Bittersweet

Sitting here at the airport I am surrounded by what lays ahead of me. Directly in front of me are two rather attractive Asian girls, a little further along a group of phlegm hocking Chinese Nationals.

I am leaving Sydney for Singapore en route to Hong Kong. I booked a FlyScoot (Singapore Airlines’ budget carrier) ticket in the hope of saving some dollars. This has proven to have backfired in my face. At check-in I was advised by the counter lady (Yes, that is what I have reduced you down to – nothing more than a counter lady!) that my baggage had exceeded the allocated 15kgs and that it would cost me $20 per extra kilo.

“Great”

I was further advised that I would incur a credit card ‘convenience charge’ of $7.

“Of course there is” I replied tersely. She didn’t care.

I suppose it is only apt that my final commercial exchange in Sydney would involve me getting shafted. My departure from Sydney airport has been in total congruence with how things have panned out for me  in recent years. But hey, don’t sweat the small stuff right?

Next time, be better than the budget carrier Cal, be better than the Budget Carrier.

The feeling is bittersweet to say the least. And this is a good thing, as to be bittersweet is to have the ability to look back at the bad experiences with a smile in your heart. I am running away from many things, the most significant being my broken near-marriage. When I say most significant, I am stressing the fact that it is not the only reason, there are other factors at play.

The past two years have been the most difficult in my adult life, possibly only being surpassed by the passing of two of the most dear people in my life, my Father and my beloved Great Aunt. But I learnt early on that you can’t change the past. You can only hope for the best for the future and focus on the present.

And so here I am now, sitting mid aisle on a budget carrier with a slightly large Australian Greek woman on my right and a sweet Chinese Singaporean Aunty on my left; heading to a foreign country, albeit one of the safest countries in the world, and hoping for the very best.

The ‘best’ being $6 million in 10 years.

GO HARD OR GO HOME!

Postscript:

Overhead Announcement: “We are currently waiting for the last remaining passengers. This will only take 2 minutes of your time’

Greek Aussie Lady “Oh my God! You HAVE to be kidding me”

….hmmmm, I wonder if she realises the flight will take 8 hours and 5 minutes!