I couldn't help but be nervous as I walked down the isle of the small aircraft towards my row, the only thought in my head was that this could be it. I was scared of the end for once. Trying to be optimistic I smile but all of the "too" friendly faces of flight attendants as I walked down nerved me. It could have been irony or it could have been paranoia but all I could think of was these are the last faces I will ever see. Scared that my fears would come a reality I take my seat and pull my belt tight. My head is dizzy and fear takes over, I try to remind myself that more casualties are caused by cars rather than planes but the cries of the baby in the seat behind me seem like dramatic irony. Glancing out of the window beside me I see planes preparing for passengers, preparing to take people on holiday or home, doesn't matter where they are going as long as the customers are safe.
I get offered a cough sweet to help with my ears popping, I ask for a cherry one and being to suck on it, before the plane starts to move I swap to my WhatsApp to text one last time before I'm gone for the next four hours. I turn my phone to airplane mode and the woman on the intercom talks the passengers about the weather in Manchester and our landing time.
A few minutes later and the intercom starts again but this time it's our captain he introduces himself and gives us some more information on today's flight, we are told that we will be going a little bit faster than what we usually would have been and I'm not sure why but it makes me more nervous than before. The flight attendants make their way down the single isle of the plane to give the safety briefing to all of the new passengers, eventhough I have been on planes countless times before and could probably recite it off by heart, I still listen intently due to my nerves.
The plane starts to move and we are reversed back into the run way and I watch as Dalaman Airport slowly leaves my vision as we go at a steady pace to begin set off. The wails of children behind me encourage me to put my noise cancellation head phones on, I put my favourite playlist on shuffle and watch the world from my small window. My heart begins to beat faster as we pick up the pace. Just as we lift off of the ground the lyrics from my music says "fly", this fuels my heart with a new feeling since I boarded the plane. Excitement fills all of my senses as I see the stunning views of Turkey below me. Taking a couple of pictures for social media later, I stare at the world with wonder, wanting none other than to be swimming in the bright blue sea bellow me. One of my favourite rap songs come onto my shuffle and I get this feeling of power and all of my nerves leave my body.
I turn to look at what my family are currently doing and see most of them on their electronics. The seatbelt sign turns off and I rummage through my bag to get my Mikado sticks, I try to skilfully take one out but the heat had melted most of them together so they all came out of the box with the one I was trying to get. Deciding to eat all of them at once the uncovered parts of the sticks snap off while the chocolatey bit is still in my mouth. I embarrassingly continue to try and eat them, turning to the window so no one can see me being a weirdo I eat them with a little bit getting on my fingers. 6 are left in the packet and I pray to every higher being that they aren't in the same state, luck isn't on my side as they all come out as one unit. Trying to be skilful I eat them with patience and none of them fall. The need for a drink quickly escalates and I can only hope that the flight attendants come around fast. Turning around and searching for said people do I really realise how small this plane is. It's a single isle with no first class and only 3 seats on either side. My excitement for a drink increases when I see a flight attendant only for that excitement to decrease when I notice the lack of a cart.
My mum calls my name and I turn to find her rhetorically asking to swap seats and complaining about my brother's annoying her. I laugh it off and reply "Sorry but I'm comfy here". Just like a child I find amusement in the fact that the gems on my nails reflect light and create a disco ball affect, so I sit and create a "mini disco" in my seat. My excitement is back as I see the drink serves and slyly hint to my dad that I would like a drink, "aye, dad, look drink serves is coming 'round!" And he sarcastically replies with "great" as it to tell me that I'm not getting anything. Disgust plasters itself to my face as a horrible stench plugs my nostrils, wanting to throw up I turn to the only culprit I can, my younger brother. He gives me a troll face and I slap his leg because of how vile the smell that he had caused was. The smell slowly dissipates and all that's left us excitement as the refreshments cart gets closer and closer. But my thoughts are cut off as the intercom comes back on only to hear the most random announcement on an airplane you could hear, "Ladies and Gentlemen, unfortunately on today's flight we haven't been supplied with hand towels but we have been supplied with a lot of hand sanitiser. So if you could please use the hand sanitiser instead of washing your hands using water because it will lesson the need for hand towels. Thank you for your co-operation!" I turn to my mum and laugh and she pulls a weirded out face at me. I realise that the cart is moving excruciatingly slow and my mood dims. I get asked what I want and I say reply with the iced coffee that I had got myself excited about, my mood is once again deflated when I'm told I'm not allowed it because it's not in the 2 drinks for £4.50 deal, therefore I'm not allowed it. I begrudgingly say "Ribena, please".
I pull out my Ruffles (crisps) and snack on them until the cart comes to my row. Eminem comes onto my shuffle and I'm in my element, feeling like a gangster but in reality looking like a plastic bitch furiously eating crisps. It would've been a funny sight for anyone on board. My isle is next and I couldn't feel better. The obvious thirst grows faster with every bite of my salty crisps, unknown to me as to why I was still eating them. My disappointment returns when I found out that there's no Ribena left, I'm left with a J20 but I can't be ungrateful because the first sip is heaven on Earth. Finally content I decide to turn my phone off and watch the anime I downloaded to my iPad to pass time.
———
It had been some time and there was 1 hour and 53 minutes left of the flight, I had watched 2 episodes of some Anime I had found and now I'm currently reading a story on wattpad (on my iPad) it's sad because at this point in the story the protagonist's partner had cheated on him and now he's at his ex's house distracting himself.
———
I glance at the tiny screen waiting for I to tell me how long I have to sit here before I can be back home. I'm slowly fades and my eyes dart around trying to find what I'm looking for.
Time To Destination:
00:42
My eyes widen in delight as soon I'm able to go home to my longed for bed. I see the little animated plane begin to fly over the bottom of England and excitement courses through my veins, my worrying was for nothing, I'm going to be home safe. I'm begging for my belongings to be okay and not damaged.
Some time later after watching countless TikToks that I have had saved to my phone the intercom turns on and we all hear the captain say "Cabin Crew ten minutes until landing. Ten minutes until landing". My heart accelerates and I'm so excited to land. We start circling, ready to come into the airport. I'm prepared to launch myself into the car and sleep for the remainder of the journey. I feel the pressure pulling me down and we are finally level with the clouds. Clouds are my favourite thing about flying, the seemingly fluffy texture and their beautiful white sheen. I think they're the epitome of cute. We are still quite high up in the sky and "Cabin Crew prepare for landing" fills my ears and we start visibly descending. My heart feels like it's going to explode with excitement. I'm extremely lucky that it's not raining because coming home from a burning holiday in Marmaris and being met with rain is the worst feeling.
We finally kiss the ground and the entire plane gasps. The speed is tremendous. Going 200 on the ground. Fear filled me as I feared we were going to crash. My time on this plane is finally over.
☁️✈️☁️
