30.09.14 19:23. I’m writing the start of this story whilst I’m currently sat on the plane, feeling a bit shaky. The emotions are threatening to burst out of me, and I can admit that my eyes have become a bit glassy. I did not sleep well last night. I woke up quite a few times, and at 04:45 am I was wide awake. I had also struggled to fall asleep the night before, so it wasn’t the best start to the day. I suppose it might have something to do with having a late shift at “praksis”, then an early one the day after. For the first time in ages though, I didn’t have a nightmare about losing my plane, which is something I seem to have before I go anywhere. At “praksis” I was mostly just following around a nurse, who I adore, but she doesn’t know what I can and what I can’t. This means that when it comes to do anything with patients, she usually takes control. I suppose I could’ve said that I’d like to do this or that. But I was being a bit lazy, so it’s was a bit boring. Plus I kept walking around yawning due to the lack of sleep. Then we had a meeting with my teacher and all my fellow classmates. I felt rather silent. I usually am, so I don't think the others took much notice. But I was just too tired to talk, and my mind was elsewhere—“how will I have time to take that shower and pack and do all these things?”. After our meeting I hurried back home and did everything I was supposed to do. Then I went to wait for the bus. As always it was a bit late which is why I always try to take an earlier bus. This means I was at the train station in good time. I took my time buying a train ticket, and went on the platform to wait. Quickly I realised that all the trains were delayed. Even the quickest train to the airport was delayed with 30-40 minutes. And I felt the panic start after standing at the platform for twenty minutes after my train was supposed to have been there. When another train than mine came quicker, I made the mistake of jumping on it. In my mind I thought “surely it’ll go to the airport”. Of course it didn’t. At least it didn’t seem like it. A mantra of “fucks” was the soundtrack in my mind for a while then. It was 6:00 pm, and I was on the kind of train that stops at every station. My plane was going 7:10 pm. My choices were either jumping off at the next station, take the train back to the “main” station, and then take the train to the airport. That would risk me having to wait ages and eventually miss my plane. So I went for my second option. I called Sugar. “Hi, are you home?” I asked. She hesitantly said yes, commented that it was a bit of a strange question. I don’t usually call people out of the blue, so I’m not surprised that she was a bit hesitant. But I soon told her about my predicament, and I asked her if there were ANY possibilities her mum or brother could drive me to the airport. It appeared that her dad had the car, and he wasn’t at home. Before we ended the call, she said that she would try to reach him. At that time I had almost given up, and I was contemplating whether I should just wait until tomorrow to book new plane tickets. Since I was absolutely desperate, I texted Sugar, asking if she had a number to anyone who lives close to her, seeing as she lives nearby the airport. Before she had answered me, I started calling for a taxi. The only problem was that everyone was busy, and no one answered my long calls. So I decided to jump off at a station I knew would be a bit busy, in order to find a taxi. Despite standing just outside the office of a taxi company, there were none to be seen. So I called, and called, and called. Everyone was busy. That’s when I got a new text from Sugar saying that our friend could drive. Then she called me and I said I had jumped off on another train station, not the one where she lives. She huffed at me, and I felt like the little hope I had was running out. But Sugar said they would be about ten minutes. Goodness, when time is everything you don’t have, each minute feels like an hour. Once I spotted them, I threw my luggage in the back of our friend’s car and jumped in. It’s really hard to hope for something that seems like a lost case. Our friend has worked at the airport and knows a thing or two. So she told me to check in via internet. Believe me, I tried. But when I really need it, it appears that 3G doesn’t want to work. Once I finally found a connection it was too late. We arrived at the airport at 6:45 pm, and I ran inside. Sugar and our friend had to park the car, plus they were in charge of my luggage. I ran to try seeing if I could still check in on the machine, but I was denied, so I ran to some staff. They told me I had about two minutes to get through security. So I ran to stand in line of a huge line. It’s very rare that I’ve seen such a big line. As I was standing in the line, I could feel the hope disappear. There was just simply no chance I’d get through security and run to my gate at the pace of the line. Luckily I spotted our friend and Sugar talking to a staff member, and they somehow managed to convince him to let me through a short line through security. I was so grateful because I would’ve never had the chance to make the plane if I had still been standing in the humongous line. I gave both the girls a hug, and I was so overcome with emotions. I’m surprised I didn’t start crying then. You might think that this is the end of the story, but no. Because I arrived so late at the airport, I didn’t have a chance to check in my luggage. I wasn’t supposed to use it as hand luggage, so there were loads of fluids in it. I told the security woman about it, and she told me I wasn’t allowed to bring with me fluids over the certain amount in my hand luggage. So I ripped my luggage open and threw out all I could find of fluids. She told me I had to walk through the security thing and that I could remove the rest of the fluids at the other side. I can imagine that I was making a line, but I was too worried about my plane to care. I got through the security thing without trouble, and I threw on my coat and scarf. I saw the overview of all the planes, and my flight said “boarding”. A man in charge of checking fluids was currently checking a perfume that belonged to the woman before me in the line. I was just standing there all jittery, and I wanted to yell “hurry the fuck up”. Obviously I didn’t. He was soon done with the perfume. Then he brought my suitcase over and said there was another fluid in the bag that I hadn’t thrown out yet. I ripped open my luggage again and looked frantically after it. I only barely didn’t throw out all the content in my luggage. Once I found it I asked if I was good to go because I had to catch my plane. He said yes, and to enjoy my trip. I said “ah, if I can catch the plane, that is,” in a jokingly manner. It’s nice to know that I can joke despite being completely stressed out. When I turned to look at the overview of all the planes, I saw “gate closing”. I hadn’t gone through all of the bullshit to give up, so I ran as fast as I could with my wool coat, scarf, backpack and my suitcase. I ran through crowds of people and felt a bit like a dick and hoped that I didn’t accidentally hurt anyone. I felt a bit defeated as I realised that my gate was quite far away. And I was out of breath quite quickly, so I had to slow down to a jog. But once my gate was in eyesight, I started running again. I could barely speak with the woman, and I didn’t even have a ticket because I hadn’t even checked in. But she asked for my name, and she printed a ticket for me. And woosh, I was through the doors and ran the last meters to the actual plane, although it was unlikely for it to leave me by then. The flight attendant glanced at me, and said “calm down, you’ve got time”. I hadn’t even checked my ticket, so I had no idea where I was seated. And when I looked at the ticket, nothing made sense to me. I’m guessing it’s because I still felt stressed and anxious that I would lose my plane, despite standing inside the plane. I backpedaled a bit and asked the flight attendant, still panting. She calmly told me where I was seated, and that I could relax. I got to my seat, aware of all the curious looks. But all I wanted was to put my luggage in the compartment and sit down in my seat. I was lucky enough to have a window seat. In addition the middle seat beside me wasn’t occupied. The passenger that did sit in my row though, helped me put my backpack on my seat whilst I put my luggage away. I thanked her, and silently thanked all the kind people in the world. At approximately 7:00 pm I was finally sat down in my seat, ten minutes before taking off. I was still jittery with emotions. And they weren’t gone until I was sat in the sofa with Lynx and Grepper, studying Grepper’s new iPhone 6 whilst he told me about it.
