Page 12 of Away We Go

Yes. Thankfully. It’s been like flying in a tumble dryer.

Tanya

Remind me again why you’re on that China Eastern flight and the rest of the team…aren’t?

My bestie is right to ask the question. While I’m flying a budget-ish airline to get to the next race weekend, the rest of the team had left on a chartered flight the day after the Melbourne GP. Even Nicky, who’d spent the Monday with his family and Matt and Nancy, had hightailed it out of there, heading straight to Shanghai to prepare for the next race. But given my late arrival into the team and the leftover life sorting I had to do before leaving my world behind, I was stuck making my own way to China.

Unlike my big brother, I’ve never travelled on my own before. I’ve never even travelled this far at all and so this—me travelling solo—has been a point of contention for the people closest to me.Prior to this, the furthest I’d gone was Bali, and given it was filled with other Aussie travellers, I’d felt right at home there. But this? Manoeuvring around Shanghai by myself will be a whole different story. One that has my parents wringing their hands with worry and me saddled with a chest chock-filled with all the worst-case scenarios.

Cherry

It was the only flight I could take. Qantas stopped their direct flight from Melbourne flying to Shanghai after the pandemic.

Tanya

How are you feeling about being there by yourself?

She’s not my best friend for nothing. She knows what I’m doing now is out of my comfort zone.

Cherry

Scared.

But putting on a brave face.

For myself.

Tanya

You’ll be fine. And you’ll have Nicky…

I know she’s fishing for information about our status, not fully believing me when I tell her our relationship is painfully platonic. Her exact words when we first spoke about the photos were: “You two have enough chemistry to power the whole F1 grid!”

Tanya has always been hyperbolic.

Cherry

I’ve got to go, we’re landing.

Tanya

Fine, avoid the topic. I’m not going anywhere.

Can’t wait to see more photos from this weekend >

Love you. Be safe.

I send her a kissing emoji and switch my phone off. If I’m going to be out and about in Shanghai by myself, I’ll need my phone charged and ready to Google Translate and Google Navigate for me.

“Welcome to Shanghai, China, where the local time is 7.30 a.m. The temperature outside is currently a wet and rainy ten degrees Celsius…”

The pilot drones on and I look out my window, getting my first glimpse of Shanghai, my home for the next week. From this vantage point, there’s not much to see other than the raindrops hitting the tarmac.

I hope the weather clears up for the weekend. The thought of the drivers hurtling around a racetrack at 210 miles per hour in the rain gives me heartburn.

The light illuminating the seatbelt sign above me turns off, and as humans do, everyone stands up and rushes to get their carry-on luggage, only to stand in line as the plane empties from the front to the back. I’m in row fifteen and happy to wait my turn, willing my stomach to stop twirling at the thought of making my way from the airport to the hotel. I anxiously check the name of it for the thousandth time. It’s printed on the itinerary Sue sent to me, inboth English and Chinese characters to show to a taxi driver; she said that was the easiest way to ensure I get to the right place.

As I exit the plane, only to stand in another, longer line at the customs area, I turn my phone back on. It vibrates incessantly with notifications and I scan through them, smiling at the messages from my parents, from Matt and Nancy, and even from Serena, letting me know she’s looking forward to seeing me soon. I shoot off a few quick texts to let my family know I arrived safely, shutting down the niggling of disappointment at the lack of communication from Nicky.

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