We were in line, ready to board. My brother, Ryan, was in a bad mood, dreading the twenty-one-hour flight to come. My mom, however, was ready with about fifty downloaded movies from Netflix and Amazon Video.

Normally, I get quite scared before these long flights to India. This year, however, I wasn’t scared. I don’t know if it was the bag full of snacks, or the despicable me coloring book I’d bought at the airport, but for some unknown reason, I was just carelessly ready to board the flight.

A few hours went by, and all was well. I’d already been sleeping for what felt like a while, and we got a meal that wasn’t half bad. We always fly Air India, because it’s a cheap, direct flight there and back, and they only serve Indian food but they provide us with meals that are pretty good, in my opinion.

Ryan and my mom, on the other hand, looked horrible. My brother was very angry with my mom for something small, most likely. And my mom was wrapped in two blankets, with both her socks and shoes off, trying to lean on Ryan and lay her legs over me to get comfortable. It’s a good thing she’s small, otherwise, I don’t think either Ryan or I would’ve been nice about that.

Then, as a flight attendant rolled a cart of drinks down our aisle, my blanket got caught on the wheel. It was an easy fix, they just rolled it back and I pulled my blanket away. However, an old couple sitting across from me thought otherwise. I looked up and saw them both staring at me as if I’d just murdered a kitten! At first, I smiled, but they kept staring, so I just looked away and acted as if nothing happened.

Although I was trying to stay positive and not think about time left on the flight, I will admit, it really feels like a long time after you realize you still have an entire half of the flight to go. Okay, so, I caved. A flight attendant was walking by my seat, and I stopped her to ask how much longer the flight would be… now, brace yourself.

At first, she happily told me there were seven hours left, and I got so excited because that meant I had successfully entertained myself for fourteen hours! Then, she came back and apologized for giving me the wrong time, and informed me that there was actually a little over ten hours leftover.

Honestly, that felt like an extreme poke in the eye. If you’ve ever been on a long flight like this one, I’m sure you’ll understand.

With all the time I had left, I decided to really make the most of it; I thought maybe I’d get some reading done, something productive so I’d feel good about the last stretch. So, I started reading, but then realized I really had to go to the bathroom. I don’t like airplane restrooms, but I hadn’t gone in about ten hours, and I’d been drinking lots of water.

I put my shoes on, and walked down the aisle, expecting to be back in my seat in a few minutes… but of course, the universe wasn’t about to let that happen. First, there was a huge line of people in an area where there are three toilets, all of which say “vacant” on them. Apparently, though, the lady in the front of the line saw people go into all three restrooms. SO, all of us waited… and waited… and waited. Until finally, this middle-aged man and I couldn’t take it anymore.

We started talking, and both came to the conclusion that for all we knew, that lady in the front of the line could’ve been a psychopath liar. So we started knocking on the doors… AND THEY WERE ALL AVAILABLE!!! Everyone started fighting and the lady at the front of the line was yelling, the rest of us were all yelling, and in seconds, the line became a clump of madness. When I finally got into the bathroom, the floor was all wet, there was no toilet paper, and it smelled like old potatoes and porter potty.

Now, I’m really annoyed because everything was hitting me; my nose was stuffy, a crazy baby nearby wouldn’t stop screaming its brains out, the guy behind me kept aggressively kicking my chair, and the insane old couple sitting across from me kept GLARING at me. I swear, I didn’t do a single thing to them, by the way, I never talked to them once! And, oh my, the food… was so bad. It was actually so disgusting. I don’t know how I never realized it before, but wow, that was so bad.

In the end, it clearly shows that I kept my positive attitude all the way through. I’m glad we’re finally off that horrible plane, but it’s no doubt going to take me a while to get over that. For anyone wondering, direct flights are not worth it. I’m serious, that was really bad, I told the watered down version. Just don’t fly direct, I went home and stayed in my bed alone for like two days.