As is usual the night before a flight, I had trouble sleeping. Then trouble staying asleep. Then when it was finally 7am and time to wake up, I had trouble staying awake. Mum and I ate a quick packed breakfast and packed up our things, then drove to the ten minutes' to the terminal - originally I thought that we'd be closer to the terminal, but it turned out that our hotel was on the opposite side of the airport than I'd thought. Not that it made much difference though, Lorraine the satnav (named after Christopher's dancing hamster which sings 'Rawhide') still got us there with plenty of time.
In the airport it was a quick check-in and farewell to my suitcase, and about 2 hours before the plane was due to leave I said goodbye to Mum and went through customs. In the terminal I wandered around looking at food prices, decided that it really wasn't worth it, then bought a meal deal at Boots and ate that (I was going to buy water anyway, and the carrot cake looked tasty). Then a bit more wandering, then the gate number was announced and I headed off. More waiting there, read a bit, then at last we were let on the plane.
The flight to Istanbul was 4 hours, during which time I read and ate lunch. We were brought a truffle just after take-off, then some hazelnuts - I liked this even though I don't eat chocolate and am not fond of nuts. A young couple sat next to me by the window, so I didn't get much chance to see the view. After a while we were brought lunch of beef and cheesecake, then more reading until we landed.
In Istanbul I had a two and a half hour wait, so after going through customs I wandered around looking at food prices, decided it wasn't worth it (3 euros for small chips at Burger King was the cheapest thing I could see) then wandered down to the gate to read. Just before the flight opened I got a text from another student, Oana, who I'd arranged to meet at the gate since we were taking the same flight from Istanbul. She was at the terminal but couldn't find me - a minute later we found each other, it was nice to meet a travelling companion. Apparently there was another girl with a blue t-shirt and pink rucksack who looked surprised when Oana asked her if she was me, hence the text. We waited a little longer until the gate opened - there was a disordered dash for the doors to the bus that would take us to the plane, which took me a bit by surprise since usually I'm used to lines or row numbers being called. Oana sat a few rows behind me on the plane, and I sat next to a man from Italy who plugged in his earphones as soon as we boarded and never looked away from the TV screen. We waited on the runway for a while, then the plane speed up and soon we were flying.
The flight took just under 6 hours all in all, less than I'd expected. Over a dinner of lentils and chickpeas I filled in my landing card, then decided to see what films there were. One Harry Potter, Little Fockers, Puss in Boots and a read-through of the Convention for the Rights of People with Disabilities later, we were preparing to land. I sat by the window this time, and could see the lights of the city as we got closer to Mumbai. As we landed, I pulled out from my belt the keyrings with photos of my late aunt and grandmother, and held them close as I looked out the window. My aunt often talked about going to India and was very fond of the sari a family friend brought her, and my grandmother loved to travel the world: I felt a bit tearful as we touched the runway, thinking about how this was the closest they'd come to being here in India, and how glad they'd be that I made it here.
In the airport it was a quick check-in and farewell to my suitcase, and about 2 hours before the plane was due to leave I said goodbye to Mum and went through customs. In the terminal I wandered around looking at food prices, decided that it really wasn't worth it, then bought a meal deal at Boots and ate that (I was going to buy water anyway, and the carrot cake looked tasty). Then a bit more wandering, then the gate number was announced and I headed off. More waiting there, read a bit, then at last we were let on the plane.
The flight to Istanbul was 4 hours, during which time I read and ate lunch. We were brought a truffle just after take-off, then some hazelnuts - I liked this even though I don't eat chocolate and am not fond of nuts. A young couple sat next to me by the window, so I didn't get much chance to see the view. After a while we were brought lunch of beef and cheesecake, then more reading until we landed.
In Istanbul I had a two and a half hour wait, so after going through customs I wandered around looking at food prices, decided it wasn't worth it (3 euros for small chips at Burger King was the cheapest thing I could see) then wandered down to the gate to read. Just before the flight opened I got a text from another student, Oana, who I'd arranged to meet at the gate since we were taking the same flight from Istanbul. She was at the terminal but couldn't find me - a minute later we found each other, it was nice to meet a travelling companion. Apparently there was another girl with a blue t-shirt and pink rucksack who looked surprised when Oana asked her if she was me, hence the text. We waited a little longer until the gate opened - there was a disordered dash for the doors to the bus that would take us to the plane, which took me a bit by surprise since usually I'm used to lines or row numbers being called. Oana sat a few rows behind me on the plane, and I sat next to a man from Italy who plugged in his earphones as soon as we boarded and never looked away from the TV screen. We waited on the runway for a while, then the plane speed up and soon we were flying.
The flight took just under 6 hours all in all, less than I'd expected. Over a dinner of lentils and chickpeas I filled in my landing card, then decided to see what films there were. One Harry Potter, Little Fockers, Puss in Boots and a read-through of the Convention for the Rights of People with Disabilities later, we were preparing to land. I sat by the window this time, and could see the lights of the city as we got closer to Mumbai. As we landed, I pulled out from my belt the keyrings with photos of my late aunt and grandmother, and held them close as I looked out the window. My aunt often talked about going to India and was very fond of the sari a family friend brought her, and my grandmother loved to travel the world: I felt a bit tearful as we touched the runway, thinking about how this was the closest they'd come to being here in India, and how glad they'd be that I made it here.
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