I had spent the last day sorting and packing not only stuff for this trip, but stuff to discard from home. It was mainly clothes that could go off to recycle, i had dropped a bit of bulk in the last year or so there was plenty of items being offloaded. Sort, discard, pack.
Barring a couple of distractions, that was basically how it carried on until time came for the off. I said goodbye to my dear mother, told her I'd back Tuesday and she broke down in tears. "Make it Wednesday" she said, we're busy Tuesday, it's singing. I think I may have scared her.
The trip to Heathrow was better than I had initially hoped thanks to a dear friends offer of a lift which i eventually succumbed to, partly due to running myself into the ground packing humbug mints and Double Deckers. I had been fortunate to receive many offers of transportation but you do start wondering after a while if people are really that desperate to make sure you go. I had been initially planning to take the national express coach on the hokey leg of the journey, but eventually it became clear that I was quickly running out of time so a lift it was.
A few hours later after a long short stop for coffee, Heathrow finally approached.
i carried my bag through to check in, the thing weighed a tonne* and I was trembling with nerves. Check in was relatively smooth with just the one eyebrow raised at the fact that my next flight after Bangkok was from Singapore 2 months later. but all is well. So with newly printed boarding pass in hand and my heavier bag taking the express route to hold central, I went in search of the security line. It was easy to find, harder to miss, ooh ooh ooh I went joined the conga. nobody was dancing.
After security i started to calm, grabbed some water, glucose tablets and few other supplies from one of the shops, took a breather for 5 and rearranged my bag a little before heading down to the departure gate, turned off my phone and boarded the Quantas flight to Dubai.
Nerves were back. I moved town the plane until I found my seat located just behind the wing in the middle of plane, aisle seat, lovely. I chucked my bag in the overhead locker, sat down and waited until eventually the order was given and the doors were locked. The seat next to me remained empty, which meant I had exclusive access to grip the hell out of the armrest to my right if I felt the need, the need to squeeze.
After being introduced to Aussie pilot 1 the plane started to move and we were treated to the standard pre flight safety video. The air stewardess's illustrations mirroring the little people on the video screen on the headrest in front. In my mind however the associated voice over was unfortunately being substituted for Tyler Durden.
"oxygen makes you high".
I also guess that it's a little wrong that they make the bit on the video about using the big bouncy slide look like so much fun, it may have been in inappropriate time to giggle but i,m putting that one down to the fear.
The plane came to a halt and Aussie pilot 2 informed us that there could be a small delay of around 15 minutes before take off due to 6 planes lining up in front of us. I watched us slowly trundle along the runway, the headrest screen displaying a live video feed from a forward facing camera mounted on the tail. I hope they kept the receipt, it all looked a little blurry.
Our turn arrives, the engines roar and i feel myself being pushed back into the seat.
"Holy shit" is all my mind comes up with. my first flight take off I've really truly experienced and that's all the bugger has to say!
Inspirational? no.
Accurate portrayal of my emotion? Absolutely
I watch on the screen as the nose raises, pointing the way for the rest to follow. It's exhilarating and scary. I feel the plane drop and I look around to make sure no one is floating like you would see in one of those astronaut training videos. It's all OK. Probably just levelling off. It happens a couple more times before the view of London disappears from my video feed, replaced first by cloud brushing over the wings then nothing but the clarity of the night time sky.
I start to relax again.
I need water, make it straight, its going to be a long night. My sugar levels are slightly elevated along with the rest of me.
* tonne = 15kg
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