When my sister dropped me off at the airport, the time was exactly 6:25 AM. It had been nine years since I last stepped on a plane, and the same amount of time had passed since I was last inside Kenneth Kaunda International Airport. I was late for a flight scheduled to take off for Solwezi at 6:40 AM, but that didn’t immediately register in my mind as I rushed to the check-in terminal.
“Are you flying to Solwezi?” a soft-spoken gentleman inquired as soon as I reached the terminal. “Manje kubwela this time, boss?” the man complained, referring to my lateness. Banda, is it?” he asked further, before requesting my ID.
Before I could even remove my NRC from my pocket, the man handed me a boarding pass and urged me to rush through the security checkpoint to have my backpack scanned. “Please hurry, sir; your flight is about to take off.” I peeked at the boarding pass to ensure it had my name on it before proceeding. Luckily, there was no queue at the security checkpoint, and moments later, I was heading for the plane, with a security personnel escorting me and radioing the flight crew that the last passenger was en route.
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The air hostess greeted me with a big smile as I ascended the stairs onto the plane. “Welcome on board, sir,” she said before asking for my boarding pass. “Thank you, Christine,” I responded, having seen her name on a small badge on her clothing.
When I reached my seat, a lean, middle-aged man was sitting next to the window. “I’m Elias. How are you doing?” “Charles Zulu,” he responded, returning my greeting.
“Are you going on vacation or business?” I asked Charles. “I’m going for work. I’m with the media,” he confirmed, validating my earlier guess.
“Well, I’m also a journalist with News Diggers,” I told him. We exchanged a few pleasantries before I reached for a book in my bag, Fire and Blood, and leaned back into my seat. Charles appeared tired as he placed earpieces in.
As the plane took off, I gazed through the window hoping to see clouds below, but instead, I was greeted by a foggy view. Indifferent to the view, I shifted my focus back to my book and immersed myself in the world of Ice and Fire. Disembarking from the plane an hour later, with Charles behind me, I noticed several other journalists who all seemed to know each other, leaving me as the odd one out.
We were about ten in total. A pleasant-looking gentleman, who introduced himself as Prince, was waiting for us at the airport in Solwezi. The town was nothing like I had imagined; it appeared as disorganised as most areas in the country. However, I was envious to see that the roads looked better than those in my hometown of Petauke.
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