Later, my friend emailed me, saying: “Thank you for the opportunity, but this isn’t for me. I don’t understand it. ” Sandrine had no idea that night how lost I really was. It takes time to understand. That’s why, whenever we welcome new members into APG, we al- ways tell them: you must attend our events, our seminars, and our training sessions. Jean-Emmanuel Hay: When did you take your first flight? And what were your best and worst flight experiences? Eduardo Baquero: I took my first flight at the age of four, to Miami. Of course, I don’t remember everything, but I recall how kind the flight attendants were and that we were flying on a jet, which, at that time, was still a very new and modern experience. I was fascinated by how everything looked so small from above.
Over the following years, my family traveled frequently, and when I was 17, I was sent to study in England. The cheapest and most convenient route was via Amsterdam, and that flight remains one of my best memories. It was my first real experience of independence. I still remember the exact moment as the plane was landing and thinking, “Wow, I’m here. What happens now?” As for my worst experiences, I’ve had a few. One of the scariest was a landing in Munich with my mother on a short European flight in terrible weather. We were terrified; she was praying, and we truly thought it was the end, but, of course, it wasn’t. Another time, in Caracas, I was waiting for my mother’s Avianca flight to arrive. It was pouring rain, and I was standing on the airport terrace (back when passengers could still watch planes land). I saw
the aircraft approach as if it were going to touch down on the grass instead of the runway. The pilot aborted the landing just in time and circled back. There was also a domestic flight in Venezuela when the pilot announced that the landing gear was not working and that they would “try” to land anyway. Hearing the word “try” was not reassuring. The man sitting next to me (the airline’s Vice President) began crying and praying, which did nothing to calm my nerves. Finally, I remember a flight from New York to Panama years ago, during winter. We were taxiing for takeoff when the captain suddenly aborted the departure, saying: “Well, we didn’t make it this time, let’s try again.” I thought, “Please, don’t try again!” It turned out the wings hadn’t been de-iced. We returned, completed the de-icing, and then took off safely.
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BORN TO BE A BIRD BY CLASS & RELAX
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