To flight or not to flight

So, I'm literally on the plane now, obviously this would be posted online when I touch down and have internet access.

I would have bought WIFI on the plane, but a wise man once told me that having WIFI available while travelling defeats the whole purpose of travelling. This wise man is my brother. I rarely give him credit for anything :P, but I have to admit this is true.

Let's see, I have traveled for a considerable amount of times. Lately I have been doing a lot of solo travelling, not in terms of taking a holiday alone but just doing the "Getting on the plane to another country" thing solo. Literally just the travelling part.

I have no idea why, but each time I travel, there would be some kind of weird or stupid thing that I would encounter or do. When I'm travelling with anyone else things would be less eventful (in terms of unfortunate events) lol.

So let's see, the first time I traveled alone was to Bangkok,Thailand. My mom used to work there for 2 years. For some personal reasons, I had to go there for a few days. My flight happened to land in the old airport in Bangkok (Can't remember the name, this was in 2014) and not the Bangkok International Airport. That itself was kind of freaky. Plus, it was my first time travelling alone so naturally I had all kinds of stupid scenarios replaying in my head over and over again. I remember my sister and brother in law sending me off to the airport. It was like a proud moment for my sister that I was travelling alone. No idea why, LOL. But it helped to calm my nerves just for a bit.

Obviously in my own mother land's airport I didn't have any problems. The problem was when I landed in Bangkok. I think when I was on flight, I was listening to music so I wasn't paying attention to the stewards handing out the damn disembarkation forms. Once I was at the immigration, I had this male screaming at me for not having the form. He was bloody rude, not even helpful and his English was atrocious. I didn't even understand what he was screaming about till he threw the form at me. I am pretty darn sure it was very intense, else it wouldn't still be in my memories. I didn't have auto roaming on my phone, and the damn old airport didn't have WIFI. I was already on the verge of having a breakdown (assuming that my mom would be late to pick me up). After calming myself down in my head, I went down the only escalator in the whole airport which separated the immigration side to the arrival hall. The airport was so crowded and I started freaking out even more. By now I was imagining getting lost in the airport and kidnapped and .... SUDDENLY I HEAR MY MOM'S VOICE SCREAMING MY NAME and I go hallelujah.

My mom usually calls me by my pet name (No, not telling you). It's very embarrassing and I hate it when she calls me that in public and especially in front of my friends. For the first time in my life, I wasn't pissed or irritated that she was shouting my name. Well, my pet name. In my head I went, I'm here I'm here I'm here, that's me!!!! Yeah.... so that was that.

Oh when I was returning home from that trip, I also experienced that bus connecting thingy when your plane is in one corner and your gate is at the other. I hate that even when I'm travelling with someone and it's always worse doing it alone. All in all, when I came back in one piece, I realized that travelling alone is kind of like taking a roller coaster. Once you try it once, you get the thrill of it and get excited to do it again. I know for most people, it may not be a huge deal, but it was for me when it was my first time, and I personally know people who still have that fear. My advise to not over think and just freaking get it over and done with, you'll be fine.

The second trip I made alone was to India. The airport I landed was to Chennai airport, and trust me when I say that it is one of the shittiest airports. I'm not even going to try finding something to make it seem like it's not so bad. IT IS BAD. Especially if you're a woman travelling alone. Nothing happened when I was travelling to the country, this time I was more relaxed, and I had people to receive me at the airport (who weren't late. Thank god). It was more of when I was returning. I can't remember the exact number of the gate but I was supposed to go to a 38I or something, but I went to 38 assuming that it was the same thing. Cause there weren't obvious boards and also my stupidity, not going to defend myself. But hey let me try to save myself with one point, India spells even your name wrongly and don't bother to rectify till like 10 years later, so I assumed that they didn't bother to correct the gate number. I'm not mocking the country or anything like that. You know it's true, so don't even try. I was the last one to board my flight, had my name announced over the PA system. When I gave my ticket to board the wrong plane, the officers informed the other officers at the correct gate that I was there, and like a bossss.. security came to pick me up. The lady was pretty friendly and she wasn't mad at me so, I didn't feel that bad. It was a pretty cool experience actually. HEH.

The third time I travelled alone was to Dubai. I have been to Dubai many times before travelling alone there. I wasn't really terrified or anything, because I knew my uncle had arranged for someone to pick me up the minute I reached the flight entrance. Yes, I still get the little girl's treatment. Also, because this time I was more comfortable in travelling alone. Dubai airport is freaking huge. You can get lost there. So luckily for me, I didn't need to figure things out cause of the help of the airport staff who brought me to my uncle. LOL. Such a baby, I know, shut up. The immigration guys (the ones who stamp your passport) were locals in white robes. They seem intimidating with their fierce (atrociously good looking) features, but they are actually pretty nice and friendly. Again, don't judge people by their looks!

Next one was travelling to Sydney. This one was not so bad, cause I went there a few months back with company from the first time I traveled there alone. So everything was pretty fresh in my head and I didn't have any issues. Sometimes I just feel that having the electronic clearance as an option sucks when you start realizing you don't collect stamps on your passport anymore :(

Last month, when I was travelling home (to my mother land), I wanted to surprise my brother for his birthday. I did things pretty smoothly. I didn't have luggages which were checked in, so I rushed out and cleared immigration within 15 minutes, again, like a bossssss. Suddenly, when I was at the ATM withdrawing money, I realized that I left my laptop.. in the freaking plane. My friend came to pick me up from the airport, so it was pretty good to have someone else to calm me down cause I was freaking the hell out. Managed to retrieve my laptop back from the ground staff eventually, after half an hour or so. Yes. I'm very careless. OH AND BEFORE I BOARDED THIS FLIGHT I ALSO LEFT MY JACKET ON THE SEATS AT THE WAITING AREA BEFORE BOARDING THE FLIGHT. Yes, I'm super careless, and probably have a few screws loose. But once/twice/thrice bitten, infinity times shy. So I am super cautious over my things especially when I travel now. (I try, I really do.)

One thing I know for sure, is that, if you're travelling, especially when you're alone, wear spectacles (if you need to). Or contact lenses, whatever works for you, so you can see boards clearly and faces and whatever which you need to see. Always be wary of your surroundings and don't be oblivious to it. Also, refrain from using your head phones or blasting to music too loudly that you miss out on announcements and also again about surroundings. This could save your life or from embarrassment :) Travelling is extremely fun, but safety first. Always. Ok? Travelling alone makes you feel incredibly self reliant and independent and yet vulnerable at the same time. Be vulnerable in a way like a baby getting used to new things, people and behaviors that you have never seen before. But don't be vulnerable to the point of stupidity. My foolishness is enough. You be better, for your own sake!

I also love that I can finish books in one go on the plane (provided you aren't interested in watching movies). I highly recommend reading on flights. It's always more peaceful.

OH YEAH. DFS is always lovely. Whether or not your purchase anything. It feels like going to a playground. Not sure why, but for me, it does. And also... flight attendants sometimes scare me, every time they walk past me I'd be checking if my seat belts are fastened. No idea why, they remind me of prefects in school.

Hopefully, this time round nothing bad happens on this journey and I don't misplace anything.

UPDATE: Nothing went wrong. Came back in one piece with no belongings missing, at least to my knowledge :P

Love,

Naia