The BrokeBack in the Plane

I wished with all my heart that I could have boarded a ship instead of a plane to go back home.
However, my transport of choice would take months to drop me off in Kolkata. So, I resigned myself to fate and left for the airport on 8th May, 2010.


San Francisco Airport
We reached the airport around 3 hours before take-off. The wheelchair assistance service of Singapore Airlines was pathetic. The ground staff were unable to arrange a better seat for me. The lady who handled the wheelchair was listless and apathetic. I decided limping was better than being dragged along by a complete morone. Hubby brought along a salad. But I was too much terrified to eat.
Herein, I must mention the counter-intuitive design of the San Fran airport. The restrooms were rather far from the boarding lounge. One had to take an escalator/elevator and then had to walk a long way to the restroom. Also, most of the eateries were closed. USA is full of 24 hour diners like Dennys etc. Wonder why they did not think of something similar for the airport which has international flights that take-off in the middle of the night.


Flight from San Fran to Hongkong
This flight was of 14 hours duration and my longest flight ever. The first of the flight was pretty much uneventful with very little turbulence. I managed to calm my nerves with a photograph of Ma Kali, my stuffed toy Buni and my hubby's hand. I watched 'Shutter Island' to keep my mind away from the bumps and dips of the plane. I hardly ate any dinner or breakfast. However, I ate two crackers and some potato chips.
My back was hurting badly by the third hour. I rubbed on some Volini and took short walks.
The plane started trembling violently near Osaka over Japan Sea. I was sure that I was going to die. I let out a muffled scream much to the consternation of other passengers. This horrible state of affairs continued for around 15 minutes. But, it was enough to shatter my nerves. This happened two hours before touchdown. I did not move from my seat again before hitting terra firma.


Hongkomg Airport
This was a lovely airport. Absolutely spic-and-span and thankfully with strategically placed restrooms. I had denied wheelchair assistance this time after the messy experience at San Fran. Me and hubby freshened up with the mini toothpaste and toothbrush provided by the airlines. I tried to prepare myself for the next flight which was in less than an hour.


Flight from Hong Kong to Singapore
This flight did not bother me as much since we had crossed the Pacific by then and it was daytime outside. However, I still could not eat and was subsequently faced with a mini-mutiny by hubby who refused to have lunch unless I ate too. We struck a compromise where I ate a few bits of fruit and promised to eat a blueberry muffin later and he ate everything but the main course. There was almost no turbulence in this 4 hour flight. The Seat Belt sign never turned on other than take-off and touch-down.

Singapore Airport - Changi
This is the most marvellous airport in the whole world and this was my second time here - however, it took me two visits to succumb to it's charms. I was meeting my sister-in-law in Singapore and was bothered by the fact that I was stinking at that point in time. We got ourselves transit visas and met up with our relatives. After a fun-filled 7 hours at their house, we bade them goodbye. We still had about an hour when we reached Changi. We finished up some last minute shopping as I braced for one last flight before reaching sweet home.

Flight from Singapore to Kolkata
I was super-nervous on this flight. I was this close to reaching my sweet Kolkata. I wanted the flight to be super smooth and safe. Again, I refused dinner and just had orange juice with soda. I saved up a yoghurt for later. This was a night flight and the pilot warned about impending turbulence. However, there was about 5 minutes of very low-grade turbulence and we made a somewhat bumpy touch-down in Kolkata.

Kolkata Airport
I was home after 11 months!! Yippee!!!