Cabin Fever

As much as I love travelling, the one thing I hate the most is the transporting process -- ie. the airplane ride. So there I was, recently boarded the Boeing 747 that will fly me from the indelible London Heathrow airport to my layover in the Bangkok airport. As I walked down the crowded aisle, I was praying hard that the empty space near the cranky nine-month old infant a couple of seats away and the chatty couple seated right next to it wasn't mine. Unfortunately, the label adorned up top unmistakably had the same 37C embossed on my boarding pass. Well, at least I got my aisle seat.

As I stowed my Crumpler messenger bag on the overhead, found solace on my iPod, fastened my seatbelt and comfortably sank on my chair after trying numerous positions, I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Excuse me, miss," the guy-half of the chatty couple next to me said. "I was wondering if you can let me pass to go to the loo."

I instantly knew it was going to be the longest ten hours of my life.

Trying my best not to sigh loudly, I basically undid everything that allowed me to reach the most comfort to let this guy out. But of course, I cannot just quite settle back in because the guy would have to come back. Oh how I wished he could teleport instead. Predictably, the guy took forever. And just when he got back, his girl friend decided that she wanted to go as well. Great. Just eff-in great!

Because I resorted to getting the cheapo flight, I had to settle for having to travel at a horrible hour. I tend to favor red eye flights as it allows me to pass the time away by dozing off and minimizing wasted travel time. This time, however, I got stuck travelling in the dead of noon in exchange for skimping on five hundred dollars -- effectively meaning that I will be unable to sleep. And to add icing to the cake, I will lose about six hours due to the time difference, and will land on Asian soil at six in the morning the next day. Make way for Princess Zombie. I, for one, could never make it on artificial nights.

As the aircraft finally took off, I tried drowning out all the noise around me and opted for a "night cap" of whiskey and coke. I looked back on the past week and how lovely it had been. I was able to spend time with my most favorite people in the world in one of the best places on earth. My siblings have flown from various parts of the world to join me in a week-long soul searching expedition.

It wasn't my first time in London, but I've always looked forward to each visit. There's something about it that is both haunting and enchanting -- it's like something old and familiar that never wastes away in your memory. Oh how we laughed while stuffing ourselves silly with fatty and greasy food (arguably the best kind of food there is) as if time and distance never got between us. Driving down unfamiliar paths in the countryside brought new experiences and sights to our city-slick attitudes and urbane conventions. And walking up those elaborate pavements whilst taking pictures as if its about to go out of style -- highly embarrassing, yes, but eternally blissful. I was once again allowed to be the person I once was. Where had I been?

My thoughts were rudely interrupted by the grumpy middle-aged man on the seat in front of me as his backseat reclined without warning almost hitting me squarely on the nose. The chatty couple next to me decided to go on their thirtieth bathroom break in two hours -- after consuming several rounds of gin and tonic that only fuelled their insanity. The meal cart arrived adorned with bad food and excessively processed nibbles. Being thirty three thousand feed up in the air, did I really need more salt in my already dehydrated body?

I felt my body relax. This plane trip from hell was perhaps called for as the yin has to somehow start overtaking the yang of my journey. I was constantly on top of the wheel for the past week. I knew it wasn't going to last and that the wheel would have to start going down one way or another. The plane ride was the pivotal point of it all... I was on the way back to painful reality. But pay no mind as I pocketed enough positive energy from my trip to bring on.

My mission was definitely accomplished. Indeed, it was something that I needed and had unknowingly been longing for. My siblings and I have retreated to our respective corners of the globe and god knows when we'll be able to do it again. Until then, I can only go back on my memories with a soft smile playing on my lips.

"Excuse me," the girl-half of the couple next to me said as she slurred through her words, her breath stinking of cheap gin. Her eyes were half-closed. "I need to go to the loo. I think I'm going to be sick."

It left me wondering if the five hundred dollars that I saved was worth it.