First Flight Excitement

[samsliimaa]

First sky travel in life! An extraordinary feeling! On December 6, I traveled by air for the first time in my life with a domestic flight from Rajshahi to Dhaka.

I saw a lot of friends on Facebook taking pictures of airplane behind them. Finally my time came on December 6. The excitement began the day before as I prepared for the journey, buying a new bag and planning outfits for my 6-month-old daughter, Afia Siddiqa, and myself.

Our flight was scheduled for 12:25, Since we had no previous experience, we reached Rajshahi Airport much earlier. It was a unique experience observing the people around, many of whom seemed well-prepared for their flights. We had quite a bit of time, we explored the airport, taking pictures and updating the map. I compared the places by looking at pictures taken by others.

At 11:30, we received tickets with all our names on them, including one for my daughter. Seeing our names printed on the tickets was a great feeling. The air hostess recited Quranic verses, Then address as usual instruction we heard at movies. The seat belt comes with an optional infant belt extension. That was quiet tricky for us to set up. One of the air hostess helped us to attache that with regular seat belt.

Within a few minutes, the plane flew into the sky. The moment of flying from the runway to the sky is amazing! Then the aircraft gave a few jerks and started to turn to the right. I looked down and saw the houses and the road and the cars on the street are being tiny.

The overhead plane soon entered the clouds. Nothing is visible below. Looking down, it seems, another sky. Within a few minutes, the air hostesses started distributing snacks to the passengers on trolleys. Stopping the trolley in the middle of each row, he flashed a fake smile and said - Snacks please.

10-12 minutes before reaching Dhaka, the plane was moving very low. As a result, I was immersed in the beauty of the environment below. We landed at Dhaka airport in about 40-50 minutes.

After landing, the plane that we were surprised to see looked like a baby plane next to other planes. Several large foreign aircraft were parked at the airport. After getting off our plane, we were all getting into a bus and at that time someone came and said madam please come with me. He took our new bags and put us in his micro. At first I thought maybe they were making a mistake and confusing us with someone else.

Later I heard that this special service is for my little girl. Waiting for the bag inside the airport is another stressful feeling. I was watching each bag carefully for fear of losing the bag. So many bags with lot of colors and style. People and people inside the airport. I could not take pictures of any place without people.

Finally our bags arrived and our flight was over. This was my first flight experience!

[TusharSuradkar]

Congratulations on your first flight @samsliimaa and nicely narrated.

I enjoyed every instance that you shared and could also relate it to my first flight experience.

As a general rule that I knew last, infants below 2 years get to fly for free, but this might have changed now.

[PaulPavlinovich]

Glad you enjoyed your first flight @samsliimaa and great that it met your needs. Be careful sharing boarding passes (you called them tickets) as the QR code on the ticket can contain personal information and can be scanned from the photo.

Paul

[Tandrima2]

Hello @samsliimaa

Very nice to read your experience of first flight. You described it very nicely.

Thank you

[samsliimaa]

Thank you @PaulPavlinovich I have removed the boarding pass image. I didn’t knew this called boarding pass. Thanks for the information.

[samsliimaa]

@TusharSuradkar yes, the infant ticket was almost free. It came with the price of our ticket. Thank you for the comment.

[samsliimaa]

Hello @Tandrima2 , I am glad to see you here. I had no idea about Google Maps a few months ago, and now I am looking at so many sisters who are already here.

[JustJake]

What a great story @samsliimaa , I could feel your excitement. And to think, your daughter is going to be an experienced traveler by the time she’s able to speak. This excitement is for you!

I do so much on Maps, whenever I look down from the plane, that’s all I think about. “What town is that?” “Have those roads been mapped out, yet?” So, maybe it didn’t seem too foreign for you as you looked down since you’ve been staring at the satellite pictures on the map & that let you look up and enjoy the sky.

[Mo_TravelleerX]

@samsliimaa Your first flight experience is absolutely heartwarming and exciting to read! It’s wonderful how you captured each moment, from the anticipation of preparing for the flight to the actual journey from Rajshahi to Dhaka.

[TerryPG]

Congrats on your first flight @samsliimaa I kind of remember my first, I think I spent most of the morning in the bathroom.( Nervousness) This was over 40 years ago. Since then I think I have flown over 80 times.

A little trick I learned so that you can spot your own bag quicker is to tie a small colourful ribbon of the same colour on all your bags handle, With so many bags looking alike it helps your bags standout.

[MonirHB]

Excellent experienced explain @samsliimaa

[renata1]

Lijepo napisano @samsliimaa

Ja još nikada nisam letjela , putovala avionom.

[SoniaK]

Great post of your first experience about flying @samsliimaa . Congratulations! Your post just reminded me of my first travel on a plane, by myself, when I was probably 6 or 7. My father used to work for Bangladesh Biman. He was posted in Rajshahi too. Back then, there was no airport in Rajshahi. People going to that region used to take flights to Natore. I always flew with my parents, but that was my first time traveling alone. I was super excited and thrilled and anxious, all at the same time. The cabin crew kept checking on me every 15 minutes. And when the flight landed in Natore, the pilot came to me with a bag of Picnic (they used to serve chocolates on flights named picnic, I used to love them). Everyone treated me like a princess and I was a proud passenger who kept telling every single fellow passenger that I was traveling alone, because I was a big girl and I was going to meet my father. Thank you for sharing this wonderful experience and also thank you for bringing back my sweet memories.

[TusharSuradkar]

You took a flight alone and that is incredible @SoniaK !

I often argue with people that we do remember things clearly from an early age 6, 7, or 8 years but most of them do not trust.

I do remember many things from that age, and your narration confirms it

[Soykot_azam]

Great experience, thanks for your details & nice post @samsliimaa apu.

[SoniaK]

Hahahaha…this is no surprise @TusharSuradkar , we DO remember stories from our very early age. I think the earliest memory I can recall is when I was 4 and a half. That’s the time my mother moved to a different town. I vaguely remember us going there, staying at one of her friends’ house before my mom arranged the headmaster’s quarter at the school. I was super excited about the move, I clearly remember that. My older brother was bragging all the time. But I was like, on a picnic or a new adventure. Yes, people DO remember stories from very early age.