What is that sound from the sky?
I'm bundling up myself in a comfy armchair by the window, which glimmers from a thousand sun streaks shining through a cascade of trees uphill. The gentle rustles of the wind echo soundly with the soothing bubbling of Mom's pot of vegetable stew in the kitchen. Vancouver is trying to keep itself cool during these dog days, slumbering under the maples or splashing by Lost Lagoon, so everything seems to be in a trance. Even the sparrow perching outside doesn't bother to eat his fat worm. The stillness around keeps my words flowing until the sparrow thrusts away terrified: an airplane is passing above.
While I feel sorry for the little bird, it probably wasn't hit as hard as I was hit by my travel flashbacks from the sound of the plane. Given the raging COVID-19 pandemic, flying is not something on top of all of our agendas, but you'll be glad that it is not. Needless to say, traveling experiences very much depend on many personal factors, yet flying during the pandemic was so nerve-wracking that I almost wished to never set foot on an airplane at least this year. Let's just say that I wouldn't consider the latest trip I've made to be exactly smooth (like whatever they boast in airline commercials). Not that I'm being cranky here - most went fine, and I even had an entire row of the plane to myself thanks to social distancing rules - but the very experience of being inside a tube in the sky during these weird times was really one-of-a-kind that I've ever had.
The end of afternoons slumping on the rooftop with my herb gardens was not-so-subtly reminded by the deafening sound of airplanes hovering from the nearby Tan Son Nhat Airport. After 10 months passed in a flash, I was covered from head to toe with protective clothes, heading to the airport to leave Vietnam. My flight to Canada was a red-eye one, right before midnight. However, we were at the airport around 5 hours earlier, like any overly no-nonsense family. The whole airport was more empty than the potato chip bag I brought along, minus some check-in counter staff that were dressed exactly like Among Us characters. We breezed through check-in (where some lady almost cried from hearing that her COVID-19 test results expired for the flight) and security (where an officer glimpsed disapprovingly at my pink Hello Kitty suitcase). While waiting for the boarding call, I tired my eyes by spending 3 hours reading Brave New World and munching chips, something I could never do at home at those ungodly hours. While I longed for my sumptuous bed, I could actually feel it seeping in - this trip was finally going to kick off...
...but at what costs?
Well, those typical shiny travel guides may have covered every possible inch of the Earth, but they probably missed one section: traveling during a raging pandemic. Did they prepare you for wrapping 10 pieces of luggage by hand right before checking in because the wrapping machine closed down due to COVID-19? Did they offer insights on going hungry for 10 hours straight at a virtually deserted airport? Did they consult locals on where to grab a trolley when none was at the departure gate, for no international flights had departed for nearly a month? Those are just a few in a million other flashbacks that keep me up as I tried to fall asleep after watching Aladdin for the nth time in a row.
But before I realized it, the wheels were already rolling on Canadian soil. After 15 hours slumping on couch on 2 flying tubes, plus half a day trying to fit me on the transit airport couches, I could finally see Canadian geese with their droppings on bumpy roads again. However, on my way to the arrival gate, I suddenly realized how much I would remember the city lights from Saigon glowing up like the Milky Way, Over the Horizon on loop for 10 hours in Incheon, and the fresh breeze seeping through my mask that immediately hit me upon arrival into Vancouver. As much as every inch of me was exhausted, I could feel all of those flashbacks gushing by. Frankly, will there be any trip that I can stretch comfortably across the whole seat row in economy, once social distancing rules are relaxed?
On top of that, I couldn't express how amazed I was at the dedication of everyone I met during the journey. While I was binge-watching Disney for 10 hours, there were flight attendants and ground control staff striving to ensure everything was shipshape. Without people like the ground staff who stood for hours fully-clad with PPE preparing tickets or the immaculately dressed flight attendants catering to every whim of weary passengers, I couldn't make it across the globe safe and sound. They really deserve all the kudos for the enormous amount of work that they've done - all during the time the whole world was turning upside down. Like every one of us nestling at home, those essential workers still cherish hopes about the days when we can see each other smiling as the breathtaking views unfold below the clouds.
Till then, I will just let my memories and hopes soar with the wind.
...to this?
Comments
Post a Comment