Flying Solo

Church camp ended on the 9^th, my 16^th birthday was on the 10^th, and we were to fly to Bogota, Colombia on the 8^th. Events on my calendar conflicted with few solutions that pleased everyone, and I refused to let all my driver's training to go to waste and not get my driver's license. That is how we decided that I was going to fly separately on the 12^th to Bogota.

When I got back from camp I stayed with the Elzinga's and waited until it was finally the 12^th. It was not long and I filled my time with last goodbyes, friend filled afternoons, and birthday surprises.

Grand Rapids airport is nothing new, I have been through there a dozen times and the layout is simple. We had gotten there early and they made Mrs. Elzinga wait until I the plane took off. They let her into the terminal and we waited, what seemed like forever, until I finally boarded. I listened to my ipod and watched part of a movie, this was the easiest flight.

I arrived in Atlanta and started to search for the big tvs with the flight listings. I found them, but the only flight labeled Columbia had a different flight number than the one on my ticket. Across the hall was a Delta employee at a desk and I went to ask her. She typed into her computer and started to tell me something when I remembered - I had looked under Columbia instead of Bogota. When she finished I said “thank you” even though I hadn't heard what she had said. Straight back to the computer screens I went and easily found the only Bogota, and this time it matched my flight number. To get to the terminal I had to go down the hall and on a train. “Terminal T” announced the overhead voice. I stepped out and suddenly everyone was hispanic, except me. I found my gate, T7 and then went to buy some food. I had an hour or two so I listened to my ipod and went into a store. The flight was delayed, but not too long. We boarded and I had to go back 3 rows before I could find an open overhead compartment for my suitcase, I knew this would make getting off difficult. I got a window seat again and after awhile a lady sat down next to me. Soon everyone was on and still the aisle seat was open. She moved into the aisle seat and both of us put our bags in the seat in-between. On the back of the seat in front of me was a tv, and I watched that and (again) listened to my ipod. Closer to the end of the flight I started to talk to the lady that I shared the row with. She was from Bogota (along with everyone on the plane except me) and told me about the city. We landed and I had to wait until there was gap big enough for me to go back against the flow to retrieve my suitcase. There wasn't, so I had to ask someone to get it and pass it up to me. I walked through the plane towards the door and felt a soft pat on my side. A little boy, four if I had to guess, was gently patting my side with a toy T-rex. I smiled at him and he smiled back, obviously shy. I talked to him and his mom a little. We got off the plane and walked to a bus which took us to the actual building. Inside I got into the immigration line. It was long and I passed the time talking to a man in line, lucky me he was American, but had a horrible southern accent. About 15 minutes had gone by when I saw a way that split off. The sign read “diplomats”, I saw it and booked it through, cutting off who I had been speaking to with a short “goodbye”. There was no line. I looked over and saw the line I was skipping. It would have taken at least another hour to get to the front. I walked to the man at the desk, handed him my diplomatic passport and some other papers. A few minutes later I was walking down a hall towards a man holding a piece of paper that read “Damon Faber”. He took me to get my luggage and and then passed me through customs without them even scanning or looking into my bags. Outside was a small metal gate holding back a lot of people, they were practically overflowing. I spotted the rest of the family at the front of the mob. The man helping me with my luggage led me to them and eventually to the van that drove us to the apartment.

Damon