My First Flight

I still vividly remember my first ever flying experience. My dad had just recently moved to Dubai for work and I hadn’t seen him for months. My mom had just broken the news to me that we would be moving soon too and to see dad again we would be going in an airplane.

I stood there, a shy 6 year old kid, looking around in awe and waiting in the immigration line. My mom pulled out a thin booklet from her purse and told me they were called “passports”. She opened mine and looked at a dazed photograph of me with a thumb impression beneath it (yup, I was too small to actually scribble a signature on my passport). Finally, we got to the immigration counter. The big lady stared down at me and I stared back wide eyed. She punched two stamps, rather loudly, into our passports and returned them. My mom held my hand as we walked towards the security gate.

At the security gate, I could hear a lot of beeping sounds. Men and women in khaki uniforms were holding a weird rod like structure and moving them over the front and the back of the people around me as they passed through a beeping rectangular structure. I was amused and stared at it in awe. Soon, it was our turn and mom presented two pieces of papers called “boarding cards” which she told me would let us enter into the plane later. The lady took our boarding cards and placed it on the table next to her. She ran the scanner over my mom and then over me. She stamped our boarding cards and handed them back. As I walked ahead, I turned around to look again at the lady who was scanning everyone. She caught my eye, smiled down at me and waved quickly before getting back to work.

My mom looked at the boarding card, to see which gate our flight would arrive at. It had an alphabet, followed by some numbers. We kept walking towards our gate while passing by a lot of big boards with a variety of symbols and letters written on it. Finally, we reached our destination and sat on a bunch of chairs.

Mom handed me some biscuits and started putting away some stuff. As I nibbled on them, I saw three beautiful, tall ladies walk past the counter. They were all wearing matching clothes: a red skirt, a white blouse and a read headgear. “Those are the airhostess, they will be on the plane to assist us”, told mom.

Following some announcements on the loud speaker, we stood in line to get into the plane. As the queue moved forward, we reached the counter, where one of the pretty lady was collecting our boarding cards. We were handed back a piece of it and asked to proceed into the plane. Once inside, mom began to look for our seats. All I saw above every seat was a number with some alphabets next to them. I could read them by then, but could hardly associate the significance that they were “seat numbers”.

Once we settled into our seats, mom started fumbling with seat belts to try and understand how to fasten them. Yes, it was her first time flying too but she obviously couldn’t show her nervousness. She managed to figure it out and then fastened and tightened mine across my tummy. As I sat perplexed in my seat wondering what would happen next, I began looking at people around me putting away their stuff, settling down, reading magazines. One of the pretty ladies I had seen earlier came up to me and sat down on her knees so that her face was now in level with mine. “What’s your name?” she asked smiling.

As I had been given strict instructions to not speaking with strangers, I turned to my mom and buried my face in her arm. The pretty lady chuckled a little and my mom told her my name for me. “How sweet! Here, I have got something for you. This is a special gift for all the little kids on the plane. Here is one for you too”. Saying this she handed me a plastic bag with some goodies in it and walked away. Like any typical child, I asked my mom if I could open it, right away. She nodded and I ripped the plastic bag apart with all my strength. Out came a soft toy in the shape of a camel and a big yellow school bag. I was delighted and made up my mind that would be the bag I would take to my new school.

The plane started to move and there was an announcement that we shall be taking off soon. In a little while, the plane sped up and soon it was off the ground! I felt a huge knot in my stomach as it ascended but I was super excited. Finally I would meet dad!

3 hours later we were back on the ground. As we walked into the airport and stood in line to get our passports checked once again, I looked up and spotted my dad waving at us through a glass window. Soon we were done and as mom and I walked out, we saw dad yet again waiting anxiously. I ran towards him and jumped into his arms. He picked me up and began asking me about my journey, just as mom joined both of us. “How was your first experience in a plane?” he asked. “It was amazing! We were up in the air and everything looked so tiny from up there. I kept looking out of the window the whole time.” I said animatedly.

20 years and probably 40 odd flights have happened since. Every time I fly, I am still just as amused as the 6 year old me!