The one with the flight to Singapore

Hiya.

I know it has been like forever, sigh. Adulting is super stressful when you have a full time job, run an almost full time business and several other life shenanigans. Anyway it is a public holiday today (it was when I started writing this) and I decided to bless the web space with a post.

So sometimes ago, my friends and I had a hot girl summer type of vacation. (I am low-key pissed we already had our trip before this slang became popular, very rude of the people who did this but I move). First of all, please don’t believe all those travel blogger type people that say travel is cheap if you plan yen yen. My dears, travel is far from cheap especially when you are travelling from Africa (Nigeria) to other parts of the world.

We traveled to Dubai and Singapore while two of us that did not get Singaporean visas had to do Dubai & Seychelles. I am not going to bore you with the drama that usually besets applying for visas as a Nigerian passport holder because that is jokes for dayssss. The only honorable mention the process gets is that the Singaporean embassy in Lagos rejects your visa application and do not even tell you why.

Heck, these guys almost throw your passport back at you when you go to pick up. At least countries like UK will take time to let you know why you are being denied, these ones can’t waste their ink on you, rude but so funny. Long story short two of us got and the other two were denied. It was annoying but me moved regardless.

Gisting you about Dubai would have made my day but I know tons of people have been there so I do not have any brand new information that may interest you. However, it is worthy to note that Dubai was built to make one keep coming back. Everything in that city is wired for your comfort as far as my eyes have seen.

I have been there 4 times and not once have I gotten tired of visiting the city. They have decent yet affordable hotels, you can have fun without having to pay for a single tour with many free tourist attractions. We all really wanted to cry a little when it was time to leave.

The Flight To Singapore
Traumatic. The one word that sums up my experience.

Oh, it started great. The aircraft was bigger and better than the one that brought us to Dubai from Nigeria so yay us. My friend and I were like the only blacks we saw as at the time we boarded so this was already going to be an awkward flight. Anyway, we boarded and quite unfortunately we were seated right beside the toilet. Fammm, that habit people have of not washing their hands and leaving the lavatory doors open was not left in their houses. People trooped in to empty their bladders before the long flight took off and I do not wish the stench on my enemies. YES, half of them left the door ajar when they were done with their business. People are nasty the world over apparently.

There was a particular woman who came to stand beside my seat for a while, she looked a bit pale and ill. She stood beside me and the toilet door for some time that I figured she may have diarrhea.. Cabin crew asked her if she needed anything and she said she was fine. I noticed her swaying at some point though as if she slept off and jerked awake. I thought for a minute this was going to be longest flight of her life AND mine too if she really was passing stool because I was seated right by the entrance of the toilet.

I was coming from a long 4 days in Dubai that we spent running from one tourist attraction to another in a bid to maximize our ticket fare. Traveling while broke is a real extreme sport. We got back to our hotels ready to drop every night. That exhaustion, I would not trade for the world, Dubai was damn good to us. I was exhausted and I could barely keep my eyes open before the food was served. It was finally served and I think I slept right off or during the meal.
Anyway, a commotion woke me at about 4 hours into the flight. The captain was announcing that medical personnel on board identify themselves as there was an emergency case on board.

The patient/emergency case was just about 3 seats from ours but on the other aisle. Snippets of the gist I heard was that a passenger passed out. I think they must have been working on her before I woke up now that I think about it. The cabin crew were such troopers, they performed CPR for hours on end while taking turns. At some point, the passenger started bleeding through what I think must have been the nose and yet these crew members continued.

I admired their single-mindedness and determination to save this life they did not know from Adam. Almost all hands were on deck to ensure the person made it till we could get expert medical care. All of this was made worse because the passenger traveled alone so there was no one to ask what her ailment was.

Several people came forward giving several advice on what should be done but due to law and ethics, only doctors or nurses who had their ID on them were able to help. I saw a little glimpse of humanity during these hours. Everyone was worried sick. There was a Muslim woman seated like two seats in front of me, she gripped her rosary and kept praying fervently. I was immobilized with fright before then, seeing the woman made me realize I could help by just praying. I prayed my heart out. Later, they requested for adrenaline and then oxygen to keep her breathing and so many other medical names and dynamics my brain could no longer keep up with.

After about 4 hours, which was like about an hour and forty minutes to our landing, the passenger was wheeled away right past me with an oxygen mask on her face and blanket on her knees. We all breathed a sigh of relief because our prayers seemed like it was answered. Cabin crew prepared us for landing and we landed.

Let me chip in that it is only on flights to Nigeria that people jump up immediately the plane is taxiing on the runway.  Humans on this side of the world actually chill out and wait their turn, wonderful!!! Passengers on the aisle before us had left. Fast forward to when it was our side of the plane to disembark and there was a sudden inflow of weird people from the entrance saying we should seat because we can’t leave the plane yet. I panicked all over again because I badly needed to get out and breathe in fresh oxygen, I was already dizzy with worry. The crack of the captain’s voice over the microphone pleaded with all of us to wait behind because sadly the passenger died and so the health authorities of Singapore had to investigate. I shuddered because a dead body had been wheeled right past me and I did not even know it.

Singaporean health authorities’ officials came in and created a perimeter around the incident scene, singled out passengers that were close to the passenger. The passengers affected were asked questions, had their temperatures taken and several other things they could test without so much serious equipment. The details of their passports and location they will stay while in the country were part of all the information they took from them. I do believe the ones closest to the dead passenger were taken out before the rest of us not too close were allowed out. We were finally allowed to disembark and so soooo many of their personnel were waiting for us with all sorts of machines flashing and checking our vitals before we were allowed in their country.

I wept silently for Nigeria because this precaution could never have been taken in my beloved country. Cue our ebola invasion which should have been contained on the airplane Patrick Sawyer boarded. Protection from a deadly disease should rank high on  the list of a government’s duty to its citizens.

My friend and I ran to the toilet to scrub our hands as if we had come in contact with a virus. We did not know what disease the passenger had or if we may had contacted it. Also, our bladders were about to burst because no one was allowed to use the rest room. All the equipment and materials used to treat the passenger was locked up in the toilets.

As the Nigerian passport holders and blacks that we were, we were the last people on the flight to pass through immigration. Our bags had been put under the “lost and found” carousel and we trudged weakly to pick them.

The saddest thing that happened that night was the two lone bags left after we had picked our bags. It could have easily been the bags of the dead passenger. It laid there waiting to be claimed by its owner. In that moment, the fragility and uselessness of life hit my guts so bad I wanted to curl up somewhere and just cry for this person I did not know.

Life is fleeting, here today and gone tomorrow. We did not leave our hotel room for about 48 hours after we checked in due to the trauma of the trip. We were numb with shock.

By the way, remember that woman that was leaning against my chair before we took off, the one I thought had diarrhea . She was the dead passenger.

photo credit:  Louis Magnotti