Seychelles Living

O.R. Tambo International Airport (Johannesburg) is a strange place to be on a Sunday night. Usually buzzing with travelers and co; chaotically checking in, declaring something, saying goodbyes and welcoming loved ones bought in from the skies. Breathing people in from distant lands, and exhaling others in a steady cycle. Not on a Sunday. This huge space is empty. Its Eerie. The scattered employees man their posts, de-animated and robotic Vacant, distant, bored and sometimes lonely eyes stare back at me for a moment, and then flinch away. The odd traveler moves in seemingly slow motion as their paths intersect mine. I turn back and there is no trace of the full British Airways flight I came in on from Port Elizabeth, the passengers, the friendly couple sitting next to me, everyone seems to have been absorbed into the ether of this hollow space. I'm Lost. I zigzag through rows of cordoned off queuing corridors. Theres no-one else besides me and the teller within sight, he can here me coming, he can see me getting closer, then further, then closer again. After a half marathon of pushing my trolley through that maze I reach the front. . .

At this point I need to admit that I have had my oversized headphones on my ears since I checked-in in Port Elizabeth, my carefully selected playlist blasting out of my X10, keeping me securely inside my head, my eyes like a camera lens peering out of my hoodie. He lifts his head to greet me and I pull back my hoodie and slide my headphones around my neck...wow, its a whole other world out here.

Politely I am told I have walked in a full circle and pretty much right where I'd started. I look around but don't believe him. I am directed to the exact opposite side of the airport . . .

Woah! As I turn a corner I'm greeted by an airplanes count of people standing in the Air Seychelles check-in queue. There are only two flights to the Seychelles from South Africa, one on a Friday night, and the one that I am on: 23:55 on a Sunday night. I check-in and move through metal detectors, luggage scans and passport police and step into the International departures section of the airport.

Woah! Its like stepping through a portal into another world; All of a sudden there are open shops and and people everywhere. Its a shopping mall, Its almost midnight and I NEED a smoke . . .

* Words in Italics denote extracts from my hand written journal.