Personal Essay Sample: Flight to Dubai

*Loud Speaker* Now Boarding EK201, Gate 21 *Loud Speaker* 

An electrical shock spread through my entire body. I suddenly awoke and my body rose off the rough plastic chair, as my emotions clashed and split my brains into two parts. Excitement and nervousness were my only thoughts. 14 hours was a tough time to face in a cramped seat, but I also had a screen with loads of movies and games. 

After scanning my boarding pass and passport I approached the entrance to the plane. It was the pathway to hell or heaven, each step weighed down like my life was depending on it. I entered the plane and was greeted by two respectful flight attendants. 

“Welcome to Emirates airlines! I hope you have a great experience!”, greeted the flight attendant dressed in bright red Emirates uniform.

“Here is a bag with all your essentials, a brush, toothpaste, mask, and hand sanitizer,” added the pilot.

I was pretty pleased by their greeting, but it was the one turn that determines the satisfaction of the flight. I was in the front and as I turned to the right my seat was in front of my eyes. I took the tv screen out and it turned on, a bright blue screen shined into my eyes like a blinding light. 

“YESSSS!” I screamed in my head as the movies popped up on the screen. 

It had all the new movies, anything I could list everything from Marvel to Pixar. Next, I planned my next 14 hours. 14 - 5 hours of sleeping = 9 | 9 / 2 = 4.5 movies I can watch. I did not spend too much time on that because I knew I would not really follow it, but at least I got something planned. My emotions finally settled and my experience was perfect, my expectations were exceeded. The service was amazing, they were always helpful and seemed very determined to help the passengers out. I launched some cool-looking games and started playing them. They were pretty entertaining, but they got boring after a while. 

A couple of hours had passed and I turned off the screen because my food was dropped off. The pleasant smell of the meal was like a new batch of chocolate chip cookies. Each bit felt larger than it was, turning my expectations higher as it melts in my mouth. I was waiting for food for the past 3 hours, I was so grateful that they gave me the food. The meal was pretty heavy, so as usual, I went to sleep right after. It was not that easy to go to sleep, the seat was not that comfy and I only had a few inches of additional space. It took me around 30 - 40 minutes to finally catch my sleep, only to be woken up by my dad sitting to the left of me because he needed to get up and stretch.

I clicked the most-watched movie on the plane and it was Free Guy. I heard many nice things about it, so I just watched it. It was one of the most thrilling movies I had watched in a while. The guy is very calm in the ai powered chaotic world with all sorts of different people. Near the end of the movie, the flight was at cruising altitude, and they gave us our dinner meal. 

“Excuse me, this is not the meal I expected!” yelled the mid-aged adult wearing a full black outfit covered with a thin blanket. 

At this point, I did not know what to expect for the rest of the flight. I knew it was just the beginning, and yet a man was screaming because his meal was worse than what he ate. I hoped the man would stay calm for the rest of the flight, but that was something out of my control. For a few, I was quite annoyed by the man, but it faded away as time passed by. I just continued to watch another movie and once again my movie was interrupted by the arrogant man sitting 3 seats to the left of me. Only this time he had more to say than just a sentence.

“Can you upgrade my seat to first class, I have NO space for my legs and it is very difficult to sit,” shrieked the arrogant man once again.

“Sir, this flight is full and I will not be able to do that unless you are willing to pay an extra $2000 to upgrade to business class.”, politely said the tall flight attendant while wearing a uniform with some signs of frustration. 

I hated this flight, I was already changing my thoughts and it had only been 4 hours in. I knew the man would not stop, complaints were the only thing he had. This would have been my first 14-hour flight, but it was not going well at all. I was very annoyed at him, he also seemed to have no manners due to the way he shrieked and yelled at the flight attendants. I wanted a different seat, but then I would be separated from my family. It was like I was stuck in a cage and there was no way of escaping. 

Soon, when it was midnight they passed out earplugs, I was so happy. As I pushed them into my ear, the outside noise was lowering and it was working as I expected. Though I knew it still wouldn't help that much because screaming could be heard even with them on. 

Soon enough, I was tired, so I decided to hit the sack. Although I was tired, sleeping came with a challenge. At this state, my seat was as stiff as a diamond and the headrest was too high for me. I woke up an hour later to pure silence, no one was awake and no flight attendant was passing by. I couldn't tell if my wish was granted or if I was in a wish, the arrogant man had finally calmed down and fell asleep. At that moment, I decided to stay up as long as I could because I would not be annoyed or disrupted by the arrogant man. I snoozed off, as I watched Guardians of the galaxy. I was grateful for having 2 hours without him disturbing me.

Unexpectedly, I awoke to an argument before I opened my eyes, I knew it was the arrogant man.

“Everyone is reclining their chair, what is your problem!” said the arrogant man.

“I no sit,” replied the grandma.

“That's not my problem. STOP disrupting me,” screamed the man. “I couldn’t even sleep and you kept punching and kicking my seat,” he lied.

“Seat forward, I no sit. Please sir.”, calmly said the grandma. 

Soon the flight attendants entered the argument and sorted things out. The arrogant man kept refusing to straighten his seat.

“Sir, I will ask you one last time to straighten your seat. This is a serious issue and this old lady can not sit down. It would make things way easier,” asked the flight attendant.

The arrogant man kept refusing to straighten his seat, so they decided to give the grandma a different seat. I was way too annoyed at that point, but luckily I didn't have to do anything. The family in front of me complained about him and they thankfully took action to help the passengers around the arrogant man. For a few, I thought they were just saying it for fun, but in around 30 minutes he was taken to the back of the plane to discuss with the flight attendant. 

Let's go! Finally, the man will be changed. I was having all sorts of ideas of how he might act when he was back, I hoped he would change, but there were also some chances he would be the same. I watched him as he walked back to his seat, he was a whole new person. He had a smile on his face and was polite, he even said sorry to the people around him because he released how annoying and disturbing he was. It was a miracle, we were all so happy. The rest of the flight was too peaceful compared to the beginning. Although it was only 7 hours of him being annoying, I was glad he changed and I hoped he would stay the same because he was going to be on my flight back too.