Africa : The Departure

It's weird to think that I call two places home. There's the home I live now, New Zealand, with it's semi-tropical weather, black sand beaches and lush greenery. And then there's the place of my childhood. Africa. Dry heat and full of people.
We hadn't seen it in 10 years. The countdown began as soon as the tickets were bought. The countdown to seeing the family and friends. The countdown to seeing the familiar places. 57 days went by in a flash and before we knew it we were waving goodbye to Dad before making our way to the plane.

Plane rides are probably my most loved and hated thing. I love the feeling of the plane when it takes off, making your stomach drop as you rise higher and higher. But I hate the constant paranoid voice in the back of my mind going "we are so high up and so heavy. How are we not falling" so the in-flight entertainment is a welcome distraction. 4 hours in and the plane is descending to drop off the Melbourne passengers, allowing us to stretch our legs as we make our way through customs for the second time on the journey. My anxiety starts to get to me as I near the metal detector and x-ray machine. I know none of us have anything to hide. But I'm still terrified that I'm going to beep. I don't. And we carry on through back to the waiting lounge as the plane fills up on fuel. 

Looking around the crowded waiting lounge it's easy enough to pick out the South African's making their way back home. They're either wearing something, or talking in Afrikaans,or  there's also just something about them. Their mannerisms, the way they're constantly flicking their eyes around the room, almost as if they're willing to strike up a conversation with anyone but at the same time glaring at everyone to stay away. It's a difficult expression to explain, stuck between contentment and disgust. Besides the obvious South Africans there are a lot more Chinese than I expected to see. The different cultures that you expect to see in a country is another thing you don't really pay attention to when going to another country. Being from South Africa originally I had never seen an Asian, save for Jackie Chan or Lucy Liu. Seeing them in flesh and blood walk past me in the street was and is something I'm still having to get used to.

After waiting for a time I deem unnecessary we're finally boarded back on the plane and we head off to Dubai. This time we're flying into the night and so I try to catch some much needed sleep. But that lasts for all of half an hour. I'm way to hyped and excited about the whole experience since this is the first time I've been on a plane since I was 12. I settle on the TV series 'Elementary" to keep me occupied for the next few hours and settle in. Somewhere along the way I doze off and after being woken for breakfast we are making the decent into Dubai airport.

Dubai International airport is by far the biggest airport I have ever seen. We get off the plane, tired and disoriented, thankfully we have about 3 hour before we board our transferring flight so we don't have too much of a rush. We glance at our boarding passes, ask around and try to make our way to Gate B 32. After finally realising we have to take the elevator down we emerge even more confused. There are no gates, and a board has 'Gate B' with an arrow pointing forward but the only thing ahead of us is a train station.
We make our way towards it when we hear one of the airport workers shouting "Gate B on the train". Yes. We have to take a train to our gate. I hadn't understood the size of the airport until then. It is beyond huge.

Finally getting off the train we emerge into yet another area of the airport and it is more than crowded. Everyone seems to know where they are going except us. We finally find a board that shows us where Gate B is and make our way in that direction. We find seats and settle down after the mad rush. We now have about an hour and half before we board. I find a bathroom. After about 20 minutes I finally return. The line for the bathroom was ridiculous. I find my mother frantically waving at me so I run over.
"What?" I ask worried.
"We've just been told that our gate has changed. We are now at Gate C 45".
Gates have changed? Is that normal?
No. In any other airport, in any other country it wouldn't be. But here in Dubai it is the norm. Thankfully, we had been forewarned so we were expecting it.
What were weren't expecting was that Gate C 45 was now at the other end of the terminal. So we have to run.