So it was a major delay

was it? 

The media was reporting a "major" delay at our international terminal a couple of days ago. As Middle Cat and I will be using that terminal in the not too distant future I read the article.

Oh yes, a "major" delay - all of thirty minutes. They had to put human beings on to deal with it. The "electronic" gates were not working. The flight to Denpasar was delayed. 

All this is absolutely dreadful of course. We cannot possibly have this sort of thing happening. It is shocking, especially as the pilot apparently made up time and the plane landed on time at the other end. I wondered why I had wasted my time...but it might have been important given our travel intentions. 

At the same time I remembered a journey made back from London one year. At that time there were no international flights in or out of this city. There are not that many now but at least there are some. At that time you took a domestic flight to an airport in a neighbouring state and then caught the international flight. It added many hours to the journey. Most of the time it took around thirty-one to thirty-two hours to get to London.

I hated the journeys I made. People could still smoke...and did. The food was, to put it mildly, dreadful. I have serious issues with balance and the sensation of ascending and descending is something I would not wish on anyone else. Once up any turbulence will make me feel ill. Yes, I am dreading the air travel portions of this trip even now. Perhaps it is an excellent thing that Middle Cat will be there too...not that she is a particularly good traveller!

But, back to that journey. It was three days before Christmas. It meant that planes were crowded everywhere. There was a problem somewhere along the way. We landed unexpectedly in Bangkok and something was done to the electrical wiring. The captain assured us that it was not really a problem but he was being careful. It did nothing to reassure me of course.

We then flew to Darwin and then to Perth. There were undoubtedly reasons for all this but the passengers were getting restive. It was 3am when we arrived in Perth. The airport was pretty well deserted. We were told first that we would be changing planes there and we all had to get off.  By then it was about thirty hours into the journey. People were tired and worried about the delays. There were no mobile phones back then. I had almost no local currency on me of course. I had not been expecting to need it. I decided not to phone my parents from there. I would wait until the next destination to tell them of the delay. It is unlikely I would have been able to make what was then a long distance call anyway.

We sat there unable to sleep or do anything. There were crying children and babies screaming but most of the adults were silent by then. I remember trying to play "I spy" with some children in the primary age group just to try and allow their parents to deal with younger and more fractious ones. 

And then, something happened. Someone came in and opened up a refrigerator somewhere. He came out with a lot of those tiny tubs of icecream and the little wooden spoons that went with it. He handed out one for each baby and young one. Peace and quiet! We adults were finally given drinks as well but it took time.

We were on our way again, flying over my home city. Of course all the connecting flights had been missed by then and I stood in the next airport looking at the harassed woman behind the check in counter. Yes, she knew what had happened. Sit down there and I will see what I can do but I am not sure...

I was close to tears by then. I was exhausted and finding it difficult to even put one paw in front of another. Eventually she beckoned me over and told me that they were putting me on a flight that left in about four hours. Go and sit over there. The police have been informed and they will keep an eye on you and make sure you don't miss the flight. She took my parents' number and called them to say which flight I would be on. I put my forepaws over my luggage and tried to doze off but could not. I did not feel hungry but I did feel thirsty. I was also too frightened of missing the flight to try and find even some water to drink.

The next flight was crowded too. There was only tepid coffee 

I endured the last leg of the journey and was wheeled off the plane into the Senior Cat's arms. He had a bottle of rainwater in his hands - and no hug has ever felt or  drink has tasted so good.