365 Writing Prompts: Stranger in a strange land

what’s your favorite part about visiting a new place–the food? The architecture? The people watching?

My first visit to London England was full of surprises, the first stop was the Heathrow Airport. The lounge was surrounded by shops, the candy shop, cosmetics,there were restaurants around, one was ,’Eat’, I watched the people working they were hard at work, not looking anywhere but their focus was on the customers. I could not picture myself in a place where all one does is ,’serve the customers’. It to me was too boring .

I bought a sandwich for myself and sat down on a bench, I made sure I could watch the people coming and going. It was delightful to watch people rushing to get the next flight, then there were others gingerly walking, I could see they were coming off a flight, their faces looked tired it must have been a long flight.

While watching them I thought someone in some corner must be thinking, where is this person going or where is she coming from? She is here for a while, I hope she is going somewhere. If I knew this is what  the person in the corner thinking, I’d say, ‘Yes I too have a flight to catch my stopover is a long one.’

I suddenly remembered I have to buy some chocolates for my family at home, I rush to the nearest shop, there are so many varieties, I’m having a hard time selecting the chocolates. I look around and find a family looking for chocolates too, they picked up a  box of chocolate, I looked and saw the name ‘Flakes’, I bought one and hurried to board the flight!

: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/07/17/365-writing-pr…a-strange-land

 

DP Daily Prompt: Terminal time

You’re at the airport, your flight is delayed for six more hours, and none of your electronic devices is working. How do you pass the time?

A few years ago I went to the airport ten hours before the flight, When I checked the time before leaving I thought the flight was at 10 am, When I went to the counter to check in, the good man looked at me and my boarding pass, he wasn’t sure himself whether it was 10 am or 10 pm, when he looked at it the second time, he took a deep breath and rather gently gave me the bad news, “Good Heavens He expressed , Your Flight Is At 10 pm!”

I was embarrassed my brother and sister-in law had come to see me off, suggested I should go back with them, I refused to give them any more trouble and opted to stay at the airport.

You can never get bored at ‘Heathrow Airport’, there is so much to see and do, hours pass by sooner than you think.

I went to the lounge, looked around for a place to sit I sat down when I found one that I liked. I spent the first hour watching people, there were so many interesting people coming in and going out.There were people flocking to the duty free shop to buy cigarettes, candy and bottles of whisky.

I have no idea how much cheaper the duty free things are, I know the word free attached to duty certainly catches the attention of the travelers, so they buy as if this deal will subsidize the money they paid for their tickets.

Having spent considerable time watching the passengers,I felt it was time for me to eat something, I noticed a restaurant with a large sign, “EAT” I immediately got up and headed to that restaurant, they had sandwiches and other foods, for the sake of safety I chose a simple sandwich, I didn’t want to get sick while traveling.

There were five hours to go before I could board my flight, I came back to my favorite place and sat down, I looked around to see if I wanted to buy something, there were all kinds of chocolate, I bought some, back to my seat I came.

Another four hours my watch said, have you noticed when you want the hours to go faster they slow down or so it seems? 

I saw the sign “Boots” made up my mind to check it out, there was nothing there I wanted,it helped me to stretch my legs for sitting so long. I think I spotted an interesting magazine, I picked it up and turned the pages, wasn’t one I’d think of buying I put it back in the shelf.

I must have spent a lot of time in that store, when I came out I looked at the video, OH My God I said my flight is boarding.

I rushed to the gate after checking in I went to sit in the passengers’ lounge. I was at ease I’d soon board the flight. 

Everything after boarding the flight went well, I reached my destination safely. I cautioned myself, make sure you read the time properly,when in doubt ask someone.

nk: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/06/10/dp-daily-prompt-4/

 

DP Daily Prompt: Exhale Post by Ranu

English: The waiting area at London Heathrow airport’s terminal 3. Terminal 3 uses a centralised waiting area rather than seats at each gate. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It happened at Heathrow airport in London. We were traveling to Dhaka,Bangladesh. It was evening,we were patiently waiting for the flight. I looked up and saw our flight was boarding, I told my husband, we then dashed off to get to the gate, I cannot recall the gate number now,but we knew we had a long walk ahead of us. As soon as we reached the gate,my husband looked for the boarding passes,he couldn’t find them. I was nervous,what are we going to do,”I said”?

The look my husband gave me could give anyone a heart attack.I guess I have a strong heart, nothing happened to me. As you can see I am still alive. It never helps when we are nervous,we fail to realize things are not that bad. My dear husband had the passes in his hand. Neither he nor I thought of looking. That was one long deep exhale for us,Wow!