Flight of Death

A little "fun" experience I had on my recent flight to the UK...

We had just boarded the aircraft at Incheon International - South Korea. Now, the people who are in the seats next to you are going to be next to you for the next 9 hours or so. Therefore it's worth your while to be amicable - I'm all about the quick friendly chit-chat as you are trying to get organised in your little airplane seat.

At this point (five minutes into meeting my airline companion, I have realised that this is way beyond  quick pre-take-off small talk. I know his name, his family, his occupation, all the languages he speaks, his cultural heritage, his university studies, his travels in Korea, his view on Obama and his aversion to spicy food. We have not even taken off yet.)

Decide to employ subtle tactic of "pretend to be deeply interested in something else".

Pull out iPhone:

Ok. Clearly iPhone technique is not working. Put iPhone away. Decide to be "deeply engaged" in the inflight entertainment book. As in "I'm-sorry-I-can't-really-talk-right-now-I'm-kind-of-busy".

Decide to turn head 90' and look out the window.

New friend: WOW! blonde hair! So, is your mom blonde too?! Oh cool! pink streak in your hair! I bet your mom doesn't have a pink streak in her hair! Or does she have pink streak in her hair? I don't know!

* * * * * *

We had taken off and I decided the best way to deal with overzealousness of new friend was just to fall asleep. I did give a warning.

me: um... hey, i'm gonna try fall asleep right now.... I'm gonna take these little pills and they are hopefully going to put me into a deep deep sleep.

new friend: OK! no problem! I will just keep talking until you fall asleep!

me: um.. well.  I'm not going to reply to any questions or anything... cause... I'm going to be trying to sleep. You know what I mean?

New friend: No problem!

(yip. this conversation happened.)

i struggle to fall asleep on planes.

DON'T DO THIS.

(more like "YES?! WTF GUY?! WHY DID YOU WAKE ME?!?")

Take wretched details to save myself three more hours of "banter". Try unsuccessfully to fall asleep. Toss, turn, scratch, fight chair, smash pillow, bang head against window, smack shins against chair, curse, get tangled in blanket, hit elbow into armrest, crack neck, put feet on chair, put feet on armrest, put feet on window, put feet behind ears. Get pins and needles. Finally get some sort of "rest"

Sleeping on a plane is NOT easy for me and

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we have now landed in Dubai"

* * * * *

 THE END 

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Ps. you think I make this stuff up?

I don't.

trip home....

I left Cape Town on Monday morning. it was very sad to say goodbye to the family. but it was lovely to be out in South Africa and to see them

look at how beautiful Table Mountain is! and my family is not even enjoying it because they are too sad because i'm in the airplane.

When I got to the boarding gate in Cape Town - i saw a Korean mom and daughter standing behind me. (i checked out the cover of their passports - me = super-sleuth.) I was so excited to see some Koreans that I used my limited Korean skills to converse:

Using my limited Korean I either said:

"Hello! I'm Che! I'm sad, I'm leaving my family"

or:

"Hello! I'm Che! Buy me a drink!" 

urgh. i did do a whole bunch of mime-crying and I didn't get any drinks out of them- so i'm guessing they got it. anyway, flight to Johannesburg went ok, but when i landed in Johannesburg i suddenly realised:

I DIDN'T WRAP MY BAGS IN PLASTIC! AND I DIDN'T EVEN PUT ONE OF THOSE CABLE TIE THINGIES ON! 

oh well... it's too late now...

(for non-South-African readers - when traveling through Johannesburg airport - it's a precautionary thing to wrap your bags in 'tamper-proof' plastic. i failed to do this. PANIC.)

anyway arrive at OR Tambo Airport International Airport in Johannesburg. 

Now maybe it's me (probably) but the Johannesburg Airport is the most confusing airport in the world:

i'm pretty sure i was just here. Best we take the other path:

Che: um... excuse me sir, can you tell me where Singapore airlines are?

Airport Man: Yes, terminal B.

Che: ok.. thank you very much. (starts walking away)

Airport Man: Lady, do you know where terminal B is?

Che: No! I have NO idea what I'm doing!

Airport Man: Ok... come, I show you.

Finally get to the right gate - thank you lovely Airport Man.

Go through the gate. try to buy an iphone. iphone purchase fail. (it's a long story)

Get onto the airplane. 

Generally my international flying experience goes as follows:

(flying long distance totally sucks. but it is totally worth flying back to South Africa for one week to win two blog awards :) :) and Singapore Airlines was really great.)

Finally made it back to Korea in the cab on the way back to my apartment. Visions of my apartment:

but it wasn't that bad... just really cold :( 

and... best of all Nothing was missing from my luggage! GO AFRICA!

I wish I was still in Cape Town!

*more about the blog awards to come...