Emirates I Miss You

After finally finishing school and months of saving, I got the surprise of my life when my mom informed me that we would be flying to India. To say I was excited is an understatement, I had only been in an airplane once for a domestic flight. This was almost like a dream come true, almost..

After speaking to many different travel agents in order to get the cheapest flight, we still could not budget for it and have enough to spend, my dreams of going international were going to have to wait. But finally, a few days later we got a call from my uncle who said that Emirates had some cheap tickets. We immediately jumped on this opportunity and started packing, then mom started stressing. What if it was a scam, or what if we got bad seats, or what if we were seated away from each other. Over the next few days, we were completely anxious, waiting to see if the money was well spent on the tickets or not.

Finally the day came, anxiety kicking in and the need to use the bathroom every few minutes because of the continuous stress, started to already ruin a great trip. It was just going to be mom and I who would be going to India. I was scared, what if we got lost at the airport or missed our flight. I was a first time flyer, I had read a lot about international flights, the food and the air hostesses pleasantries, in order to prepare myself for take off and landing. But the experience was not what I had expected.

We got to the airport just in time for check-in, got our boarding passes and waited at our boarding gate at O.R. Tambo International Airport (South Africa). Finally, they opened the gates and we started getting our tickets checked, mom and I were sitting together (travel agent booked it for us), that made me less nervous, now to find our seats, how does this work?

As we made it to the entrance of the plane, we were greeted with a beautiful air hostess who pointed us in the direction of our seats.

Economy class, filled with people of different cultures, religions, races and genders, it was overwhelming for me! I started tearing up, yes, an 18 year old girl tearing up because she was feeling overwhelmed, it happens to all of us. I fought back the tears and finally found our seats. We were seated by the window, it was one of those planes with two seater rows on each side and a four seater row in the middle. We put our bags in the overhead compartment, made ourselves comfortable and waited for the flight of our lives..

Finally the doors closed and everyone was starting to sit down, the hostesses closed the overhead compartments and we were told to put our seat belts on, as the plane started moving, I felt excited, a smooth ride, little did I know there was a roller coaster coming soon.

We were advised of safety procedures, something which I paid careful attention to, after that, our seat belts were checked again and we were on our way.

Honestly, I loved the take off, it was amazing, the Adrenalin rush, your head getting pulled back slightly, the seat belt signs still on and the sound of the planes engine roaring in your ears, amazing! Since our flight was at 8pm, it was quite dark, so as soon as we were in the air, the lights came on slightly, so as not to disturb our eyesight. We were given theses amazingly warm hand towels, let me just say, that was the best thing ever! The hostesses then gave us our earphones and we were told to enjoy the in flight entertainment.

Fly Emirates' in flight entertainment is by far the best! They had the latest movies, TV shows, you could even watch the news. I am a total movie buff, so I decided to catch up on the latest movies, while mom slept away..

After a few minutes we were given dinner, we had the choice of chicken curry or vegetarian, we chose chicken curry. Their meal portions are just perfect and the food was by far the best flight meal I had ever had (I traveled with other airlines after Emirates). The chicken curry was well cooked and the rice was nice and soft.

Our trash was taken away and the lights started to dim, it was bedtime.

I will admit, economy seats are not the greatest to sleep on, my neck started paining after a while, no position was comfortable but luckily I could move the seat a little back so that kind of made up for it.

After a few hours we were served again, this time it was breakfast, a little fruit, some crackers, a bun and butter as well as jam. We were offered tea, coffee and whatever other drink we wanted. I say this again, the food was amazing!

It was time for our stop over at Dubai International Airport, before we could take our other flight to India. As we approached landing, the lights were switched back on and our seat belts had to be fastened again. It's so weird that I love landing and take off more than the in flight entertainment. Or maybe it was because the pilot was funny and friendly and did not land like there were rocks all over the road, it was a soft landing. The beauty of Dubai...okay I lie, I was way too consumed by the view of Dubai airport to notice the rest of the place.

After a four hour stop over, we finally got onto our second flight. India here I come!

After taking off, I started to feel a little sick, I think it was fatigue. So I decided to sleep for this flight and see how things go. We were offered a light meal to start off, but I decided not to have anything and I slept away again, now here's my most favorite part about Emirates...

I had never seen a male hostess before, but I had an angel on this flight. We were offered a meal of our choice again, this included paneer, vegetables or my favorite, butter chicken. Still feeling a little nauseous, I decided once again not to have anything, but this angel of a hostess, came up to me and asked if I was okay, he insisted that I have something so I don't get weak, but I still declined, so he got me some juice and said I should at least have some orange juice. He was by far the friendliest and caring hostess I had ever met. He even came to check up on me before landing.

So why was this the best part? After this flight with Emirates, I had saved up money again and flew quite a few times, all these times were with different airlines, because of my budget, it turns out I have motion sickness, so I would feel sick in flight quite often, yet none of the other flight attendants of those airlines would care to even ask if I was okay.

I will never forget that amazing person, the friendliest crew members and pilots. Thank you to Fly Emirates for making my first international flight a memorable and happy one. I hope to afford you again one day.