One Picture And One Story Week #54- Loneliness

I was on a flight from Dubai to Delhi. As we took off and into the air for maybe 15 minutes in the air, we heard the announcement from the captain of the plane, "We are having some technical problems, so we are landing at Jeddah airport."

  
Soon we were going down towards King Abdelaziz International Airport Doha and touched the runway, but the plane suddenly took off again.

As we climbed back into the sky, the captain announced that it was a landing problem, so they would try to land again in a while, but the result was the same second time around. By now everyone was panicking, and there was a kind of silent fear in the cabin. The captain announced that he was going for a crash landing and asked us to take the position.

The flight attendants were telling us to fasten our seat belts, put our life jackets on, and use emergency gates, and oxygen masks if needed. I hold my front seat tightly. The instructions from the captain added to my tension, and no one was talking but busy praying and crying.

Image mine

Finally, the airplane touched the ground and stayed firm. I could feel the brakes of the plane working hard to slow the speeding plane down because it had landed at a faster speed than usual, but finally, we stopped safely and in one piece, although it was not in Delhi but in Doha. I could feel the tension ease and hear the sounds of relief and cheers.

I remember now that during those tense moments, the man sitting beside me was feeling sick and breathing heavily. I asked him if he wanted me to call a flight attendant or needed any help, but he was either too rude or too panicked, so he shouted at me, "Mind your business."

It's embarrassing to have someone shout at me even if I was trying to help him. Meanwhile, the pilot announced that we were going to land soon and we should all calmly exit the plane, and I did.

Now we were at Doha airport and given the food vouchers. Those were the Covid days, and the airport was almost empty. I learned then that my camera was the best companion as I took pictures of that empty airport. I thought if I'd traveled through, I would have reached Delhi by now.

I was feeling bad as there was no flight to Delhi for the next fourteen hours. But my camera and phone helped me to stay calm to pause and see the details around me, although there was nothing much to see. It was a trip that gave me bashfulness, astonishment, and a few tears. I was very lonely, but what could I do?

Setting out on a journey gives us a certain level of experience as we navigate new environments, communicate with different people, and face unexpected challenges. Our self-confidence naturally grows, but if there was a situation like I was sitting there and no one to talk with, yes, there was no one around me for almost fourteen hours.

But that was something when I found myself making decisions with greater confidence and facing uncertainties. I gained the confidence which was beyond my adventures so far in my traveling life, enabling me to tackle challenges and opportunities with a fearless spirit.

There is a joy while traveling but then there is a downside while traveling especially when things don't go as expected, but unfortunately, these are the part of stories you hear about.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge proponent of traveling, after all, I've been traveling for over 40 years. However, before you commence your journey, you need to be aware of the things that might go wrong, as they went wrong in this case. My story didn't end here, but when I heard that the plane I was rescheduled to travel to Delhi had been delayed by 3 hours because the connecting flight from Nigeria was delayed.

Anyone interested in joining this contest by @suboohi