8-9^th August 2019

Taxi took 30 mins to Birmingham airport, but then, Emi stopped crying for her Guinea pigs and I calmed down too. Boys enjoyed the ride at the front, me frantically texting to Ali all the jobs to do for me as there was no time for a proper handover. Good job Steve ordered minibus with all our luggage. Nerve wracking time at the bag drop as Qatar Airline’s determination of codeshare baggage rules for a BA Gold / OneWorld Emerald card holder differed from Steve’s – and a penalty of over £2000 would result if Steve didn’t prevail.  Thankfully we had a fantastically helpful duty manager to hand who after a very long telephone call to someone came over with a smile to say it was all sorted – and no fee.  Phew!

Quick stop at Duty free shop is tradition for whisky, gin and perfume especially as these are highly taxed in Sri Lanka. Only myself and Steve this time were allowed to the executive lounge for a small lunch (and a glass of bubbly), but kids were very happy to be sent to Burger king on their own with all the coppers in my purse – in total £17 for two whoppers and 6 chicken nuggets.

We boarded the plane to Doha about 15.00 with push back at 16.30. Emi was sad not to turn left to Business class! I was sitting on my own, with kids and Steve across the island. Steve was nodding before we took off, just pure exhaustion and now he could relax. In-flight entertainment choices much better then in Sri Lanka’s airlines, food nice as always, stewardess polite and pleasant. Plane full. When we landed in Doha nearly 7 hours later, we had 55 minutes for transfer, so we didn’t have time to admire the beauty of one of the most amazing airports. We only walked a few hundred metres, well walked, who knows Steve, we run! Queuing, security control, waiting for plane – transfer is very popular in Doha as it is major hub. Plane was delayed and as Steve is wanting to take a picture with all of us at 4am local time (23.00 for us), he realised, that in exhausted zombie state he left his very expensive pocket camera in the foot-well of his seat 34A on the first plane – and his heart sank along with a few expletives coming out of his mouth. We managed to summon a shift coordinator and I wrote him all the details where we flew from, where we sat, name and Steve’s telephone number, e-mail address and he promised to see to it. Steve was in despair as you can imagine, his expensive camera! All four of us, tired and grumpy, in a crowded place unfamiliar to all except Steve, Steve furious with himself and kids bewildered, me trying to keep calm and collected. The duty manager (a Sri Lankan as it happened) then came over and was a model of customer service professionalism.  He reassured Steve of all the options and that he would take personal responsibility (his exact words) to try and resolve the situation.  We left Steve behind as instructed and boarded the plane from Doha to Colombo, sitting all together in the middle row 48.  I was betting with the kids: a) will daddy Steve fly with us? b) if he does board the plane, will he come with the camera? You can guess! Steve did board the plane and had the camera in his hand with a massive smile on his face.  Exhaustion was the cause, not helped by trying to send a rushed message to family back home whilst half asleep rather than focusing on belongings. We are all constantly learning from our mistakes, even at the age of 55!

Travelling through the night has taken a toll on the kids and even though in-flight entertainment was appealing and so was the food, all three of them fell fast asleep and slept most of the 5-hour journey with no food. I couldn’t sleep, I enjoyed my food and drinks, I watched a few movies “Second best Marigold hotel”, “The Notebook”, “Red Joan” (I recommend all three of them) and played some games, relaxed and thought a lot. What my life is going to look like in Sri Lanka? What is waiting for us? Will we be safe? Will be be healthy?

I never regret anything in my life, I just wish my dad was here to witness what we are experiencing, how brave and adventurous we are being!  A scrawny, naive girl from a small industrial town in North Moravia in the  former Czechoslovakia, living in the capital city of Sri Lanka with her family. He would have never thought this will happen! He sent me to England to get my English language more proficient over 3 months in September in 1997 in time to have me back home for Christmas!

I never came back. Well, that is another story, isn’t it!

Rennie