Day One- Thursday 14th April
Thursday started like a normal day because I had to go to school first. Packing then had to be rushed, since we hadn’t had enough time to do so earlier, and packing was only made worse by the fact that my suitcase weighed 20kg and we had a 15kg weight limit due to the instruments. In the end, I had to pack my smaller backpack inside my larger one and shove two pairs of shoes in my larger backpack. All the while, I had the Flower Duet from Lakmé stuck in my head, which was ironic considering that that song was also stuck in my head on my flight home last year.
At the airport, I realised that I didn’t know how to operate my lock properly. When I worked out how to close it, I didn’t turn the dials enough (it was a combination lock). I only turned the top dial one space, so it was easy for something to rub against it and thus open the lock. We then decided to get another lock that I would know how to use, so Dad went up to get another lock, but…
… HE GOT THE SAME TYPE OF LOCK.
I’m not joking.
Anyway, I figured out how to use the lock in the end, so all was well. My suitcase ended up being 18 or so kilos, but nobody cared.
Since I had forgotten to bring my watch with me, we bought another one duty free. After that, I proceeded through passport control and security and then sat on a couch with a bunch of other people for ages. Our flight was delayed for about an hour, while all the time I was feeling a little anxious worrying about things like my lock and whether I had forgotten anything else. To top it off, every toilet cubicle I went into had a sign saying “Anxiety is paralysing” on the back of the door.
Eventually, we boarded the plane. I was seated between Jonty and Marta (middle seat in the left group of 3), as expected. We all had some fun playing with the phones on the seat while waiting. Angus called my seat even though he was right behind me, and when I answered the phone he replied with a “’Sup, Kayley?”
After some announcements in English and Arabic (the one thing better than a random PA announcement is a random PA announcement in a language you don’t understand), people fiddling with the phones had to stop because they had been disabled for take-off.
Jonty pointed at one of the illuminated signs at the front of the cabin, saying, “Look, that’s the sign that says you can’t call people!”
“Wait… which one?” Marta and I asked.
“That one! Next to the non-smoking sign!” was Jonty’s answer.
“Wait… which one?” Marta and I asked.
“That one! Next to the non-smoking sign!” was Jonty’s answer.
The non-smoking sign was on the far left, so there could only really be one sign he was talking about. Upon seeing which sign it was, I inwardly shuddered, and let loose a little nervous laughter.
“No, Jonty. That’s the toilet sign.”
Eventually the plane took off, and there was a mad scramble as we moved around once the seatbelt sign had gone off. My main concern was that I got an aisle seat so that I didn’t have to annoy anyone every time I needed to go to the toilet, so I just swapped with Marta. Jonty moved off, and Karri took his place. This worked out badly for Marta in a way- she ended up with the personal TV with the broken touch screen.
I played DS for a few hours, and when there were roughly 7 ½ hours remaining of the flight, I decided that I should get some sleep. However, doing so would require that I rinse my mouth and prepare my grinding plate for application, and the only really reasonable place to do those things was in the aeroplane toilet cubicle.
I had several weird fears that turning on the water or unlocking the door before flushing would cause the toilet to automatically flush, and I wasn’t particularly keen on hearing that loud flushing sound, at least not suddenly. I simply stood there for around half a minute, before deciding to simply flush the toilet so that I would know for sure that it would flush (as you can see, I was caught between a rock and a hard place here). As I flushed it, I dared it to “scare me” (out loud, but not too loud), and I must have somehow intimidated it, because it was actually pretty quiet!
For the rest of the flight, I tried to sleep. Sleeping was difficult because the light from the TV screens distracted me (it obviously didn’t occur to me to use the eyepatch provided in the amenity kit I was given) and there was nowhere comfortable to put my legs due to having stowed my clarinet under the seat in front of me. Also, I managed to spill water in the worst possible place- between my legs- so that was not fun. It felt rather mocking too as I used to be afraid of aeroplane toilets. I think I semi-slept for six hours, after which I cleaned out my grinding plate again in the dreaded toilet cubicle. This time, I got a bit too carried away with the “Scare me!” thing. I practically half-yelled it and I think some of the random normal people at the front of my cabin must have heard, because at least one guy was looking/half-staring at me. I did my best to ignore it, and made my way back to my seat casually… just casually…
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