When I did fly

Reading through Susan's post about her first flying experience here, I was a bit inspired to share my own debut flying experience. What started off from a mere Chennai-Bangalore flight many years back, at one point, became the only means of travel, and is poised to be so for atleast a few years to come.

On my father's side, I come from a family of well-to-do families, to whom flying was almost a daily affair. More so with international destinations, especially for holidays. But, hey, that was just on my father's side. Our family was a simple, yet, happy middle class. My dad had flown before, on an all-paid-by-the-bank business trip to Tokyo, Singapore and of all places, Bangkok. When he talked of the awesome JAL (Japan Airlines), where each seat had a screen on the seat before it, operated by remotes, that seemed the limit.

But I always kept my longing to myself, even as a kid. Scores of times I wanted to tell dad that I wished to fly atleast once, but no I didn't. Not that he would say no, but actually he would say yes. And I didn't want to burden him with that. So each time, my cousins (from the father's side) told me vivid stories of their trips to Hongkong, Europe, Egypt etc., I would be struck by a pang of jealousy, but I always let it go, secretly hoping that some day in the far future, I would fly too.

And it did happen.

I vividly remember the first time I was on an airplane. It must have been somewhere around 2001-2002 when my aunt(mom's sister) got a lumpsome bonus at work and decided to treat us kids (my cousins & I) to a flying experience. Five cousins on board two aircrafts. I was booked on the erstwhile Air Sahara (later taken over by Jet Airways) along with one cousin and the other three were on Indian Airlines. Coming from a family where flying was almost a daily affair (atleast on my father's side), I knew how "good" Indian Airlines was and remember very well about mocking the other kids that they were travelling on cattle class (or something to that effect) and we were flying business class.

Our flight was at 5 in the evening and the I.A flight was at 6 in the evening. Nonetheless, considering cost cutting, all of us reached the airport at 2 itself. Yeah, 2 PM for a domestic flight at 5. The racket we created at the airport, now when I think back I can only laugh at myself. Our mere being in the airport itself was something we couldn't comprehend. The glee on all our faces, staring at everything - even the baggage weighing machine at the check-in counter, the cute ground staff - well just everything about the airport was such a huge thing.

And finally we boarded the aircraft. Off we flew. Once in air, the fun started. The seatbelt, the seatbelt sign, the air sickness bag, the stunning airhostess (oh yeah, even at that age) who demonstrated the safety procedure (well, I listened in rapt attention, just to observe her every movement. Well, in later times, I never really bother listening to the safety procedure, thanks to her), the packed food, even the push back in the seat - everything seemed such a huge thing. As we got off the plane, she gave me the most gorgeous smile saying "Thank You, have a nice day". The innocent kid in me assumed it was only reserved for me (well later realizations did shock me initially).

And thus began a journey in the sky.

PS :
1. Never fly Air India to an international destination.
2. Fly Tiger Airways only if you are on a really tight budget
3. IndiGo airhostesses are the best of all the airlines I've flown (beating Jet and Emirates)