In Silence

I learnt that we would not land directly in China. " we will land at Istanbul Airport, Turkey and then take off to China the next day", the coordinator told us. I concentrated on taking a look at the interior of the aircraft. It was so big and accommodating. Air hosts and hostesses usually update us on any information we needed to know. They served us snack and drink. Behind every seat was installed a micro touch screen monitor which entertained us with different series of updates till we reach our destination. The map was there, showing the distance we needed to cover and from the time we left Lagos to Istanbul, it was calculated that the journey would take about 6hrs 28minutes. I relaxed, even decided to sleep as the journey was indeed going to be a long one. Above my seat was a luggage rack where our hand luggage were stowed. The atmosphere was cloudy and the plane window was mist up. I recalled everything that happened to me, my experience at the airport, the running and depressions and shook my head in affirmation that there's always light at the end of the tunnel. That's why most times, what we need is just faith to believe that we can achieve anything we set our mind to do. "Why me?", I asked. I slept in deep thought of many things I couldn't remember. I was awoken by the announcement from one of the air hostess telling us to ensure our seatbelt was well fastened and get ourselves ready as the plane was about to taxi down the runaway. We landed at Istanbul Airport, Turkey and as we disembarked from the plane, I felt a new breeze from a new continent and world. That was when I had the time to view the plane very well. The fuselage of the aircraft had two wings with flaps and tail which consists of a shudder and a fin. At the frontal part was an opening from where one could locate the pilot in the cockpit. I also saw the undercarriage where one could locate the aircraft's landing wheels and their supports. The wheels are retractable. We proceeded to the airport and were taken to the sleep pods where we would spend the night and prepare to vacate the next day. I met one dark complexion man from Kenya who expressed his confidence in the abilities of Nigerians. " Good luck to you all", he said as we left to eat at the restaurant. There are several types of cafes and restaurants at Istanbul Airport representing numerous concepts and offering delicious meals from Turkish and world cuisine. So we made our way to Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and they gave us their menu which includes Chicken Po-boy, French fries, spicy tenders, Bonafide Chicken - Spicy, Burger etc. We ordered French fries, Burger, chicken tenders, Bonafide chicken - spicy with coca cola. There were other restaurants there where different dishes were sold. Some nauseated me that I felt like puking. I painstakingly ate them by bits while taking photographs of every move I made. It was really enjoyable. We toured round the big airport and it looked really adorable. At evening, the blueness of the sky from the sleep pod aroused within me an admiration of nature. We slept early enough so as to prepare for our next journey to Taipei, Taiwan in China. From research, we found out that it would take more time on air than it had already taken. The next day we hurried to wait for our flight to arrive. There were series of announcement of flight arrival. " We have to be alert to avoid missing our flight ", the coordinator told us. So our eyes were glued to the digital checking board where both the incoming and departing flight number were displayed. Ours later arrived as it was announced and we hurried to the tarmac where we joined other Chinese as we board the flight. That one was huge and as well bigger. I heard the revving of the engine in readiness for flight. We always knew what to do so we did the needful before it was announced. We started another journey from there.