March 8th 2019
Above Aylmer Lake, 3 hours to New York
This could be easily the strangest and longest day of my life.
I started this journey about 22 hours ago, and so far I’ve read two books (Design of Everyday Things + Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows – just because) and watched 2 and a half movies (Ralph Breaks the Internet – only half of it; I’m sorry Disney, but the movie was boring. Crimes of Grindelwald – a rewatch, but it’s Eddie Redmayne, there’s no explanation needed and also The Nutcracker and The Four Realms). I’ve eaten 4 meals that I can’t distinguish which one was breakfast, lunch or dinner anymore and refused 1 meal because it’s 1.30AM and it was not even Indomie.
I’ve slept and woken up countless times, stretched and made acquaintance of the flight attendants. I actually listened to all Vivaldi’s four seasons all the way to the end (usually I just listen to Spring and jumped to Autumn. Verdict: I still love Autumn the best), I suddenly craved for Classified’s Baked S’mores, and managed to contemplate on certain things in life.
I’ve crossed timezones and it was such a strange feeling. Few hours ago, I was wandering at Baiyun Airport in Guangzhou, where Guangzhou is 1 hour ahead of Jakarta. My flight was at 1.30AM, so I wandered around the quiet airport way past my bedtime. I was a bit sad when the stores and restaurants started to close at around 10.30PM, I thought they made great company and now the airport was even more quiet. Finally boarded the plane by 1AM or so and I managed to stay awake for couple of hours. I woke up at about 7am Jakarta time and it was blazing bright outside, now – 3 hours later it’s pitch black outside. Apparently I was crossing Canada. Okay, cool.
I tried to remember what it was like 4 years ago, when I went to the US and took a trans-atlantic flight for the first time. I think I had pretty much a similar distorted experience. Like I don’t know what time it is, where I am and am I hungry or am I sleepy?
That flight I took 4 years ago, and this particular one, had another thing in common: the person waiting on the other side of the world. Knowing that I’m going to see him at the end of this 25-hours flight, is a happiness out of this world. 4 years ago it was a mixture of anxiety, I was going to leave home a little longer, to start life in a different, foreign, faraway land. This time it’s a bit different. I was leaving home only to go home.
Dear you, who walks in starlight in a different world,
You asked me where I’d like to live. If you asked me this 5 or 7 years ago, I’d blurt out places like South Africa, Italy or maybe even France. Or that town where the inspiration for Kiki Delivery Service came from. But now when you asked, it’s your face that I saw first. I find it hardly a surprise – you are home.
And darling, I’m going home.
araramse 