Despite my declarations of humility and announcements of having a decent handle on life, I am still human and I am able to trick myself into believing things which aren’t entirely true.
I gave myself a huge slap in the face by missing my $300 flight to Australia, and proving to myself that I am, indeed, not always great.
I had painted an elaborate and beautiful picture of myself which I held high and was happy to share to the world.
“I am organized, I am responsible, I am lucky, I am wise, smart, ambitious, resourceful, and flexible.”
I am living my dreams of travel and writing a blog after all, why wouldn’t I be these things?
Slap!
Beliefs of ones character, especially the self delusional ones, are different from reality without application.
They say it’s difficult to practice what you preach and I found this out first hand in a 300 dollar sort of way.
So what caused me to miss my flight?
I had arrived 45 minuets before departure, but the airline had closed check-in merely minutes before I had arrived. Scoot, an evil Singaporean airline, would not let me through no matter how decent I behaved and no matter how much I pleaded with managers and staff.
For 45 minutes I had to bear the thought of my plane being so near yet so out of reach.
Ultimately, the airline was being extremely unfair. I didn’t have any need to check my bag, carry on would have sufficed, and the lines through security were short as well. Logic would have let me “Scoot” on through to catch my flight just in time.
But logic is not how many airlines approach business when greed is involved, especially airlines from Singapore, and this is something I understood.
So why wasn’t I there 2 hours before departure like all airlines advise for international flights?
To be honest, I’m not entirely sure why I approached my flight this way. I simply wasn’t thinking. I have no real excuse for myself and this is the biggest disappointment of all, my lack of actual effort.
Too often I have let my luck and looks drive circumstances and have conned it off as wisdom and resourcefulness. This day was a brutal reminder of my faults, lack of proper planning and responsibility, and it awakened me to my false sense of self.
This reminder has been a bit more painful than the hole in my bank account.
I can see a silver lining in this experience, however. There is often one when you look hard enough.
To know ones faults is the first step to self progression. Hopefully next time my experience of humility won’t be forced upon me through circumstances and I won’t miss anymore expensive deadlines.
Until then I will be promptly writing a formal complaint to Scoot Airlines for horrible customer service.
Existential Travel 