Creative Writing — To Travel Alone

“Thank you for flying with us.” I sighed, straightening my legs under the seat in front of me. After flying for eight hours, I was finally in Seoul! It was the holidays and my national exams were over. Wanting to take a break, I told my family that I would like to travel alone. They were hesitant, worried for a 16-year-old girl to travel by herself. In the end, they still agreed, knowing how much I wanted this.

I stood up from my assigned seat and reached for the overhead compartment. I dragged my heavy and brown coloured bag out, groaning a little as I successfully brought it down. I waited patiently for the flight attendant to signal for us to leave the plane. As everyone was standing up, it was starting to feel suffocating as people were touching my sides. I hugged my bag closer to my chest, mentally praying for the flight attendant to politely wave us out.

Fortunately, after a few minutes which felt like hours, she started to usher us out with a honey-like smile on her face. I felt like I could breathe again in the open space. People around me were walking with their families and friends, clearly excited to explore the city. I used my shoulder to carry my heavy and large bag as I used my free hands to search for my passport in my tiny pouch which I wore over my waist the whole time. My brows furrowed in confusion when I realised my pouch was already unzipped. My heart started to pump faster against my chest.

I dug my hand deeper into my pouch and stopped walking towards the immigration point. Tourists started to circle around my body, most likely irritated and annoyed at me for blocking their way. But I did not care. All that I could think of was: Where is my passport? Where is my passport?

Giving up on finding my passport that was not even in my pouch, I quickly ran towards a security guard who was standing at the side. “I’ve lost my passport!” I exclaimed in English, hands waving around frantically. The security guard looked at me blankly and I knew he did not understand me. “Passport. Lost,” I repeatedly slowly while using my hands to form a book and shook my head. “Ah! Map?” He replied in broken English, face lighting up in excitement as he thought he finally understood me. “No,” I replied, tone lacing with a hint of annoyance and anxiousness. I sighed defeatedly, feeling the need to cry out of a sudden.

“Hi, can I help you?” I heard a gentle and soothing voice towards my right. I quickly turned towards that person and saw a petite lady, who was wearing a pink coloured dress. From her looks, I knew she was Korean. I was curious about how she could speak English so fluently. But I did not ask. All I could think of was my missing passport. “I’ve lost my passport,” I said hurriedly.

The girl nodded her head and turned back to the security guard. She repeated what I told her to the guard in Korean. Very quickly, his face lit up and he apologised for not understanding me earlier. He spoke into the walkie-talkie on his left shoulder and there were a few exchanges of words before he looked at me again. “Ticket?” he asked. I immediately grabbed it from my back pocket before passing it to him. He briefly scanned it through and spoke into the walkie-talkie again.

He spoke to the girl beside me and she translated to English for me to understand. “He said that the crew will help to find your passport. Meanwhile, just sit here and wait. Don’t worry,” she said with a gentle smile. I nodded my head like a child, before thanking her. She needed to leave right after helping me as her ride was waiting for her. Without her presence, I felt hopeless again. What if I don’t understand the security guard again? What if they can’t find my passport?

I was left by myself, overthinking the different possibilities that could happen. My palms started to grow sweaty with every minute that passes by. After another ten minutes, I saw the same security guard running towards me. His hand held onto the familiar red passport. I stood up from the metal chair and felt a sense of relief when I grabbed the passport from him. “Thank you!” I exclaimed repeatedly, thankful for his help.

With my first experience of travelling alone, I experienced such a problem and almost gave up due to the language barrier. Without the help of the lady and the security guard, I cannot imagine what would have happened.

Written by: Blondie Tan