Our return trip to the UK was an interesting (although very long) one.
We flew direct from London to Sydney, not sure what quantifies the difference between a "direct" and "indirect" flight as we had to get off the plane in Dubai, go through security search (again for the 100th time!) and then sit for an hour waiting to board again. Same as all the other "indirect" flights...and you pay for the privilege, lol.
The first half of the flight from Sydney to Dubai I sat next to an 81 year old, very brave blind woman who was on her way to visit her ill brother in the UK. According to her, she has done this trip several times.
She's had an amazing, hard but equally brilliant life. And yet despite these hardships, she's an optimist and will not sit at home because of her blindness which came on late in life.
She's British, but has lived her life mostly elsewhere - South Africa, Zimbabwe and Australia.
She is such an inspiration.
13 hours of talking and helping her out, had me pooped. So from Dubai to London, Greg sat next to her. He was equally awed.
The difficulty she experienced on the plane is that whilst all of us could entertain ourselves reading or watching movies/TV, she had no such luxury. As her blindness came on late in life, she had been told that the sensitivity of her fingers were inadequate enough to teach her braille. All she could do was listen to music, but being 81 years old the music choices were limited.
Made me feel extremely grateful for the life I have, still do and will lead. I take so much (especially my health) for granted. I was very lucky in that I had a choice to regain my sight which had deteriorated to 75% in one eye and 50% in the other and for this second chance, I thank every day.
But this dear lady has no such option.
It was indeed a great privilege to share our time with this wonderful lady. Thank you, my dear.
We flew direct from London to Sydney, not sure what quantifies the difference between a "direct" and "indirect" flight as we had to get off the plane in Dubai, go through security search (again for the 100th time!) and then sit for an hour waiting to board again. Same as all the other "indirect" flights...and you pay for the privilege, lol.
The first half of the flight from Sydney to Dubai I sat next to an 81 year old, very brave blind woman who was on her way to visit her ill brother in the UK. According to her, she has done this trip several times.
She's had an amazing, hard but equally brilliant life. And yet despite these hardships, she's an optimist and will not sit at home because of her blindness which came on late in life.
She's British, but has lived her life mostly elsewhere - South Africa, Zimbabwe and Australia.
She is such an inspiration.
13 hours of talking and helping her out, had me pooped. So from Dubai to London, Greg sat next to her. He was equally awed.
The difficulty she experienced on the plane is that whilst all of us could entertain ourselves reading or watching movies/TV, she had no such luxury. As her blindness came on late in life, she had been told that the sensitivity of her fingers were inadequate enough to teach her braille. All she could do was listen to music, but being 81 years old the music choices were limited.
Made me feel extremely grateful for the life I have, still do and will lead. I take so much (especially my health) for granted. I was very lucky in that I had a choice to regain my sight which had deteriorated to 75% in one eye and 50% in the other and for this second chance, I thank every day.
But this dear lady has no such option.
It was indeed a great privilege to share our time with this wonderful lady. Thank you, my dear.
