Flying

The flying experience was quite difficult and sad. Columbus flights were PACKED. The airport was so crowded you wouldn’t think COVID even existed. The lines were absolutely ridiculous and I almost missed my flight. I literally had to take my shoes off and run. I didn’t realize they had unzipped my backpack through security and while I was running there was a trail of things that had fallen out. Thankfully I heard some crashing and looked behind me. I ran all the way to my gate just in time to slip my shoes on and hand them my boarding pass. Obviously I was out of breath and started coughing at the most inconvenient moment while trying to explain the coughing is because I am out of shape.

Arriving in Dallas, I stood in line for another hour to go over my papers – again! It’s seriously like you’re a criminal and they have to check your records over and over. I passed and was able to be one of the first to board the plane. I got a whole row to myself which was nice and the back was almost completely empty. Out of all seats though, a heavier girl sat right behind me so I wasn’t able to lean my chair back the entire flight. A team of Olympian’s came in and we all cheered for them sitting in the second cargo. (I was in the third.)

Flying in to Tokyo was amazing!! The pilots were having a little fun. The ocean looked like a picture – it was so still it looked fake. He got so close to the ocean I was a little freaked out wondering if the landing strip was a runway on the water. But then we went up again to beautiful patches of green land. He then tilted one way so we could see the plane’s shadow and then to the left for the others to catch a glimpse. Once we landed, the flight attendants escorted a dozen people to the gate for Bangkok. They looked through my papers for a third time, passed, and I walked to my terminal. It was quite sad remembering this airport being so full of color and lights for the only sound left was the echo of my own footsteps. It honestly creeped me out but I was thankful it was day time, otherwise, it would feel haunted. What was even creepier was that I was the only one that passed through the gate up until my flight. Some people that I recognized came through when it was time to board. My only guess is that they didn’t have their COE.

Next stop…Bangkok.