#2 (PART 1!)

This travel of mine is fresh in my memory because I just landed at home the day before yesterday. It was two days filled with the best things, and if travel got me saying this, then imagine how amazing it should have been. There’s enormous detail in what I’m now going to narrate to you, and there’s much excitement.

After two whole years (hmm, maybe not two WHOLE, but nearly there, for sure), on the afternoon of 26th September 2021, we left home, and we went, not to any ordinary place. We went to the airport, folks, the airport! Although it felt like it hadn’t been that many months since I’d been to the airport, I felt that clumsy rush of nostalgia creep in as I stepped down from the car and walked in the door, my shoulder already straining from the weight of my bag. Yes, I do not travel light, ever. I believe in carrying at least half of your home wherever you go.

Everything seemed considerably different at the airport. If we had gone there two years ago, we would have had to fight for a decent portion of air to breathe, but on the 26th, it was comparatively tranquil. There was ample space to walk, and I didn’t once trip on another person! The queues, without fail, however, were long enough. After check-in and security, where I was forced to give up my backpack (that was undoubtedly the most difficult thing I had to do on the course of the entire travel), we walked into that safe haven just before boarding. Hurriedly, I sent messages to everyone I wanted to brag about my traveling, made calls, bookmarked the page on my storybook that I would read on the airplane, and finally, joined the boarding row.

Walking into that aircraft was like walking into an alleyway of memories. There had been so many incidences at airports, so much embarrassment, and so many memories onboard airplanes. I was already slightly choking because of the N-95 mask, and at any other time, I would have wanted nothing but to pull it off and be done with it, but not this time. I was too excited to be getting away from our city (not that I don’t like our city, but it had been so long!).

Onboard

What is your favorite part of the journey onboard? Mine, beyond shadow of a doubt, is the takeoff. It sets my heart beating furiously, that slow bout on the ground followed by the sudden plunge into the air. Into the sky and that sudden dip, oh, it’s the best feeling ever. I don’t know what makes people shut their eyes, or clutch the handgrip as the airplane tilts and the entire view of the city is scattered below. I always get hit with the sudden realization of my being a tiny little microscopic thing, compared to the whole wide world.

I never get tired of takeoffs, never bored of that stunning view and the breathtaking feeling. The time aboard this plane lasted about an hour. In the short duration, I read a chapter and a half of ‘Pride and Prejudice’. Anyone here fans of the classic? Go read it next if you haven’t yet. And if you say the movie was enough, I will ask you to seriously reconsider your choices. The debate of whether books or movies are better, never gets old, does it? Futile, foolish argument, when books are (clearly) the winners. But that’s for another day.

When we reached Bengaluru, and we departed from the aircraft, I noticed immediately one major difference between Chennai, our city, and Bengaluru. The customary, quite unwelcome, but warming gust of hot air was here replaced with a chilly breeze, and I knew that I was ready for the next two days then – ready to tire myself out (which didn’t happen, thanks to my laziness overcoming my initial excitement to exhaust myself, of course), and ready for the new weather.

During this trip, I documented everything I could with pictures, and part 2 of this blog post has some, well, savory surprises for you. That’s all I can give away! See you next time!