the first flight with Boliviana de Aviacion

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I went to check in for my flight. I put my passport and walkman on the desk as I had just finished listening to it, when the man at the desk exclaimed in an amazed tone:

‘is that a Discman!?’ Wow I haven’t seen one of those in years.’

In defence of my poor walkman and with very little idea of what to say to such a comment even though I had been asked it several times, I said

‘Yes , it’s jogproof too’

The man was overjoyed.

Without further ado, both my ''discman'' and I got safely through passport control, through security and to the departure gate where it rested safely in my hands for the best part of an hour until we both boarded the flight together.

The first flight went like a dream. I flew with Boliviana de Aviacion, the country’s national carrier. After the crew giving three thorough checks of the passengers’ security on the plane I was feeling very secure travelling with the airline. I was very impressed with the amount of seat leg room and during the flight, drinks and cheese and cucumber sandwiches were served. I felt I was on to a winner here. The staff were obviously very proud of their airline. I read the three leaflets which I found in the seat pockets- one on what to do if you feel ill, one on human trafficking, how to protect yourself from it and what constitutes human trafficking and one on the safety precautions to take in the event of an emergency. These were very different from leaflets I would read on a European aeroplane. this to me signified the different priorities of the airline. I also began reading a very interesting brochure about the airline. I didn’t finish it so I took it with me on to my second flight.

In the brochure, I discovered the airine was 8 years old. It seemed that Bolivia only operated military planes before that. I thought to myself

‘wow considering the airine is surprisingly young this flight is going well. I suppose older airlines take safety for granted whereas airlines still in their youth are keen to promote themselves and therefore do not take chances, what an excellent choice I’ve made. And in any case look at the good runways here, in some airports in developing countries the runways are just dirtracks (none which I’ve been to but there are some.) There are plenty of airports with good runways, I am on one and this is important for plane safety so I should be fine’

It seemed tourism was quite new to Bolivia, unlike in countries such as Argentina and Chile. I thought a lot about the newness of the Bolivia and how it is only just developing itself, deciding its politics, marking out its boundaries and assigning land to various parties. This made me consider how hard our great grandparents must have had it, growing up in lawless countries at a time when laws still hadn’t come into play. I was grateful for having grown up in the UK at the time I had. I felt that if I’d have been born in my Mum’s generation I would have EXPECTED to have security for life and worked so hard just to get my pension, if I’d have been born into my Grandma’s generation I would have been resilient but obsessed about avoiding poverty, and therefore more interested in acquiring objects rather than living experiences. Our generation don’t expect to have it all, we do our best in the circumstances (at a time when there aren't many jobs), we can live light on our feet because owning property doesn't make sense right now and not having job security gives us a chance to take risks by accepting new opportunities and therefore grabbing new opportunities. I think deep down many people from our generation know that pensions, owning cars and owning houses are a thing of the stone age, something our grandparents used to do, things that won't come into fashion for a long time, they'll die out like the dance of hand jive did.

Our generation are free of this awful pressure to waste time on saving up for material goods and I am so grateful. I also recognise that I'm lucky to be from the background I’m from and probably without generous family support I wouldn't have had chance to save up for this trip. I feel privileged for having this trip. It's made me re-evaluate what I want to dedicate the rest of my life to,. I want to use my experience to benefit others and not just for myself, . I'd like to do it in many ways, for example I want to share my ideas and knowledge of what I've seen with the people back home. After all years ago sailors did a similar type of thing, they explored the world and brought ideas from their own culture to other countries and imported 'foreign ideas 'to their home countries. They used the knowledge they had to further and develop their own society. I want to use the rest of my time on earth to change things for the better.

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