Excitement ! by Norali
As days went by and departure time got close, I got really excited. OK, I said I didn't have time to dream of Paris but I sure got excited...Excited because I was going to travel abroad. For many Malagasy, the only way to travel abroad was the plane. It is an island, remember. Plus, we would have visited neighbouring islands (La Reunion, Maurice, Comores) and would have used boats and ferries.. but that was the time we considered Europe as more important. And for historical reasons, France use to rank high in Malagasy preference. Well, if not preference, one should at least think of the language problem. Madagascar used to be a French colony so, by large, French country, French language & French culture are the first foreign influences Malagasy had been used to.
Excited because I was going to have a huge flight. It was not my first flight, but the first abroad, the first longest. At that time, a Tana-Paris flight lasted 14 hours (stopover included). Now, it is close to 10 hours.For my first flight being to a Malagasy coastal city in 1977 when I was 4 then, I don't have any memory of it. So, this Tana-Paris flight was to be considered as the first. Still have my first passport with me (not of use anymore, of course). It was with a 747 Boeing.
My memory of the flight? I discovered then the big plane, the 747 (since then, Airmad had upgraded to 767). All internal flights were with 737 or Twin-Otter planes or HS (?). Only external ones were with 747. Notice however that to fly to Madagascar, Air Madagascar is "The Natural Choice" ;-)
That was also the first time I went through the "gate", the checking posts. I've seen so many times my parents passing through the gate & the checking points at the Ivato airport... and then, it was my turn. Wow!
Then, I remembered the choice of music stations on board. That may sound silly but I'd like you to remember your first flight... and you'd discover small but meaningful aspects, details. Also, 1984 was a bad year for Madagascar. We just underwent a big economic crisis... People queued up for rice, sugar, soap, oil... Oil was dangerous and not suitable for consumption. Many people died for having cooked with it. Prices of staple food (rice) rocketed so that even middle-class people ate maize corn at noon lunch... uuuh!
Since flights were (are) not cheap at all, I knew I was lucky to have experienced Paris at this young age. With all of that in mind, I was impressed and excited at same time.
