I recently went on a holiday to Bali. It was incredibly exciting. However, I am a fiction writer, so why let the truth get in the way of a good story? Enjoy.
“It’s not too late to cancel,” floated the anxious voice of her daughter over the phone the day before Jenny was to leave on her trip of a lifetime. Jenny looked down at her brand-new passport. Cancel! Not likely! Her mind travelled back to the poster she had passed after craft class all those weeks ago.
‘Come to Bali’ it screamed ‘where dreams come true’.
She’d found herself being pulled into the travel agent and had booked without mentioning it to anyone.
Later her family were aghast.
“You’ve never been abroad, Mum; what about Covid; travelling alone at your age is dangerous.” On and on they went.
Susan arrived to see her mother off and looked in horror at the bags piled up before her.
“Mum, you can only take one bag on board. Why are you taking your knitting and your knee blanket and your hot water bottle and your magazines?” She began pulling everything off whilst pushing the trolley towards the check-in desk.
After the formalities, Jenny kissed Susan goodbye and made her way to security. She was motioned aside by a serious looking official.
“Is this your bag, madam?” he asked. The man began removing various items: a jar of vegemite, two cartons of long-life milk, three bananas, a bottle of cordial, a tube of Denka Rub and two large jars of face lotion.
“These are not allowed on the aircraft, madam,” the official said gruffly.
Jenny was going to argue but he dropped it all in a large bin.
After repacking what was left, Jenny was ushered along to the duty-free shops and decided to treat herself to two bottles of gin and one of whisky. A shop assistant whispered, “That’s over your limit.” Jenny was about to argue that this was well within her weekly limit but heard her flight being called. Hurrying along to the gate, she dug around for her boarding pass and, unable to find it, smiled sweetly at the uniformed man and offered her passport instead.
Suddenly the check-in crew was distracted by a man trying to gatecrash the line, so Jenny decided to move along. Walking briskly down the gangway she was almost knocked over by the stewardess restraining the runaway man. Since the crew were busy, Jenny would find her own seat.
She was pleased to see a comfortable one in the second row. Tucking her hand luggage under her seat, she settled in for her biggest adventure ever.
Warm and snug, she drifted off and missed the announcement: “Welcome aboard our flight to Rio de Janeiro.”
