With all my bags packed - physically and mentally with all the essentials on board, I reached the airport on 4th May 2018 midnight. As I bid a confident goodbye to my worrying mother and father and entered the airport, there was a surge of emotions with which I was dealing. I had put up a strong face to them all through the preparations to build their confidence, but somewhere even I had a lot of questions in my mind and uncertainties. But yes, we have to face them to go through them. Otherwise, we would worry and dodge them by finding an alternative path or by not engaging with them at all.
I must say here that we are often loaded with a lot of anxieties - and I wonder at times from where do they emerge. Why are they different for each individual, and how does one work around them. I feel most of them emerge from what people build for you and then the way one would start believing in them.
With a bag full of instructions from everyone, I sat on my first flight from Mumbai to Frankfurt. I had a further connecting flight with five hours layover to reach Boston from Frankfurt. Some instructions hinted do not talk to anyone on flight, at the airport, do not leave your bags unattended, do not and do not. Yes, these do create a lot of stress and a lot more fear in a person. As I sat in my window seat messaging everyone about my takeoff from Mumbai, there came a lady who looked at me and asked me whose pillow it was in her seat. I, just being cautious and scared of the conversation which was to follow ended up just saying - it’s yours. She being totally herself (now I can say this for sure) full of life and excitement started asking me questions of where am I from? Where am I going? What do I do? Am I travelling alone or with someone? What is the purpose of travel and more … I must admit I gave her all the answers with various hesitations in my mind, unsure of it I should or shouldn’t as many people had advised me otherwise. She asked me then whom I was speaking to on the phone and I shared with her that I was informing my parents that I am fine and she instantly said inform them that you are now with us and you will be fine. (Though I was still unsure of if I should communicate this back at home as knowing my parents I knew they will start imagining and worrying about many more possibilities).
As I switched off my phone and finally the plane took off, we both started talking over the first cup of yoghurt which she requested me to open. Getting to know them better and sharing my life more openly with them, our plane journey went very smoothly. We spoke and spoke our hearts out to each other. She was with her husband travelling to Chicago to visit her son. She being a housewife and kaka as I call him, is a vice-principal at a school in Pune. We were travelling together until Frankfurt, beyond which they were taking a flight to Chicago after 6 hours of layover, and I was to fly to Boston after 5 hours. Over almost 10 hours of travel on the plane, we were able to bond really well.
When we landed in Frankfurt, I was unsure of the procedures and also how and where to go next. I was sure the airport will provide me with these directions easily. My dear new friends decided to tag along with me until my flight boarded for Boston. Much relieved I was to have someone to talk to and be with through the layover. And I must say it was really sweet of them to be with me, to be with someone they didn’t know before 10 hours of the flight. To guide me to be with me. I opened some of the food which I had saved from the plane before, and they opened their home-cooked food. She offered it to me, but I felt very odd at first as it was only sufficient for them both. We shared our meals and then rested for a while. They helped me to know the procedures ahead when I landed in Boston. Being a frequent traveller, they knew exactly what needed to be done. She kept a check on me all through my trip, guiding me. We exchanged photos and fun experiences together throughout my travel for 20 days there.
I am happy to say that we are still in touch and exchange notes on our travel even now. These new travel friends taught me a lot of things. You don’t need to isolate yourself entirely as you manoeuvre through your journeys. You will meet and interact with a lot of people, and some interaction time with them will allow you to assess your comfort. One has to be in it to judge it and decide it then and there. Though I had a few instances when I felt the discomfort. Which I will share in some blog ahead.
For now, I made perfect close friends who are here to stay. I got a chance to visit them when I went to Pune. Waiting for them to visit me when they are in Mumbai. And I hope that our ways cross soon on another flight journey someday!
