Joy of Traveling
Years ago, I traveled for work 3 weeks out of every month for 10 years. I loved every time I stepped on a plane to work in a location that was new or places that gave me some of the greatest memories. Walking into a beautiful hotel in the heart of a major city always made me smile the way the staff would take such good care of me. Almost spoiling me with kindness. Today, that feels like a lifetime ago. During the last 2+ years of COVID, traveling is like watching a horror movie, hoping that the excursion will end soon. The stories that I hear or read every day about drunk or outrageous passengers fighting with others or attacking flight attendants made me a bit cautious. Do you remember when traveling was a fun activity and something that you couldn’t wait to do?
Recently, I received a call from my nephew alerting me that my sister’s health had declined and the lung cancer that was once in remission, had returned. The worse news was that my sis was now into full dementia. There was a feeling of mixed emotions about flying anywhere, but especially to America. After much mental stress, I booked a flight to San Francisco. I kept convincing myself that travel may still be a fun adventure. So, I looked forward to my 1:45p flight with a layover in Fiji. Besides, San Francisco was always a place that I loved when I lived there.
Stress started to consume my mind, body, and soul. Regulations required me to obtain an International COVID test so that I could board the plane. After arriving at the airport at 10A on the day of my departure, I waited for 3 hours to check. There were only 2 staff people working the crowd. There were about 300 people in front of me and when I looked behind me, there were at least another 250 people waiting to check in. Smiling with glee as I got closer to checking in, I was told that my International COVID test that I had spent $124, two days before as I was directed by my travel agent was not correct. The airline staff said, “That’s correct if you are going to Fiji, but if you are going to America the test had to be done one day before.” I was screwed. She saw the fright in my eyes and grabbed me by the arm and rushed me to the Covid Testing Center in the Melbourne Airport. She explained my situation, having only 15 minutes before boarding, and the kind staff looked at me and grabbed my arm and gave me the test immediately. In 15 minutes, they found me before I received the text and swooped me to the front of the line. The Fiji Airlines staff remembered me and rushed me through. She helped me to relax by telling me that the flight would be delayed for about 90 minutes so find a place to relax. It’s amazing what kindness feels like when you need it the most. She is someone that I will never forget because she went beyond her job with the airlines.
Two hours later, we were boarding the plane to Fiji, where I would make my connection to fly to San Francisco. Every seat on the plane was filled. My seat was next to the last row where the flight attendants would relax. Once again, that made me smile, not to mention that it was near the toilets. That’s always a plus for me. As we went through Customs, I noticed how beautiful and loving the people of Fiji are, and how they made extra attempts to say hello and ask me why I was not staying in Fiji on vacation. Believe it or not, I never knew where Fiji was or what it would be like to vacation there until friends traveled there 3 years ago and returned with glorious stories about good times, great cocktails, and relaxation.
Once on the plane to San Francisco, it was a breeze, there were no more than 150 people on the plane and I had my exact same seat, but with a row all to myself. I kept thinking, oh for the love of crack to be able to relax and sleep all the way to San Francisco, which I did. The food was delicious, great snacks and I passed out for the next 12 hours. To my surprise we landed in San Francisco about 90 minutes or more earlier than expected. Everyone was excited for a moment until it was announced that the gate was not ready for us. While other passengers stood up and waited, I immediately laid back down with my pillows and blankets and went back to sleep. We were on the plane after landing for an addition 2 hours. Finally, another message was shared that we were moving to another gate because there were problems with the initial one. Once again everyone jumped up, except for me. Being near the last row, I didn’t even bother waking up. One hour later passengers were allowed to leave the plane. Have you ever spent 3 hours waiting to get off a plane after a very long flight? Most people were outraged, but I was still calm and not quite awake yet. We all lined up to go through Customs which took an additional hour. Fortunately, people were very friendly and chatting with each other.
One of the parts of flying that felt odd is having a mask on the entire flight, unless you are eating or drinking. It was a very long time to be covered. It reminded me how medical staff and other workers must wear masks 8 or more hours per day. The best part of it was finding a nice, creative, colorful masks that would make me, as well as others smile.
Once I exited Customs, I looked for my friend that was scheduled to pick me up. In Starbucks I was able to check my phone using their WIFI to discover that he had left, feeling stressed and worried that I had missed my plane. When I contacted him, he was on his way home after waiting 2 hours. I smiled and grabbed a driver to deliver me to his place. To this day, I still don’t know what kept my mood so pleasant and chilled.
The moment I met my friend that I haven’t seen in over 2 years, the conversation and laughter picked up from where it left off the last time, I saw him. I was always great at moving through time zones without any problems, but this time I had many issues sleeping and switching to Pacific Standard Time. I didn’t sleep for 72 hours. My mind was creating situations before I had a chance to see what I was about to step into, and I started to stress. I had to quickly return to my mindfulness meditation practices getting the voices in my head to stop with all the stories based on what if. It worked, but the voices still try to sneak into my head to create fear and stress. Being aware of it is key.
Now that things are moving in the right direction, I am looking forward to returning to what I feel is my new home, Melbourne, Australia. Hoping for a smoother excursion with the beautiful staff on Fiji Airways. Are you planning any vacations this year to another country? My advice is to plan, wear comfortable clothes and shoes. Enjoy!
