As we boarded the plane I kissed my palm and slapped the foreheads of all the people I really wanted to know I loved them and made my way to the back. There was a heaviness in my heart that was amplified by the loneliness I felt in it. The one person I knew would have been able to read my eyes and join me wordlessly in my ache couldn’t be there. Turkish Airlines while a little disorganized in the aisle traffic department, provided excellent food and having been up 27 hours by that point I couldn’t help but fall asleep.
I awoke somewhere over the Czech republic and watched a Disney movie. The captain came on over the loud speaker and advised us we would soon be landing in Istanbul, Turkey. We looped round the city and then began to descend, ears popping and we lost altitude. The plane got closer and closer to the tarmac, becoming even with the city that was once below, I braced for the inevitable discomfort of touch down, I felt the gentle thud of the rear landing gear and clenched my teeth for the jolt of the front but it didn’t come, I looked out the window to see the very steep incline of the plane as we again took to the air, we looked at each other puzzled at what had just occurred. The captain came on the speaker again to advise us he would make another attempt to land. I think we all began to pray at that point. The plane banked hard right making another loop around the city back over the waters of the black sea, filled with cargo ships and yachts. The plane made another approach, we came even with the city, back wheels landed and then a hard jolt as the front gear hit the tarmac, we were all thrown forward in our seats, the plane swerved in a wild s- shape and we tried not to look as scared as we were. Then everything came under control and we taxied quickly to the terminal. We knew leaving Dublin we would have a 1 hour lay over in Istanbul which we lamented, was not long enough to get a passport stamp. The unexpected landing delay had taken time that we did not have to spare and we had 25 minutes from landing to go through security again and catch our flight to Nairobi.
