Departure - Up and away

Everyone who comes to this island is here for a reason – My good friend

'I don’t doubt these words in the least. I’ve been allot of places, done allot of shit, but this hole in the wall paradise knocked me off my feet.'
       It took about three seconds after walking through the airport doors at Perth International before the anxiety overwhelmed common sense and the feeling of joy wrestling deprivation fought each other on my way to the check in counter. I’ve been waiting in line for 45 minutes and I know that I have only one chance to get the right check in counter if I don’t want to miss my flight… Crap, I just remembered I forgot my cell phone charger in the wall. Are my bags too heavy? What will I sacrifice in a mad dash to security? Shit, I just checked my bags in and I have deodorant, nail clippers, and a bottle opener in my carry on, whatever I won’t need those anyway. I throw them out to spare myself the embarrassment and the extra security checks when I get to that demeaning point of the boarding process. The feeling of travelling overwhelms me again; a grin grows upon my face like a new moon. The reasons most people don’t travel are for situations as I’ve just experienced and yet it’s one of the few things that makes me feel alive. I often wonder what degree of sick human I have become. I look around me before our gate opens and I make an effort to study everyone’s face, they look at me in mockery, my faded jeans, cartoon t-shirt, and eyes of baby who has just discovered its own hands. This island is small, this island is impressionable, watch out because first impressions mean a lot. I don’t mind being the underdog because I know each and everyone one of you will benefit from me in one way or another. They will see ;) 

 

                Finally I sit back in my seat, buckle the belt and watch the boys down below carelessly load my life long belongings into the belly of the alloy dragon. The anxiety fades and the lost night’s sleep worrying about what I’m going to bring or what I might forget begins to conquer my conscious state. I do little to fight it as it grabs hold and strangles the life out of my lungs and winches my eyes lids shut… oh no, not before I see the ground fade, the buildings turn to sticks, the cars to ants, and then finally the bleach white of the top side of the clouds. White Turns to black.

                My eyes are open as if I were never asleep, no yawning, no confusion, a blank stare straight ahead, apparently my brain started to work well before my eyes became unstuck. Like waking from a horrific hang over my stomach turns instantly wanting to be sick. A few moments pass before my conscious syncs itself with the subconscious. Right… that’s right… I just left my friends, my new acquired family, my best friend and mentor, and I’m headed to an island of which I know nothing about, nobody, or survival odds in the jungle. That new moon smiles cracks the placidity of my cheeks. I laugh out loud in a silent, nearly empty plane. Humor is the one feeling I can always trust in this life. Every time it feels the same, it feels good, it feels familiar. What else are you supposed to do when you go out of your way to put yourself in grave or imminent danger? Sorry mom you raised a freak. I know better than this though, I’ve done this before; I always find a way and the will to push on forward. 

 

                My heart beat calms and my stomach finds its equilibrium, the first sight of land crosses upon my shoulder. There it is, three and a half hours of blue white caped water and this little fragment of rock dares to stick its nose out of the java trench for a breath. I will crawl upon you. We have hit the tropics, the temperature in the plane is the same but the windows don’t frost like they usually do. The clouds lay a lazy 300 meters above the water intimidating to drop its pay load. I’ve been on enough flights to know this pilot doesn’t know his shit and is scared as a new born faun lost in the foliage. The atmosphere on the planes grows to borderline hysterics with every drop and swoop of the fuselage. I stare out the window with that grin loving every minute of it. Mostly because they're terrified and partly because I’ve lived a full life even at my tender age, disappointment won’t be expelled from my corps if this plane actually does pop out of the other side of this cloud straight into a cliff… the landing gets aborted, the engines roar and nose points skywards. 'go ahead captain, give it another try, let’s see what you’re made of' A tight circle sending us back the way we came and the old ladies hold their breath. A second view of the east side of the island comes into sight. I admire it as I know it very well could be the only time I'll ever see the approach to this place. Up, down, up, down, down, Boom. We hit the ground and the seat belt does it job as my body stretches like an elastic band pulled back on the forefinger. I wonder if the pilots wonder as much as me if we’re really going to stop before that tarmac runs out. Slow, slow, slower… A full stop and I hear the ladies in the back gasp for air. Good effort for some old women, maybe I'll invite them to come spear fishing with me.

I’m on my own, I don’t know a thing, I have no food, and I’m supposed to be living in the jungle for the next many months.. 

Here we go…