on the plane

getting on a plane was always a big deal. when i was a kid that meant only one thing – we’re going half way around the world to see our grandparents. it also meant a huge adventure, one that i’d be looking forward to probably for a year. and then when it started i’d think it was a dream, and that when i woke up again in by bed at home it would be tomorrow, not a month later.
i still get the jitters when i get on a plane. i’d been lucky enough to have had the time to take trains when i travel through europe, as well as not having a job that required even occasional flying. the plane remains a synonym of far-off adventures, anxieties and tranquility.
the plane has stopped in göteborg. the north is living up to my expectations – i’ve exchanged the 30-degree scorching may days in belgrade for a cold rainy morning in southern sweden. we’ll be off to stockholm in a moment, just as soon as our third-world carrier refuels and picks up some passengers. the advantage of being from a country where there are so few passengers to this region is that you get to make additional stops, which means additional take-offs and landings – which is a close as serbia gets to a rollercoaster! it is quiet in the cabin. a group of apparently pilots on a business trip break the silence with rough jokes and boyish laughter. the flight attendants (i’ve always found stewardess to be much more romantic) are attending to their every whim, with a complementary drink and flirt. worlds apart. i try to imagine what the swedes would think if they knew what this was about. data error! the system wasn’t designed to process irrational fantasies.
i an hour and a half i will be leaving serbia behind. i enter sweden with a different passport, i assume my purely international identity. nothing ties me to the surroundings, yet my eyes connect me to everything. i truly become the man of the world that i’ve always tried to be – above borders and nations. five days of abstract existence, fueled by a new city and a new country. then on the sixth day i get on another plane that takes me back to my bed, and the question – what was it that i learned from my swedish dream?