The plane truth – Adventures in air travel 1

A guest blog from Marian Lucas-Jefferies

Following my recent blog on airports and travel I thought, why not invite writers to tell their stories of air travel. I have my own (watch this space) but here is an interesting adventure, well described.

Twenty-five years ago today, I walked onto a plane on a clear winter day in Toronto and began a journey to East Africa.

The plane was late leaving and they had to hold the Ethiopian Airlines flight to Addis for four hours (if I remember correctly) in Newark NJ and we had to run to catch the plane.

The most exciting part of the flight after that took place sometime in the middle of the night, somewhere over the Atlantic. I had just drifted off when my fellow traveler, Sharon, woke me up.

“Marian, a woman collapsed in the aisle. You’re a nurse. Help her!” The poor woman was OK but I still wonder if her son was. She worked for the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington. I learned through translation that she had just been discharged from hospital because of cardiac issues. From the prescriptions I found in her purse, she also had other heart problems.

But the real issue was that she was on her way home because she had word that her son had been in a car accident. She had to wait three days for a plane and she didn’t know if her son was alive or dead or how injured he was. The problem was that she was so worried that she hadn’t slept or eaten in days. So some antacids, milk, and orange juice, and she was up on her feet and back in her seat.  

As I prepare to fly to Italy at the end of Feb (2024), I have been retelling the story about my only time in Rome up until now. Four hours, with Italian men who smelled of cigarette smoke vacuuming under our feet and restocking the galley. Was it you Bob who stood outside the plane at the top of the steps gazing at the full moon that night?

Do you remember the sunrise over the Libyan desert? It reminded me of the snow drifts on the river at sunset that time of the year. Brilliant pink and purple.

And then we landed in Addis, and the adventure continued.