Every beginning is difficult..

The last week at home was nerve-wracking. There were so many things in my mind that I had to think about, and there were even more things that I had to take care of. After only getting about 4 hours of sleep each night, if I was lucky, from Friday to Wednesday morning because I was constantly surrounded by people who are important to me and who are important to me, I was looking forward to the 13-hour flight even more. Just to replenish my sleep. There was no thought of sleep on the night from Tuesday to Wednesday due to excitement. And besides, the wine tasted way too good again. A decision that I would later regret.

Once arrived at the airport in Frankfurt, it was time to say goodbye again. My first flight went to Kiev, Ukraine. Luckily, the plane was not completely full, so I could move from my aisle seat to the window seat. As soon as the plane was in the air, my eyes closed. Two hours of deep sleep. Hangover deep sleep to be precise.

Kiev. July 17th. 18:55 local time.
The first leg is done. I managed to transfer. I can hardly breathe. I have a knot the size of a melon in my throat. I am now sitting on the plane to Bangkok after I ran across the entire airport. The time difference has caused panic. In Kiev, they are one hour ahead of us, did you know that? I didn't. Naturally, I didn't think at first that my phone would adjust automatically. As I woke up from my deep sleep, I thought I still had 25 minutes left to catch my connecting flight. Additionally, we started with a half hour delay in Frankfurt, which turned a relaxed one and a half hour layover into a pretty stressful matter (if you can't read the clock properly). I briefly thought that I didn't even have time to go to the bathroom. Then my connecting flight naturally starts from the completely other end of the gates. Hectic. I didn't even dare to quickly go for a smoke because I would have had to walk in the other direction to get to the smoking area. So my frantic, first-time-on-my-own self decided that since the flight lasted a total of 13 hours, I didn't necessarily have to smoke. Let's see when I will regret this hasty decision. Now I'm sitting in a Boeing 767-300. There are still about 10 other people in the entire plane. Because according to the schedule, it will only depart in 45 minutes. Well, to look at the positive side, at least I had a free choice when it comes to storing my carry-on luggage. I'm sitting in row 25. In the aisle. In the middle seat. So basically, exactly in the middle of this huge plane that has seen better days. Around me, about a 12-person Thai family gathers from both aisles and starts discussing wildly over my head. Can you imagine my facial expression? I should have thought about getting something to eat quickly during my layover instead of worrying about my unsmoked cigarette. At what point during a 10 and a half hour flight will you see the first meal? While my thoughts wander again, the Thai father starts pointing to the surrounding available seats. The decisive point for the very lively discussion of the entire family was that I am sitting right in the middle of this almost decaying aircraft, thus separating his family in two. I quickly exchanged the center seat for the son's seat on the aisle. I'm happy not to be in the center of attention anymore. or in the middle of anything at all. My stomach grumbles. The plane is supposed to take off in 10 minutes. Slowly, the seats around me fill up with backpacking couples. Strained faces, probably just as clueless as I am, but blaming their travel partner in annoyance. At the moment, I'm glad I don't have to argue with 12 family members or anyone else. I take off my shoes and sit contentedly in a cross-legged position on my newly acquired aisle seat. Where are my headphones?

somewhere over the Black Sea? 9:42 p.m. Probably still Kiev local time.
The plane is probably already far beyond the Black Sea. At least I hope so. But that was the last thing you could recognize on the screens above these many heads here before Bohemian Rapsody started playing. Good movie. What wasn't so good was the food. I should have answered the flight attendant's question 'Chicken or vegetables with rice?' with 'vegetables' instead, because what was announced as chicken was more like the sole of a shoe. To be honest, I have no idea what part of it was supposed to be the chicken. Was it the yellowish compressed disk or the gray couscous/rice-like mush? Or was it chicken disguised as broccoli? Who knows? Because that definitely didn't taste like broccoli usually does. Be that as it may, I have no idea where I am right now, let alone what time it actually is. I only know that I still have a damn long time to sit on my ass and I'm considering if it's acceptable to smoke in the airplane bathroom these days? What would I do for a cigarette after this wonderful meal

Upon landing in Bangkok, I slowly feel how exhausted I am. The flight was super exhausting. Two rows behind me, there was a whining child with incredible stamina, and the guy next to me managed to sleep the entire flight and even claimed half of my seat. 🙄 The airport in Bangkok is incredibly huge and every square meter is occupied by at least one person. The passport control took another hour because of overcrowding. I quickly exchanged some money and then took a one-hour ride to the city center in an old school bus shuttle. Where is my hostel?