"Schway" means it is too good to be true.

This past weekend was one of the best weekends of my life.

At 29 (would clock 29 in few months), I got to take my very first airplane flight and yes, it was a milestone for me.

Ok, let's not get ahead of ourselves, let me give you a run down.

Work has been hectic for a while. Traffic has been crazy. Tfare has doubled. Job responsibilities has increased. I was literally a zombie. Weekends doesn't even cut it any longer. I literally needed a break but I couldn't take one because any day missed at work for whatsoever reason, equivalent of that day's pay would be deducted from your salary, and then I have too much to do at work that I fear that taking a break would bring everything crumbling down. But then I was supposed to have taken this trip for a while and for 1 or 2 reasons, I kept postponing.

Eventually last week Monday, I decided I was going to make the trip that weekend. My flight got booked and there was no turning back. I looked at my personal responsibilities for the weekend and I knew I wouldn't be able to meet up if I had to go to work on the Thursday preceding my trip so I took Thursday off work.

On Wednesday evening, I called a friend that I know is an expert in anything airport and flight to ask every question possible about airports and flights. He answered all well. Came Friday I was set but very nervous. I woke up early so as not to miss my flight. Ended up getting to the airport almost 3 hours before my flight take off. Better early than late trust me.

Going forward, checking in was easy, though one or two things gave me off as newbie but that's fine, because I also got to put one or two people through a few things which made me feel like a bad-ass and an expert.

The flight was fine and I was having fun, taking pictures and stuff until we reached probably the highest altitude, and then I had ear barotrauma. It was so sudden and it hit me SO excruciatingly. I quickly unplugged my ear phones and held my left ear, but I was in so much discomfort that I couldn’t breathe, think or sit properly any longer.

Well, eventually we started descending and I started getting better.

My ride was waiting by the time I got there and, zoom...off to town to je aye ori mi 😃(you would need a Yoruba friend to translate that).

We headed straight to my host's place, who kept asking me on the way to the house where I wanted to go, what I wanted to do, got some fruits, and was already asking if dinner should be done in a restaurant instead of stressing ourselves to cook that evening. I kept saying no to everything because honestly all I wanted to do was lay in bed and recover fully from the barotrauma issue. I didn't eat till late evening, and afterwards I took a very long sleep (which hasn't happened in a while by the way), under a duvet in a very air-conditioned room. Everything was so peaceful. The world seems to stop and envelope me in her arms.

The day after, I moved over to another close friend's place who I haven't seen in 5 years. It was mad fun. Few of our old friends, many I haven't seen in years, many haven’t seen each other in years as well despite the fact that they stay in the same city all came around and it turned out to be a mini reunion. I was spoilt dirty, so sad I don't eat much, heaven knows how much I would have eaten 😜. Then the next day, I had to fly back to my state of residence, need I say I didn't want to leave. Trust me if I was going by road or there was no price for postponing a flight, I would have done that.

Well, before I moved, earlier that Sunday, another friend of ours that couldn't come around the day before, dropped by, we chatted for a while, before we moved because he was to drop me at my initial host's place, but then I remembered the ear barotrauma issue and having searched online to study more about it, I discovered that one of the things that could possibly alleviate it was chewing gum, so we stopped by the road to get a packet from one of the hawkers when we were accosted by a gang of touts (though they call themselves Revenue Generators). Wow, it is a longggg story…but summary of it is that our male friend driving asked my other friend to take pictures of the whole situation as it was unfolding, she was sitting in front of the car with him, but instead she turned to me (I was at the back) and asked me to do it (discovered later that that was due to the fact that she has ran out of memory space on her phone). Unfortunately one of the guys caught me in the act because I wasn't particularly hiding (dumb ass) and all hell broke loose. They all went crazy and insisted that they must smash my phone. Typing it now is so funny but when it was happening, I was literally shaking. First I had a plane to catch and I was already running late, and secondly this mob was super angry and my phone is too precious to lose.

Anyway, it was sorted. But my friend couldn't drop me off again due to some other reasons and asked that I join a commercial vehicle. So chewing gum we couldn't get, dropping me off he couldn't do. The other vehicle I took now ran out of fuel at some point. Ha! Temi bami! It was like something was out to ruin the beautiful memories I had gathered up to that point. I told God "please just get me out of this mess, get me to Lagos biko". By this time, I was already feeling nostalgic for my tiny apartment.

As God would have it, I got to the initial place, got driven to the airport, and shortly after I settled down, my flight was called.

It all went well, aside from the fact that one of the attendants in the food court where I went to get the bubblegum eventually didn't give me the complete change for the amount I gave her, and I remembered when it was already too late (when I was already in the flight). Writing about it now is infuriating me afresh, I legit paid 3 times the usual amount for a very useless pack of gum. Oh, and aside from the fact that I chewed gum till my jaw aches, till I even eventually had to spit it out not caring how much pain I felt in my ear, all was great and the weekend was so schway. It was restful.

In between, descending and ascending are my two favourite moments in flights.

A little addendum:

Never underestimate the power of a break, no matter how short it might be. It is always a reset. Everything back to default settings leaving you feeling more energized. And as the case is, personally, I would pay more attention to taking breaks as often as needed; maybe just a weekend away, lodge in a hotel and just enjoy being served, because I have realised it is so needful.

I got back from this said trip on a Sunday and for the first time in months, maybe years, I didn’t dread Monday, as a matter of fact, I was looking forward to it. I was set and refreshed. That’s how effective a break could be. Don’t you forget this!