In Adventure of a Lifetime, Wanderlogue

Why choosing Emirates was the best thing happened to me in 2016 – part III: Toronto

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Why choosing Emirates was the best thing happened to me in 2016 – part III: Toronto

Keesokan paginya, semua awalnya terlihat berjalan lancar. Karena antisipasi berlebihan, saya tiba di bandara 3 jam sebelumnya, gate pun belum dibuka. Sempat telepon Adhi dulu dan meyakinkan dia untuk jangan cerita siapa-siapa (meski akhirnya saya tulis juga di blog ini, lol). Beberapa jam kemudian saya sudah berada di pesawat menuju Toronto.

Kemudian saya menyadari, there could be another challenge. Karena di Toronto saya harus membuat study permit sebelum lanjut ke connecting flight, dan saat itu waktu transit saya kurang dari 90 menit sebelum pesawat menuju Edmonton berangkat. And it would be utterly stupid if I miss another flight during this trip.

Pesawat pun landing di Toronto, dan saya sudah siapkan semangat terambis saya untuk menyerbu barisan manusia di airport demi mencapai antrian sedepan-depannya di Canada Borders and Immigration. Dan benar saja dugaan saya, antriannya sangat panjang hingga saya betul-betul panik apakah saya bisa tepat waktu mengejar flight selanjutnya.

Setelah menunggu pergerakan yang sangat memakan waktu di antrian tersebut (dan dua kali antri pula) dan study permit saya pun terbit setelah interview yang bikin gemas karena interviewer saya kelewat santai sementara saya gak berani minta buru-buru karena takut study permit saya malah gak terbit, saya langsung lari sekencang-kencangnya menuju gate. Dan ternyata… jauh. Banget. Parah. Kacau. Saya gak ingat mana yang lebih capek, saat lari-lari di LHR mengejar pesawat menuju Toronto yang akhirnya saya ketinggalan, atau pada saat itu. Betul-betul gak ada detik yang gak saya habiskan dengan berlari, saya cuma jalan karena memang mesti antri di security check seperti normalnya. Saya masih ingat betapa ingin nangisnya saat itu karena saya mengecek jam tangan saya setiap menit, menyadari bahwa pasti kalaupun saya beruntung saya akan jadi the last passenger on board. Di escalator dan di manapun saya terus lari dengan kecepatan dan durasi yang jauh melebihi tes lari jaman TPB di ITB (kebayang kan capeknya!) sampai akhirnya, kurang dari lima menit sebelum closing gate saya sampai di gate tersebut.

I was indeed the very last passenger to board. Kurang dari satu menit setelah saya duduk, pesawat pun take off.

MasyaAllah.

Saat itu hanya rasa syukur yang ada. Akhirnya saya di penerbangan final menuju Edmonton, menuju tempat yang sudah saya nanti-nantikan sejak berbulan-bulan lalu, gak harus lagi merasa deg-degan sepanjang penerbangan.

And it was worth it. I liked Edmonton from the very first time, I had Tim Horton’s for the very first time (and got one free double-double somehow! Yay), I knew I’m going to love being here for the upcoming two years.

Meskipun dua bagasi saya ternyata nyasar, dan saya yakin sepenuhnya itu masih tertinggal di London saat transisi dari Emirates ke Air Canada. Betul-betul sudah jatuh tertimpa tangga. But well, just a reason to shop new clothings, lol.

In Adventure of a Lifetime, Wanderlogue

Why choosing Emirates was the best thing happened to me in 2016 – part II: London

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Why choosing Emirates was the best thing happened to me in 2016 – part II: London

Selama di penerbangan Dubai-London, saya berkali-kali bertanya pada tiga pramugari berbeda karena gak satupun dari mereka betul-betul mengerti apa yang harus dilakukan. All they said was, “It’s okay, everything’s going to be just fine.” How cliché.

Kemudian tiba lah di London. Dengan sigapnya saya langsung buka kabin, keluar lewat pintu di belakang saya melawan antrian, dan langsung melesat dari pintu exit ke bandara dengan kondisi pundak yang serasa hampir copot saking berat dan besarnya hand luggage saya.

I only had less than 90 minutes before my next flight closes the gate.

Saya pun mencoba mencari Ground Staff karena para pramugari tadi bilang, those are the people I need to help me out. Namun sialnya, saya dioper-oper dari satu staf ke yang lain. Saya sudah jalan menuju Flight Connection meskipun I swear semua orang yang baru turun dari pesawat langsung walking straight menuju Baggage Claim (yang jelas-jelas bikin saya panic karena saya satu-satunya  orang yang ada di lorong menuju Flight Connection!). Karena gak yakin, saya bertanya pada staf pertama yang saya temui di setengah jalan menuju Flight Connection. Dan dia bilang, “You should go back to Emirates in Terminal 3.”

Like… what? Saya langsung lari ke arah berlawanan, kembali menuju Terminal 3. Dan somehow, saya agak lupa kejadiannya karena saat itu saya luar biasa terburu-buru, tapi saya ingat betul bahwa ujung-ujungnya saya bolak-balik sebanyak dua kali antara Terminal 2 dan 3.

Terakhir kali di Terminal 3, beruntung saya bertemu seorang pramugari Emirates yang super-duper baik dan nampak khawatir dengan saya, kemudian dia bilang, “No, you go straight to Air Canada.” Yang berarti dari tadi saya sudah benar! Saat itu saya sudah menghabiskan 30 menit waktu berharga saya karena I swear itu adalah jauh banget kacau.

In less than an hour, my flight to Toronto will be taking off.

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In Adventure of a Lifetime, Wanderlogue

Why choosing Emirates was the best thing happened to me in 2016 – part I: Dubai

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Why choosing Emirates was the best thing happened to me in 2016 – part I: Dubai

Tanggal 17 Agustus 2016 pukul 00.40 kemarin saya terbang dari Jakarta (CGK) untuk mencapai Edmonton (YEG) dimana saya akan melanjutkan studi Master selama dua tahun ke depan. Sesuai itinerary, saya akan transit di Dubai (DXB) dan Seattle karena perjalanan ke Edmonton memang tidak ada direct flight dari Jakarta, dan sesedikitnya harus transit sebanyak dua kali. Pesawat yang saya gunakan dari Jakarta sampai Edmonton seluruhnya adalah Emirates, meskipun untuk rute Seattle-Edmonton akan dioperasikan oleh Alaska Airlines.

Saya sampai Dubai pada tanggal yang sama, sekitar pukul lima pagi. Penerbangan ke Seattle dengan maskapai yang sama akan berangkat pukul 09.35. Maka pada saat open gate sekitar pukul 08.30, saya segera mengantri di gate B29 di Terminal 3 bersama penumpang-penumpang lainnya.

Saat pengecekan paspor dan visa, officer Emirates yang menjaga di gate bertanya, “Where’s your USA visa?” dan saya dengan kalem (dan begonya) menjawab, “I don’t have one, my final destination is Canada and I’ll only have a two-hour transit in Seattle without leaving the airport.”

Dia bertanya lagi, masih sambil membolak-balik paspor saya yang karena baru diperpanjang maka isinya memang hanya visa Kanada. “But do you have any other USA documentation?”

Dengan masih polosnya lagi saya menjawab, “No… I don’t think I’ll need one because I’m not even going to leave the airport.”

Disitu saya mulai sedikit khawatir. Dan mulai terpikir: do I even need a US visa just to have a quick transit at the airport?

Kemudian officer tersebut nampak mengecek laptop di bawah mejanya, dan dua menit kemudian dia bilang,

“Well you do need a visa to enter the US, at least a Transit Visa. Even just to fly over the US, you’ll need one. I’m sorry but we cannot let you on board.”

DANG.

Dunia serasa meredup di sekeliling saya.

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In Adventure of a Lifetime, She & Him, Thoughtful Enlightenment

Spilled ink by alter ego: How wishes find their way

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Spilled ink by alter ego: How wishes find their way

Somehow, someday, the core of your wishes will all come true in the most unexpected way.

I used to dream about working in some former dream multinational companies, making earnings in dollar cheques and all. I didn’t, but it was actually better. After months of devastation due to post-power syndrome, being left by closest friends with their new post-graduation responsibilites, I was handed my first actual job—which unexpectedly brought sort of similar 8 digits of monthly earnings. And it was even better than I could imagine. I still got to pursue my old dream of selling my own handicrafts and arts and all because the workloads weren’t quite much, and crossing things out of my wishlist which I hadn’t had the opportunities to do when I was still at school. Had I not establish my first ever artsy store, the current version of myself may not love herself as much as she does right now for finally making true of the thing she thought would simply be just gone.

I used to have big ambitions and confidence about myself, particularly as the side-effect of constant achievement at younger age that somehow helped me to picture what kind of person I should be. Now I grow up mature enough to realize that the past cannot define anything about you, unless you make the best of your present time. I’ve seen people of so-so achievement during school finally skyrockets with their widely recognized trophies and all, and people with better past end up being mediocre.

Having ambitions and confidence and all, I used to wonder about attending world’s top ten universities. Before wisdom came and helped me to see that there are bigger things that I might want to consider. Eventually, in a couple weeks I’ll be moving to a city less recognized, somewhere less known. Where literally nobody knows my name, nor who I am or what I’ve been. Pursuing a subject that I thought I’d given up since long ago.

But I’ll see northern lights, canoe and swim in the world’s best lakes, read newspaper filled with good news of the best government in the world, have picnic and lay on the grass of Northern America’s largest city parks, ride bicycle along the city river, meet the most polite white people, be taught by some professors I’ve been admiring and all. Things I won’t trade with going to world’s top ten universities. Things I thank myself about for being sane enough to choose over a recognition of a more popular school. Things that will matter a lot more than sitting in the class of a more recognized school.

I used to adore a guy who seemed to have all those things I’ve always thought I want in a lover. This is a wish I remember clearly I have buried so very deeply, by letting go and sincerely praying for better human to come. Years later, someone else came up and in the most unanticipated way, the universe worked for us. For when you let go, something even much better moves in your way. With all his positivity and flaws that are entirely a complete package resembling the very ideal significant other of mine, even much better than that one old crush I used to picture as the perfect one.

You never know how a downfall may be your gate to the truest betterment. How descending oil price leads you to discover what you really want to do with your life, how the shifting route of your entire projected future helps you to find out what are the things that matter the most to help you build a life of happiness, or how major heartbreak brings you to a better human you never knew existed, that might also end up as your destined half.

In Overcasted Mind, Thoughtful Enlightenment

Spilled ink by alter ego: to think thankfully

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Spilled ink by alter ego: to think thankfully

Clouds above clouds, greener grass on neighbor’s yard, half-empty glass of yours;

unless you’re a very positive-minded person with optimistic vibes 24/7, there’s got to be some moment during your existence when your mind is busy wondering about others’ seemingly happier and luckier lives while physically, here you are, struggling to have the least intention to take another breath and going on with your daily boredom of repeated, ordinary patterns and seemingly uninspiring routines.

Been there, done that.

But not anymore.

I once uninstalled that particular social media made to create more public impression rather than self-expression, called Path. Mostly because I was extremely exhausted witnessing social climbers showing off parts of their most expensive routines, obviously trying to earn some degree of popularity by tagging people of #CoolKidsofInstagram in the hope that people will notice how superior their circle of you-can’t-sit-with-us is, while leaving footmarks in places that seem to define how heavenly their current life is, or how bright their future is going to be. While in fact, I know pretty well how those things are just of minor matters in their actual lives and what they did there wasn’t more than simply showing how desperate they would like to be recognized in society.

I once cared, just like we once did.

But some simple steps saved me.

It might sound cliché but honestly, when you begin doing things—even the simplest ones—that really, really invite joy into your life, eventually the rest of your worries disappears.

When you get to take great pictures using analog cameras you bought yourself by saving from your income, eventually you’ll have no time to be jealous to those whose photographs were taken using high-spec full-frame cameras.

When you spare time to wander around your hometown all day by yourself, watching stories of unknown people as they go by, eventually you’ll have no time caring about people who are on vacation abroad.

When you get to do your hobbies of art and stuff for unlimited time, you would never wish you were someone else who work in some well-paid multinational company with dollar payments but no time to pursue things that make the greatest joy in their life.

When you’re accepted to the university of your dream because everything there seems to fit not only your academic purposes but also most of your major wishes in life, you won’t even want to trade places with those accepted in MIT or Harvard. Not even think to trade places with those who already get their degree earlier than you will.

When you meet a particular person whose presence is a true blessing to your life, not anymore you will admire perfect couples with fairytale-alike weddings; because deep down you know no other stories are better than yours.

Not anymore I get jealous of pretty girls who attended social science school and achieving so many and showing up being interviewed on TV because of their brilliant thoughts. Nor to white-collared employees with well-paid jobs in my former dream companies. Nor to geniuses with very long achievement lists on their CVs whose future seem to be so very bright it can make the Sun feel ashamed.

It is now safe to say, I like my life a lot. Even with unknown future in front of me, unsecured romance life on LDR phase, not so superior GPA, so-so look, average brain and all.

You may look at people’s curated version of their lives through any platforms they allow you and be devastated wondering if only their lives were yours—but really, it shouldn’t stop you from pursuing small joy that lies within every day of your life.

Now I watch more stories of people’s accomplishments or happy life routines feeling safe and secured. I read great news of friends accomplishing ABC’s feeling joyful because they help the world to be a better place already. I see amazing photos from friends’ holiday trip feeling cool because the world is already filled with sad posts too much.

All it takes is accomplishing small things that make you love yourself again to get rid of jealousy, indeed.

In Adventure of a Lifetime, Days in Edmonton, Thoughtful Enlightenment

Silver linings (and a chance of golden fortune) – Part II

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Silver linings (and a chance of golden fortune) – Part II

Bulan September tahun lalu, bisa dibilang saya hampir putus asa mencari some things to work on, to keep me sane.

Empat tahun berakrab ria dengan perkuliahan dan segala aktivitas non-akademik dan dinamikanya yang membuat kami para mahasiswa menjadi task-juggler dan penggila kesibukan, kemudian tiba-tiba menjadi completely pengangguran selama tiga bulan mendorong saya pada salah satu titik terendah di tahun tersebut. I have been failing many times in my life, but not that way. That was different, and hurtful from every possible view.

Sebagian teman-teman terdekat saya sudah bekerja di kantor, sebagian mengerjakan proyek dosen, sebagian lagi memulai bisnis yang menyenangkan, ada pula yang sudah memulai Master degree. Pada akhirnya, meski sedikit terlambat, saya (mencoba) bangun dan memutuskan untuk mengerjakan hal yang saya sukai. Then, @dhaniaalbani was first established.

I got to work on some arts I’ve never had any chance to do due to the lack of time, people appreciate my work and they want to buy them for real, dan rasanya… priceless.

Bersamaan dengan itu, supervisor saya menawarkan untuk mengerjakan dua proyeknya. Bebannya tidak terlalu banyak, pekerjaan-pekerjaan tersebut bisa saya kerjakan di rumah dan hanya butuh untuk seminggu sekali bertemu di kantor untuk laporan mingguan. Dhania Albani bisa tetap berjalan, dan akhirnya saya pun bisa menghasilkan uang bukan hanya dari hobi saya tapi juga keilmuan saya. Alhamdulillah.

Berbeda dengan laboratorium-laboratorium lain di prodi yang menggaji fresh grad secara perbulan tanpa mempertimbangkan jumlah proyek yang didapat, supervisor saya yang dermawan ternyata membayar per jumlah proyek. Nominal bulanan tersebut tidak jauh berbeda dari pemasukan seorang wellsite geologist di perusahaan multinasional, jadi meskipun proyek tersebut berlangsung selama kurang dari satu semester, saya tetap bisa berinvestasi lebih banyak untuk proyek penunjang kebahagiaan saya, Dhania Albani. Dan cita-cita saya yang belum kesampaian untuk bekerja di EP company pada akhirnya ditukar dengan sesuatu yang bahkan jauh lebih baik.

Low-paced life ternyata baik untuk saya. Waktu-waktu seperti itu membuat saya jadi memiliki waktu luang untuk berpikir tentang apa yang betul-betul saya inginkan untuk kehidupan saya, orang-orang di sekitar saya, dan dunia luar yang ternyata membutuhkan saya dan kita semua. Dari pemikiran kecil itulah perantauan saya akan dimulai dalam beberapa bulan, untuk memulai kehidupan yang completely baru.

Dulu saya berpikir ingin segera lulus karena ingin segera memulai kehidupan baru dimana segala halnya jauh dari latar belakang dan hidup yang sudah saya jalani. To restart a completely new life, in a new place, with a new pursuit.

Well, you need to be really careful of what you wished for, for it might come true in some unexpected ways.

And here it goes, I’ll be nearly 10,000 miles away from home in few months. Having no Indonesians that I knew around, no adults to protect me, no possible way to using Bahasa for surviving the days.

You might never hear the word “Edmonton” before, because neither do I before months ago when I completely wanted to change my destination from that lifetime-pursued Norway and its Scandinavian delicacy. Nevertheless, that is the name of a city which is going to be my second home for the next couple of years.

The point is, we truly never know. The lucky one isn’t probably the happiest one. The one looking like having the least idealized life might actually keep some priceless treasure. White collars or blue collars, black or white skins—they’re just all colours. Absolute bliss lies far beyond those measurable materials.

We might be hit by tons of bad news today or tomorrow or anytime soon, but life has indeed always been a sine curve, it is no new news. Everyone gets hurt, but the ones with bigger hearts don’t choose to suffer. The fortunate ones are just the ones who are so talented at hiding their flaws.

We will never be sure about which direction we’ll be sailing onto, but we can always be sure where it’s going to end. And we already even know the answer by now, don’t we?