Well, I can’t believe it. I’m sitting here thousands of feet up in the sky heading over to Dubai. Finally heading to Cape Town. At about year ago, I was just preparing for my Cape Town interview and now a year later, I’m flying over for two months. I am very excited and even more anxious to get there. Edwin is sitting next to me watching Toy Story 3. Pretty good movie. And speaking about good things, Emirates is so far exceeding my expectations. The attendants are great. The entertainment options on the touch-screen televisions on every screen will keep me busy for 12 hours. I don’t know if I can access the Internet from up here. They have a spot for an Ethernet cable but I left my cable in my checked baggage. I guess I just got to blog on Microsoft Word and upload these posts later. They have a port to charge my laptop so I can use my laptop and write for a long time.
Airport hassle was a breeze. I woke up around 3:30am back in Waltham and my dad, mom, and I grabbed all my bags to drive to JFK International Airport. I was asleep for most of the time. I had awoken 15 minutes away from the airport and my parents were telling me there was traffic near Hartford due to some accident. But once we passed that we just had to deal with some morning rush hour traffic but we did not hit the brunt of it. We passed by Citi Field and Yankee Stadium on our way. We eventually found the Emirates terminal and my dad dropped off my Mom, my baggage, and I in front of the terminal as he went off to park the Sequoia.
I was thinking of waiting until Edwin arrived but I decided I wanted to check in my bags. It was very convenient and the process was done quickly. Since I had purchased my tickets online, the online check-in line did not have anyone waiting and I basically walked up to the attending lady. The only thing she asked for was my passport. She gave me boarding passes for each of the flights I would be taking to Cape Town and labeled each of my checked baggage. She asked me to place each bag on their scale and everything seemed to be within their requirements. Once she gave me all the necessary paperwork, I had to proceed to bring my checked luggage off to the side for it to be scanned and carted off to the plane. The bags went through their high-tech scanners without an issue, which was a relief. There were looking at the monitor for a long time for some red baggage they scanned, trying to figure out something in particular inside it. They immediately put it off to the side and proceeded to open up the bag to do some further investigation. Thank God that my bags did not have to go through anything like that. Because my bags were locked, they would basically be forced to rip open the lock if it came to that.
My first flight was set to board at 10:20am. Since Edwin had not arrived, my parents and I decided to walk downstairs and eat some breakfast. I tried to use the Internet downstairs but I was restricted within the airport. My family and I sat at an eatery for a little bit, taking pictures and talking about the trip in general. I realized that I did not want to sit down, but explore, because I will be sitting for a very long time on the flight. I ended up finding an Au Bon Pain on the other side of the airport mall and near that was a McDonalds. I was sold on the Mickey D’s so we decided to move over and grab some food from there.
Edwin finally arrived at around 9am. I helped him complete his check-in, which again was a breeze. Once he went through the same procedures I did, his family and mine went downstairs again to hang out until boarding time would occur. We took several pictures and it was good take pictures out of Edwin’s new camera. 14.1 megapixels. Sick. We’re just going to end up taking hundreds, very possible even thousands of pictures with that camera to keep everyone back home updated.
Boarding time indicated 10:20am but we decided to head over to the gate at 10am. We have to go through a stringent security checkpoint before reaching the gate. Beyond that point, we could not be with our families. We hugged. We kissed. We said our goodbyes and Edwin and I were officially off to the airport races. There were no issues going through the security checkpoint, which made the process very smooth. I could still see my parents from the beginning of the checkpoint and I continuously waved to them from a distance until we had to continue walking. As soon as I put everything back in my bags, I immediately grabbed my fedora and put it on. I was looking forward to finally putting it on. The journey felt like it actually started. After putting our personal items in the proper places in our carry-on bags, we walked over to our gate, A5. The gate had not officially opened yet and Edwin and I proceeded to go on a photo spree. It was an early indication of how much pictures we will be taking throughout our journey.
At about 10:30am, passengers began to board the flight. They called our section first and we began to walk the boardwalk to the plane. As we were entering the plane, it was eerie. There was nine people staring at each passenger. I think they were watching our demeanor and our facial expressions. If they had a suspicion about someone, they immediately stopped them and checked their paperwork. For NINE people to be looking at you at the same time was strange but I knew that it was for my safety and the added security is a blessing. Edwin and I got through the stares without being stopped which was a relief. I give credit to my fedora. How you going to stop a guy wearing a fedora? As we reached the entrance to the cabin, major newspaper were sprawled out for us to pick and read during the flight. Newspapers ranged from U.S. Today, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal. Just from this compliment told me that flying with Emirates would be great, even if the flight is over 11 hours. As we started to take off, Edwin and I held a prayer case with a coin with a prayer from Saint Christopher, the patron saint for travelers. As we held on to the case, we watched one of the flight cameras as began to take off from a seat televisions. As it reached the final runaway, the plane sped up and the plane took off. Watching us lift from the window, looked unbelievable and the buildings we could clearly make out became tiny objects. JFK looked cloudy and a little foggy but once we reached our current altitude, the sun was shining. It was a sight to see.
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