Departure

Here we are. Is everything ready? Check the backpack again; teeth brush, towel, piyama, you always forget your piyama. Make sure you took your passport, is the most important, and the invitation letter. Alice says you need it to get the landing visa. Two pictures. What else? Go on Facebook for the last time, no news, ok.

Come on, Ana, don't panic. You packed one week ago, you came back to check everything twice already. You know your flight numbers by heart, come on, you're not gonna miss the plain. What if I do? Alice will have a heart attack. Come on, relax, everything will be alright.

And in fact, it did. Even better than expected. Long flight, almost 15 hours. Two transfers. No regrets.

Doha Airport. I am already lost in time, don't know whether it is morning or afternoon anymore. Who cares, I am about to meet Salim and Toyin. He comes from Oman, she from Nigeria.

"Look for dreadlocks", she said. He's wearing a hat. No hats around. They will  look for the blue scarf around my neck, thats the deal. Unmissable. But I can't find them. Where are they? Where am I? Is it the right flight? QR 812, gate 36.

Time to embark and no trace of them. Too sad. At least All in a sudden, I see a SayTaiwan yellow envelope hiding in a hand bag. Cool! But her owner is not wearing dreadlock,  instead a white veil. She's with a boy. who are they?

I approach them and, smiling, pronounce the magic word. SayTaiwan?
They smile back. Khaoula and Hayel. Algeria and... oh damn it. I forgot where Hayel is from. You have to make an effort to remember, Ana, you know in the next two weeks you're gonna meet people from all over the world, more than a hundred countries. Even countries you didn't know they exist. Isn't that cool?

Now, Toyin is running down the escalator. No signal of Salim yet.

After the first ten minutes it seems that we've been friends for a long time. That's the magic. All happy, all excited, all willing to share and receive, we start making questions about the others lives, giving our own answers. It is time for the first picture. Come on guys, SayTaiwan!!!!!!!!!!!

Inside the plane, we finally see a black hat coming towards us. Salim!!! We all scream and wave at the same time. Also we make a mess, making other passengers move so we can sit together. I don't know why, but it seems like the most important thing in the world right now. They look at us wit curiosity. What are they thinking? We don't care, we're living in our own bubble, the world is ours.