In early October 2018, Mr W and I were newlyweds and heading on our Honeymoon. After a morning swim at our hotel Mr W was feeling slightly refreshed after a tiring day at our wedding 24 hours previously. I sat on a sun lounger with my feet up watching my new husband in disbelief. My feet had started to swell from being in heels all day and I had some nasty sores on the back of my heels. My airport outfit as a newlywed was cute without trying too hard. Jeans and a sparkly, striped jumper with espadrille type shoes. Cosy with a hint of glamour. The plan was to relax for a few hours before heading to the airport in a taxi. At the airport we would grab a drink and toast our marriage. 

Having eaten twice at the hotel, a delectable buffet breakfast and a shared dinner, we weren’t looking to eat at the airport so settled on a drink. Having slept on and off for maybe four hours the night before, my ears pounding with the music from the DJ and my brain running wild with images of love and laughter, sleep hadn’t come easy. The adrenaline flowed and flowed. As it was now past 6pm and a full 27 hours since we had said ‘I do’, we were both looking to sleep as much as possible on the 10 hour flight to Colombo before our short flight to Male. Quickly after leaving our hotel, the feeling of tiredness came over us and arriving at a bar we both toasted our marriage with tea. The glam life was slipping away!

As I shuffled through the airport I felt the tiredness take control of my emotions and became extremely upset about the pain in my feet. Trying to ignore it wasn’t working. Mr W led me to an Accessorize where we bought some thin socks to act as a barrier between my feet and shoes. As I sat on a bench seat seeing to my shoes, I remember thinking that things were not going to plan. This wasn’t how I wanted our honeymoon to start. With my new husband and healing limbs we slowly made our way to the departure gate. 

The gate was simply stunning. Used to the gates of Easyjet flights that are en masses in one big hall with seats in rows and gates cut into the large glass wall of windows, this was something else entirely. 

There was a little doorway that we were ushered into, like a giant arch with people checking you in beforehand and then bliss beyond. The room was purely for the use of this flight. Along one side of the room, a huge expanse of ferns and other lush greens were planted vertically on a living wall. Occasionally misting wands directed their waters at the plants. It covered the entirety of the wall. From side to side and top to the bench below. Surprisingly not many couples were present and I reasoned it was because we were flying into Colombo first. Families with young children were paying visit to relatives and men in business suits filled the room. 

Unsure of when our seat row would be called out, we settled in to be called forward. As you do in a crowd of people, I began people watching. Our seats were perpendicular to the living wall and with Mr W on my left, I had to bend forward and look past him to gaze upon it. It was fascinating how the plants were living so happily in a totally man made environment. No natural light in sight. As my roving eye continued I noticed a suited man on the bench connected to the plant paradise. He had earphones in and was gesticulating wildly. I had found my person to watch and wonder about. Not long after I noticed him, did he take his shoes off. Not in some dramatic fashion but casually slipped them off, as if he had just arrived home and was getting comfy. Then he swung his legs up, body around and lay down on the bench. By this point, I wasn’t the only one watching him. Nudging Mr W, soon saw him watching and looking round the room, I found that this strange man had quite the captive audience. There was no question of what flight he was going to be on. This was one gate for the one flight. 

I remember thinking, oh please don’t let him on. Quite obviously drunk, he was a complication my sleep addled brain did not need on this flight. All of a sudden the man reached up his hand and tugged on one of the plants in the display. Shreds of leaves and soil fell down on him as people around him slid away. Mouths around the room fell open. And still he lay there completely oblivious. 

Meanwhile the ticket desk had opened and rows were being called out. It dawned on me that with only 30 or so people left in the room it was quite possible that this man would be sitting near us. With the room less crowded, flight staff in high-vis jackets had noticed his behaviour and had approached him. He sat up, swaying on his seated spot and smiling at their questions. I felt for sure that he would not be allowed on the flight while he was that intoxicated. At one point, one of the attendants, raised their hand and held up three fingers. They were asking him to count their fingers! Now I really had seen everything. They did this several times. 

Our row was finally called and we sped forward. We were the last of maybe 10 people left in the departure lounge, including the inebriated man. And oh my god, they were letting him on the flight.  As we boarded, Mr W, ever the gentleman, let me have the window seat. We buckled up as it became very clear that the man was going to be seated in front of us. 

Bracing for a difficult flight, we tuned into the inflight entertainment, folded our bodies into origami arrangements and tried to sleep. 10 hours later, having been fed and watered with beautiful food from Sri Lankan Airlines and feeling more human than expected, we landed in Colombo. The flight was superb, at over 6 foot tall Mr W always struggles for room on flights and when the exceptionally taller man in front of him reclined his seat as soon as stepping on board, the lovely flight attendant asked him to kindly refrain from doing so and monitored the situation for the duration. The same flight attendant also soothed and rocked a baby who was crying throughout the night by shhh’ing and swaying her around the galley. Spectacular. To make things even better, the drunk man… slept the entire flight. He woke up for breakfast, had two orange juices and was very quiet indeed. I did not envy him his hangover. Flights are bad enough to dehydrate the body at the best of times, but when drunk? No thank you!

Anxious about our connecting flight, we burst from the plane and looked around quickly for signs. And there they were. A team of people, in a line, ushering us onto the small aircraft to Male. Our 30 minute connection time was completed in less than 5 minutes. Just fantastic. 

A short while later, we took off from the Sri Lankan capital and crossed the Laccadive sea.  From nowhere coral reefs and atolls sprung from the blue seascape and our honeymoon began. The hectic moments were behind us. Paradise was ahead.  

The day the sun came out

Naked side of the Maldives

Things we gained in the fire