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| Eliza left this not for me. She makes me smile. Such a sweetie <3 |
We talked about Chicago, soccer, friends and his family. I thought he was really friendly because he kept talking to me. By takeoff, I knew about his trips to Europe, his other favorite travels, his preference in food and TV shows, his culture, etc. And after we had been in the air for a while, I even knew his favorite color.
This was the moment I soon realized that I would be sitting next to a (very) chatty man on this long flight. Exhausted, I made a good effort to smile a lot and answer his questions, but I have to admit that I was a bit worried. Was he going to be this chatty the whole time?
The answer: Yes, for the most part.
However, there was another concern about my new friendly neighbor: his condition. Talking throughout most of the flight was one thing, but coming down with who-knows-what was another. This man was not in good condition at all. He had trouble speaking sometimes and pink eyes. Yes, plural. Both of his eyes were pink, and halfway through the trip, he began sniffling and coughing. He had trouble speaking without pausing to wipe his nose or get control of his coughing. Believe it or not, this did not stop him from talking.
I was uncomfortable, and I couldn't help it.
He was definitely coming down with something. I had to interrupt him a few times to make sure he was okay. Laughing, he said, "No, really, I'm fine. I mean, I'll be fine." Then he rubbed his watery eyes, coughed in his hands and padded the blanket over my knee to try and comfort me.
This was NOT okay. Not comforting at all ... And he was definitely not okay.
(Disinfectant wipes would have been useful here or, if someone just sprayed him down, I would have been okay with that too). I really didn't want to get sick, and every time he nudged me while I was sleeping, all I could think was ... Please don't touch me. He nudged me to wake me up so I could check if his eyes were still pink. This highlights another minor problem of the trip: He thought it was funny to wake me up. No, also not okay, but the woman on the other side of him (who had moved a seat over due to the coughing), must have agreed with him. I caught her smiling a couple of times. I'm pretty sure this was pure entertainment for her because she chuckled whenever he tried to convince me that he was completely okay.
It seemed like every couple of hours or so, he would wake me up to ask the same question, "is it still pink?"
My response remained the same: "Yes, both of them are pink."
Despite the discomfort, I remained friendly and eventually managed to negotiate with him. I convinced him that it was probably best for him to get a bit of rest "just in case" he was coming down with something stronger than he realized.
"Okay, maybe you're right," he said.
Thank goodness he agreed because I was so tired. I really didn't even know what I was saying in half of our conversations. After he agreed with me, we both fell asleep. I'm not sure how well he slept, given that he probably couldn't breathe half the time, but me ... oh I slept peacefully through the rest of the flight, including breakfast. When we landed, I woke up next to my pink-eyed, struggling friend, waved and wished him well. Then, I got on the bus and headed to the Istanbul terminal.
One flight down. One flight to go.
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| This was in the Istanbul Airport. I had a six-hour layover. |
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| Inside the terminal, I hung out at that Starbucks and survived off of two cups of chai tea. |
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| Random: This is the most wholesome VS I've ever seen. I think they only sell accessories like sunglasses, bags and fragrances. |
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