Winging our way on a holiday

By Allan Yap & Nigel A. Skelchy

“We’re currently flying over the Bay of Bengal en route to Muscat…” drones the Pilot as I jostle Allan for space in the cramped seats of the Gulf Air Airbus 340-300. Next time, Business Class!

It’s been a manic few days, tying up loose ends AND preparing to wing off on our first long holiday in 6 years. The sky is blue below the roar of the jet engines and the plane’s wing is suspended between light and cotton wool as it moves slowly but surely toward our transit destination of Bahrain.

“We’re currently flying over the Bay of Bengal en route to Muscat…” drones the Pilot as I jostle Allan for space in the cramped seats of the Gulf Air Airbus 340-300. Next time, Business Class!

It’s been a manic few days, tying up loose ends AND preparing to wing off on our first long holiday in 6 years. The sky is blue below the roar of the jet engines and the plane’s wing is suspended between light and cotton wool as it moves slowly but surely toward our transit destination of Bahrain.



There was a time when I used to do this as a matter of course. When I hailed a 747/Airbus/DC10 at the nearest taxi stop. Every 3 months. Like clockwork. Back and forth on a 14 to 18 hour trip. It seemed so mundane then. Now, it’s an Event!

In the past few weeks, Allan and I haven’t had the time to be excited about our impending journey. The anticipation and the accompanying thrill sort of caught up with me the morning of the trip.

The sun rose like any other morning. But it wasn’t.

Since Han called us the evening before to see if we were free for breakfast we decided to take him up on it. It’s not often we get a call from him, with his schedule and with ours. Turns out he’s actually off to the UK as well. But he’ll be in London when we’re in Cambridge and when we’re back in London, he would have left for KL already. What a pity. It would have been acefun (one word) to have been able to meet him in London. It’s always different to meet up with friends when one is on a holiday or in a different place. It’s like a portion of reality has been stripped away and you can enjoy the moment without thinking too much of “real life” at your front door.

After seeing Rhona in August, we said our fond farewells weepily (actually, I thought she was leaving on the day after she left) and promised to keep in touch. That seemed like yesterday and in a few hours, we’ll be having another reunion. Our third this year. Allan and I count ourselves very blessed to have “siblings” like her scattered across God’s good earth.