For my seventh birthday we planned to travel to Japan, then Singapore, where I was born.We had woken at an early hour to catch our flight.


At six thirty in the morning, we passed through security check. We walked towards the sign labeled Gate B. I walked on the moving walkway to give my sore legs a rest and my father walked beside me on the steady floor. My mother and sister joined me on the moving walkway, obviously tired, as well.

Less than a minute later, the moving walkway ended and I was forced to travel by foot, again. Still tired, I was relieved to make it to the gate. We sat down in four empty seats and placed our bags in a fifth.

After a couple of minutes my dad got up and asked if anyone wanted something to chew so that we could pop our ears on the plane ride. My sister asked for gum and my mother said that she was fine. Unsure of what I wanted I went with my father to a magazine store. We headed straight for the counter, got the gum for my sister and looked for me.

I looked at the shelves scanning them over to see what I could get to chew on for the plane ride. I decided on Mentos, the fruit kind. My dad paid and we started heading back to where my mother and sister were. As we arrived, an announcement was heard overhead.

“Flight B56 for Japan will begin to board, flight B56 for Japan will begin to board.”

We would be third to board since we were in section three of five. They called section five first and a couple minutes later, four. Eventually, they called all the people for section three to board the plane. We walked up to the boarding area and after a minute or two, waiting for the people in front of us, they looked at our passports and let us through.

We walked down the narrow pathway towards the plane door. We stepped inside over the crack blowing a warm breeze onto our legs. We made our way to our seats and put our bags overhead. I sat down and waited.

The flight attendant's voice boomed over the loudspeaker announcing that the plane was ready to take off. It roared down the runway and began to lift off. I put a mentos in my mouth and began to chew it. The plane continued to escalate, hurting my ears even more, then it leveled out.

Then, the relief flooded through my body. POP!