My inflight encounter
It was Christmas eve and everyone who ordered wine was politely informed by the air stewardness that they normally do have to pay for alcohol. Since it was a special festive day, it was free, and that after this last Christmas eve flight out of Sydney, the next lot of passengers will need to pay as per usual practice. Those comments were probably unnecessary. I guess some people were about to reach for their wallets anyway but to keep comments to "Yes it's complimentary today" would suffice.
So I happily ordered my complimentary Adelaide Hills chardonnay and laid back into my seat, though I felt slightly robbed of leg room in this Boeing 737 plane for some reason. The man in front of me didn't make things any easier, pushing his chair as far back as the seat would allow him and happily squeaked his chair while caressing his wife/girlfriend/fiance/mistress, whoever she might be. Slightly annoyed, I decided to blast some rock music into my ears while flipping through Qantas's inflight entertainment booklet.
As the plane was about to descend, I felt a slight ringing in my right ear. The change in pressure continued to push against my ear drum and I quickly removed the headset, thinking that I might have self-inflicted some enormous vibration via the headset. Making pretentious yawns and swallowing my saliva down my throat did not ease my suffering, which by this point, I was seriously ready to cry.
Flashbacks of my most painful experience with unbearable-suffocating-pressure-dropping battle emerged before my very eyes as though they were recent. The plane was bound to land in Spain and my ear drums felt like they were going to rupture anytime. No one could help me, no one knew what was I going through, and I cried because of the unbearable pain. Eight years have passed and a second merciless test has come to haunt me. I could only pray. As soon as the wheels hit the runway, the pain started to ease and I quickly continued my ritual big yawns to try and push out the trapped air in my ears. I was still partially deaf an hour later.
So I happily ordered my complimentary Adelaide Hills chardonnay and laid back into my seat, though I felt slightly robbed of leg room in this Boeing 737 plane for some reason. The man in front of me didn't make things any easier, pushing his chair as far back as the seat would allow him and happily squeaked his chair while caressing his wife/girlfriend/fiance/mistress, whoever she might be. Slightly annoyed, I decided to blast some rock music into my ears while flipping through Qantas's inflight entertainment booklet.
As the plane was about to descend, I felt a slight ringing in my right ear. The change in pressure continued to push against my ear drum and I quickly removed the headset, thinking that I might have self-inflicted some enormous vibration via the headset. Making pretentious yawns and swallowing my saliva down my throat did not ease my suffering, which by this point, I was seriously ready to cry.
Flashbacks of my most painful experience with unbearable-suffocating-pressure-dropping battle emerged before my very eyes as though they were recent. The plane was bound to land in Spain and my ear drums felt like they were going to rupture anytime. No one could help me, no one knew what was I going through, and I cried because of the unbearable pain. Eight years have passed and a second merciless test has come to haunt me. I could only pray. As soon as the wheels hit the runway, the pain started to ease and I quickly continued my ritual big yawns to try and push out the trapped air in my ears. I was still partially deaf an hour later.
my lil' fingers typed this @ 1:42 AM Wolly time
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