Who the fuck decided it was a good idea to schedule a 10-hour flight at 9:00 am? Not only do you have to get up at 5:30 a.m. and find a taxi at 6 a.m., but you waste a full day on the plane and you probably can’t doze off because of the many mundane onboard activities, from meal service to duty-free.
I like late-afternoon or night flights. You just sit down, buckle up, sleep and wake up where you’re supposed to be.
I knew I’d be leaving in the morning when I bought the ticket, but three months ago, it didn’t matter. Now it does because I’m taking the damn flight. Waiting for it as I’m starting to type this article, as a matter of fact.
When it comes to leaving places, I’m more like Mark circa the daycare era than Feng, who is usually happy to go home. “It’s weird,” I explain to him on Skype. “Usually I just hate you because you’re the killjoy who is dragging me back to Canada. But this time, I do want to go back, not because I’m looking forward to being in Ottawa but because I miss you and I miss Mark.”
The last two days in Santiago are bittersweet as I’m starting to detach from my backpacking and Latina life. I feel like an alien—I morphed into a local to fit in but now I’m morphing back into something else before going back to the mothership. I no longer shop for food but for souvenirs and for the first time in weeks, I know for sure where I will be next week even though I don’t have a booking confirmation—home.
After packing, finishing a last-minute badly timed work assignment and eating dinner, I decide to lie in bed for a couple of hours. It’s already almost 3 a.m., will I hear the alarm at 5:30 a.m.? Is it even worth sleeping?
Probably. I can’t keep my eyes open much longer and I need some energy to deal with the whole airport process.
My backpack is ready.
I’m not sure I am.
I send Feng a last email:
“I remember choosing my clothes carefully and putting on makeup when we met at the airport in Mexico, in New Zealand, in Canada…
Sorry, I probably won’t look that fresh when I arrive in Ottawa.”
I leave the windows and the curtains open, both to make sure I don’t sleep too deeply and because one last time, I want to enjoy the city lights, the noise, the feeling of being part of something—of what exactly, I’m not sure… the neighbourhood, Santiago, Chile, South America?
The alarm beeps and it’s time to go.
One last check to make sure I don’t leave anything behind. I head for the stairs, as usual, then I turn around and call the elevator when I remember I have my backpack strapped to me—20 floors with it is more exercise than I need right now.
Last night, I finally met Sebastián, the property manager…. or whatever his job title is. It was my own little running joke in Santiago.
I booked the first couple of nights thought Expedia, and since I loved the studio apartment, the building and the street, I booked it again directly with my contact, “Sebastián” every time I was in Santiago. All business was conducted by text messages or over the phone—I sent tons of “Hola Sebastián” messages through Skype to confirm arrival time, door codes, to ask for lightbulbs or to report the fridge died on me.
Hola Sebastián! It’s Juliette. No recibí la confirmación de la reserva por correo electrónico del 3 al 5 de marzo (y probablemente lo extienda). No sé si la necesita, esto es solo para confirmar. Además, pagué a Daniella ayer. Gracias!
Hola Sebastián! It’s Juliette. Llegaré entre las 14 h y las 15 hrs mañana. Además, me gustaría extender la reserva hasta el jueves 7 de marzo (y probablemente hasta el 15 de marzo, voy a confirmar). ¿Es posible? Gracias!
However, I had never met “Sebastián” in person. To collect rent, he’d send “Daniela,” a young Venezuelan girl who lived on the 12th floor, and once, he sent a guy who, I suspect, was also a building resident. I kept on wondering who exactly was “Sebastián”—was he old, young, was he an employee, a rich property owner…? I knew he had kids, I heard them in the background a couple of times. He also had a made-for-radio voice and he was pretty trusty—once, when “Daniela” wasn’t around, he told me to just leave rent money on the table.
I always had to chase “Sebastián,” “Daniela” and whoever was working for him to pay rent, including on the last night:
“Hola Sebastián, I’m leaving super early tomorrow, can you ask Daniela to come around for payment?”
“Give me ten minutes.”
Half an hour later, the doorbell rang. I opened the door, expecting Daniela but I found myself face to face with a Benicio Del Toro look-alike.
“Hi, I’m Sebastián.”
“Oh my God, you actually exist!” I said.
“Oh my God, you’re so freaking hot!” I was also thinking.
Okay, I could leave in peace—I had met Sebastián, my last Latino mystery was solved.
The taxi is waiting for me downstairs as promised. Chileans are very reliable people.
I let out a sigh—the driver isn’t chatty, I can relax, I’m not about to be quizzed about my travel choices in Chile (“But why didn’t you go to lovely-very-remote-city”?).
Two seconds later, he turns the music one and Green Day starts to play at full blast as he speeds away in the empty streets. Not exactly the quiet, relaxing ride I was expecting but we did get to the airport in record time and it only costs me 14,000 pesos (Sebastián had guestimated the ride at 18,000 pesos).
For once, it’s colder outside the airport than inside—with the air con, it’s usually the opposite. I guess Fall weather is coming in Chile. All those who were complaining about the heat are rejoicing, while thousands of Venezuelan newcomers are bracing for winter temperatures in July—“I’ve heard it could be close to 0⁰C,” they whisper, eating arepas.
I join the very long queue for the AC 093 flight to Toronto. Accidentally, I freak out a few travellers from Calgary. In the queue, as we’re discussing our respective connections in Toronto, I mention it may be a bit of a mess with all the 747 Max grounded. They look confused—turns out they didn’t know about the crash.
“We don’t speak Spanish, we don’t watch the news! How many people died?”
“Ahem… all of them,” I have to reply.
Anytime you need to kill the mood in a long airport queue, just call me, eh.
I get my boarding passes—one for the Santiago-Toronto leg and one for the Toronto-Ottawa leg—and I step outside to watch the sunrise over the Andes.
Going through immigration and then through security takes about five minutes. I kill another ten in the duty-free shop, where I’m suddenly inspired to buy something for my father-in-law—food in a nice box, the perfect present approved by billions of Chinese!
Boarding the damn flight takes about an hour. I’m zone 5, aka “stand around, we will call you when all the suitcases are properly stored in the overhead bins.”
I just want to sleep.
It’s a full flight and the aircraft is old and cramped. I’m pretty sure the seats are smaller than usual because my knees are touching the back of the seat in front and I didn’t grow an inch. My seatmates, Chilean grandparents who have been living in Montreal for 30 years, are both pretty big people and they complain they don’t fit in their seats. I feel for them because they aren’t unusually large. I have the aisle seat and they politely wake me up every time they need to move or turn.
Instead of eggs for breakfast, we get some chicken breast. Then instead of pasta, we get more chicken breast. I’m guessing there was a slight issue with the meals today…
Eventually, I sleep for more of the ten-hour trip and after declining a chicken sandwich, we land in Toronto.
“Juliette?”
Huh?
“Gagan.”
Oh, my God, kind, sweet Gagan, also waiting for his suitcase! He emailed me a few years ago, before immigrating to Canada, then we met when he settled in Ottawa. He is coming back from a business trip to Mexico and we’re on the same flight to Ottawa. It’s a small world…
I see Feng right away in the Ottawa airport arrival hall. It’s like in one of these movie scenes, I’m on the elevator, he’s standing in the middle of the small crowd…
It could be awkward but it’s not.
“Mommy, I like you better in real life,” Mark says later, after a long, long hug. “You get very blurry on Skype, sometimes.”
And here we are, the three of us together again—my two guys, for better and for worst.
Bonne réaclimatation, littéralement 🙂
I’m learning how to spot icy patches on the sidewalk… again.
Isn’t it almost over?
Cf. Twitter… not even close 😆
Ahh welcome home! My eyes
Are red reading this. I’m so emotional everytime I’m heading home. World is soo big i want to explore ehhehe
Still cold in Ottawa??
Yep, still cold! Ice and snow everywhere.
Emotional as in are you usually sad or happy to go home?
Both.
When I travelled without my kids of course I miss them, but yet seems the trip was not long enough hahahah
Same mindset here 😉
I love how you wrote this post, and Mark is just too cute !
Thank you! And yes, he has his moments 🙂
(I can’t access your blog anymore, is it normal?)
Welcome home ! I think I was homesick for you the whole time you were away from your family…
I realize it sounds like a weird choice but I think the three of us handled it well. We did spend about an hour on Skype every day, so it helped not feeling disconnected. Feng knows almost all the places I’ve been to and I wasn’t gone *that* long 🙂 I missed them, but I guess I’m used to missing people, the life of an immigrant…
Ah, yes, the Max 8 problem. Lot of flights have been canceled due to its issues.
It has to be noted that the MCAS software that is blamed for both crashes would have saved people on the AF447. In case of stall warning, you nosedive.
But stall warning at take-off are almost always false alarms, so you should ignore them. There was debates about the possibilty to disengage stall warning at take-off because it has caused accidents in the past.
However, it seems that in the 737 MAX8 case, the design was particularly flawed.
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/03/boeing-downplayed-737-max-software-risks-self-certified-much-of-planes-safety/
It looks like Boeing cost cutting policies are responsable of the crashes. Pretty appaling.
And I’m not sure anyone will trust them after the “software update”. I don’t know anything about flying or planes (not the technical aspect, anyway) but it’s appealing that 1) electronics are given that much trust 2) pilots weren’t apparently trained about the issue (or warned).
Pilots haven’t been trained because Boeing wanted the MAX8 to be piloted exactely like other 737, so pilots didn’t have to be certified for this specific version of the 737. It was a sale argument (sale in French too).
Plus, the self certification by Boeing of the MCAS, presented as non-critical to the FAA, proves, once again, that self régulation of private companies doesn’t work. I hope Boeing AND the FAA will get fined.
I don’t hate money or business but I hate how it makes some people so… bad. Taking shortcuts to maximize profits, again–like, it almost never work on the long run, people!
There was also a plan crashed back in October, in my country. The accident similar to Ethopia airlines case when the pilot asked for enroute.
The saddest part, I have many mutual friends with the passengers . Most of them have family in Jakarta while weekdays have duty on other island. The accident happened on Monday morning
Yes, everybody is talking about it here as well–the Lion Air one, right? It didn’t go unnoticed in this part of the world 🙁
Sorry, if I scared you 🙂
I was surprised but not scared! I wish I had been a better conversation partner, in English or in French. I had the post-long-flight brain and one goal in mind: MUST. REACH. OTTAWA 😆 At least we had a smooth flight, no turbulence 😉
I was so glad, and surprised that there practically no turbulence that night. Pleasantly surprised 🙂
You were good luck, from now on, I’ll ask you to fly with me everywhere I go 😆
Enfin le retour au bercail !
J’imagine combien tes deux hommes sont heureux de te retrouver !
Bon retour.
Mark avait l’air moyennement heureux quand je lui ai demandé de lâcher la tablette pour faire ses devoirs 😆
Yesss you’re back my latina backpacker 😉 Tu dois te sentir les pieds entre deux mondes, un peu. Je suis contente pour to que tu aies pu saisir cette chance de voyager encore un peu. Et j’ai trouvé ça parfait, ta mention du courriel que tu as envoyé à Feng avant de partir. J’ai imagine vos différents retrouvailles. Une parfaite scène de film 😉
It’s not so bad actually, the two worlds are so different that you have to adapt fast and go with the flow. It’s scary right before leaving but once you get to destination (whether it’s home or a place far, far away) you know what to do. Bit like finishing a book and starting a new one, you don’t forget the previous story but you focus on the new plot 😉