Airports: The Art of Lack of Coffee and Sleep

I will be the first to admit, these first two days of travel have been very damaging on one’s gypsy spirit.

On many occasions I have determined that airports are my favorite places in the world. No specific one of any sorts, but all of them. The hope, the longing, the sense of adventure. The hellos and goodbyes. The tearful I love you. The coming home and the welcoming of a new chapter in your life. There is so much to be in awe of at the airports. There are many moments of opportunity to get yourself swept away in.

Questionably these past 48 hours have been a test of just how much I loved airports.

My flight scheduled was Denver – LAX – Hong Kong – Siem Reap.

Earlier in the day on Friday, I made the comment to someone about how it had been the nicest day of the week now that the wind had calmed down. As luck would have it, my plane wouldn’t leave until four hours past schedule because of wind.

Although the flight to LAX wasn’t large to begin with it quickly shrunk down to just four passengers:

Myself.

A British (which this detail is important because I felt like I was part of Chronicles of Narnia the entire time I hung out with him because of his accent) adolescent boy.

And a mother-daughter duo from Australia.

During four hours we talked about all things Australia and Michelle ‘s daughter and son-in-law that they came to visit. I found the company of them to be quite lovely and reassuring. You see, when I was in South Africa I was part of a team of ten girls, all in which were from Australia except for it. Whereas I believe Africa was the starting point in all of this, I took it as a good sign that these women too were from Australia. I felt a bit more relaxed at the idea that I was where I was meant to be.

I also occupied myself by playing a game of hot lava monster around the gate area and practicing my British accent. Oh how boys can be so imaginative. The eight year old heart that I foster was quite happy at some down time to just play around and get lectured at.

At twenty years old, there is something about getting yelled at for jumping around on chairs to avoid an invisible monster that makes me quite giddy.

About twenty hours later, I found myself boarding my last plane in order to reach Siem Reap, Cambodia. As I began to get comfortable I was approached by several flight attendants. They needed to see my passport and wanted to confirm I had 50 USD on me. Unfortunately, I did not have 50 USD on me, I only had the 30 it required for a on site visa when I landed. As a result of this, I was kicked off of the plane.

In that moment I had felt as if I were on a plot twist version of the Amazing Race.

I was asked to remove myself from the plane. I was unable to pull cash out. I couldn’t make a phone call either. About an hour after the incident all they could tell me was that I would arrive in Cambodia on May 6^th.

I quickly learned that batting eye lashes, smiling and making yourself cry does not get you far in the rest of 

the world as it does the United States.

When facing adversity I try my very hardest to keep an optimistic outlook on the situation, such as, what can I learn from this right now? If I am being honest though, it often reverts to me becoming more inward. I become less trusting with myself, my instincts and others. What made me the most uneasy was how quickly I wanted to curl up into a ball and hide under my blankets at home; how quickly defeat came.

After several hours of talking to different supervisors and being interviewed about being wrongfully kicked off the plane, the situation was taken care of and I didn’t have to spend two days in the Hong Kong airport like originally thought.

These traveling events reminded me of a couple of different things:

First, embrace the language barrier. Sure I am here to help better the education of English in Cambodia, but that doesn’t mean that other languages are less valuable. Each language has a unique story because each person who speaks that language is the author of those stories. Embrace the language barrier and you will learn to: be more patient, learn to take more time with people, understand that sometimes it is no one’s fault, it is all a big misunderstanding.

Secondly, don’t take it out on the person when it is a computer glitch. Just like it would be if the roles were reverse, you can’t do anything when the system fails just like he can’t.

Third, you don’t have to know a single soul in the country or city and someone will still be determined to help you. That is what makes this world so beautiful.

I am currently staying at a hotel in a different city than my final destination. Considering the fact I haven’t seen a bed in three days is a clear indication that a 7PM bedtime is not the result of jet lag but is completely appropriate.

I can’t believe that after 52+ hours, I am here in Cambodia!