Warnings and communications

Can't say I didn't have signs of warnings. Lots of warnings, the corona as the biggest issue. It all started with my one and only purse going astray. Really. She - because my purse is a female, an intuition based solely on the fact that the cards in it are very lively in spenders - made me panic for about 40 minutes. You can understand a scenario when you are going away for a month, literally the other end of the world and you have no credit cards? I did try that once on a lesser scale, when I went to Crete for a week and left my credit card at home. When you have 20 euros in the purse and imagine to stay a week in a totally new resort, you might want to think about what ways there is to earn some money. I was then saved by my daughter who I visited. 
But back to my frivolous purse that had eloped at the crucial moment. The escapade took only 40 minutes, but boy, were they long Minutes! In that time I had inspected half of the estate and would have got a reward of best drama queen actor. And then one of the colleagues who had helped me, found it. In the stack of all trash I have gathered in the corner of my realm. Oh dear, I could adopt that boy! Who said the youngsters are unattentive and lazy? Not me.
So, then my next fear was to the declaration of pandemy. And that happened. This would mean there would be no refund from the insurance companies as it would be a force majeur case. I started to fear the e-mail, expecting cancellations from the travel companies. They didn't come. And so at the time I got to the plane I heard the government had finally taken actions. Couldn't turn back now. 
Finally the tour to remember started. The reasons for me traveling were obvious,  maybe for some of you of the wrong reasons. But No refund would mean 5000 euros vanishing out in the air. Couldn't let that happen. Those of you who think this is perhaps a selfish act, well - yeah! Almost half a year of planning and the budget made my decision easy. 
And an upgration to Business Class. 
What a treat! My fear of flying is still there and the "The Lord's Prayer" is still in use. Considering the first leg is 6 hours and the next 16 hours, I would recommend it to you all. Plus there is a special solitude in the exclusive traveling. It's my 18th hour in the plane as I write this and the only thing that gives me trouble is understanding the crew. 
I thought I understand english pretty well. Got to struggle sometimes with those who have an accent, but sofar it has been easy. The biggest challenge now is to recognise the crew members and to understand them because of the masks. 
The name of the game is  'eye-recognition' since the only thing you see are the eyes. The uniforms are alike, they have all black hair and the ladies hairstyle is unanimous. I also realised that a part of understanding the language is to see the lips, especially with the noisy background. There is no such thing as a quiet airplane? That we can agree on. 
If this is going to be the only worry, then I am lucky. Here I am, in my own cubicle. Eating, drinking, sleeping (in my Qatar Airways-pyjamas), watching films and hoping for the best. And waiting for the breakfast to come soon. Looking forward to 4 weeks in an unknown territory, literally in the other end of the world. 
If you want to hear more about my roundtrip, there will be other stories. You don't need to follow me if you get upset, just stop reading. We will hopefully still stay friends anyway. To be quite honest, I'll write anyway. Good to have something to read and talk about while sitting in the rocking chair and boring the youth.