. No words will be sufficient to describe the real beauty of this wonderful world...
After the flight landed at Abu Dhabi, I collected my hand baggage and just thought I would turn around and look at my fellow passengers. Hey, there was a familiar face! I was so happy to see a person I knew...
To be continued...
