I am headed to Indonesia on my own, a grand trip, having quit my job. But when we get to the airport, a small building in the center of town, it becomes clear that I am in the wrong place. There is only one flight and it is not going to Jakarta.
Read moreA group of school girls are at the counter trying to get the attention of the stewards and I too go up to find directions. Luckily, an attendant deals with me right away. I hold out a stack of papers for him, and show him my ticket, a black stub, stapled in with a printout of the flight details.
“Where do I go?” I ask him and he tells me about the other airport.
“Don’t go direct there,” he says, ”ask the taxi to let you out at the Glass Field office, building number…”
He writes the number down on my papers.
I picture a mottled glass building in amongst the congested traffic and noise of locals. But I still want to know the name of the airport. Before I can ask, he steps away.
Siobhan is next to me trying to help. I can sense the schoolgirls the other side of me, their irritation that I am getting service and they’re not. A lone plane behind the smoked glass the other side of the counter sits on the tarmac. To the left of me beyond Siobhan is the door out to the plane.
Why did I pick Jakarta? Maybe this is foolhardy.
Then another man comes to the counter. He has bushy, frizzy hair, reddish, unusual for an Indonesian.
“Can you tell me which airport it is?” I ask as I hold out my papers again.
I cannot believe this town has three airports. You could stay in most places, “Take me to the airport” and it would be no problem.
He writes the name of the airport on the paper, next to the other instructions. Finally.
Well this is it, then, my long adventure. I hold Siobhan in my arms . Maybe I could shorten the trip?
“I love you,” I tell her, “more than you can know,” and it is true in that instant. I bend her backwards so that I am looking down at her. Her blonde hair frames her face. She looks beautiful and I already miss her.
“You can come join me, after a month say,” I suggest.
She smiles but it is not clear whether she will do that, and I fear that my trip will drive us apart.
Photo of Garuda wing by Ferry Octavian via Flickr