I SPENT Hari Raya this year half a world away in Helsinki.

While most assumed that I had gone for one of those fancy bourgeoisie Raya-overseas trips with the family (I’ve never taken those nor will i ever), the truth was far more mundane: I was accompanying 10 of my Sunway University students on the digital film production degree programme (of which I am the current leader) for a mobile documentary filmmaking exchange project.

A collaborative project between Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Turku University of Applied Sciences and Sunway University, it is mainly funded by the European Social and Cultural Funding (ESR), which is governed in the Agency of Education in Finland alongside the Finnish National Broadcasting Company (YLE).

Our students were paired with Finnish students from both participating universities months ahead to research and eventually shoot and produce a five-minute documentary – shot entirely on mobile phones – on the issue of climate change.

The most obvious “climate change” we experienced for sure was the shift from the tropical humidity of the Nusantara to a crisp chilly Finnish springtime upon arrival on a wet Saturday afternoon a few days before Raya.

While the trip was most certainly exciting for the students, two other colleagues and I were wrapping up classes and assignments leading to our departure.
I was tasked with the necessary paperwork and health and travel-related documentations, liaising directly with my Finnish counterpart via WhatsApp and email exchanges.

As I had never travelled during the pandemic, I was popping my pandemic flight cherry with this trip and boy, did it keep me flustered for the one month leading up to it. The first order of the day was checking that everyone’s passports were still valid.

Since two out of the eight students were international students, I was assured they had active passports so I only had to make sure that their visa requirements into Finland were cleared and covered.

The Malaysian students were fine visa-wise since we aren’t required a visa to enter and to my surprise all our students had valid passports. I only had to chase my two colleagues, who just like me, saw no need of renewing them since the pandemic (our passports all expired in 2020 coincidentally).

The most stressful part was finding out the need for RTK or PCR tests prior to departure for Finland and prior to returning to Malaysia.

I scoured the internet to find out if there were any specific requirements for such tests to enter KLIA and exit the country – all the information I could find online and on the MySejahtera app were about entering Malaysia.

It took me several calls to several travel agencies to clear the matter (we did not require any tests) – we would only need to do a PCR test two days or 48 hours before our flight back to Malaysia from Finland.

I had yet necessitated the need to have something probed up and into my nostrils so this would be the second cherry to be popped for me – it would cost us €100 (RM460) for a test in Finland.

Unless some of us were deciding to go rogue and not return home (or maybe enter Russia), the test was necessary. So, I informed our team to keep a spare €100 for the trip back.

We had nothing to complain about since the flights, accommodation and transportation (we were given week-long public transport tickets) were covered by the project, but being Malaysian, it meant that we would have less to spend on souvenirs for relatives or local delicacies to try out.

Still, we realised with about a week left that we would also need travel insurance for all participants since anything – and I mean Covid-anything – could happen while we were there. So, we hurriedly sorted that out (which our university covered).

One of my colleagues is an optimist (unlike me) who remarked that one never knows maybe our Ministry of Health’s travel might change just in time for our trip, to which I remarked “that’s a long shot”.

Lo and behold, three days before our departure, a miracle happened albeit a little too late, according to analysts. Damn right, I wish it was earlier as it would have alleviated my stress way ahead.

With all of us in the clear and healthy, what else could go wrong?

Well, the line to the check-in counter snaked its way towards the terminal entrance when we lined up and we only made it to the counter 30 minutes before our departure time.

As I placed my bag on the counter, the lady gave me a look and said “Sir, we would like to make you an offer…hotel and flight tomorrow…”

The rest of her sentence was just a blur and we couldn’t believe it. We even had our seat numbers already.

Apparently this happens when an airline is overbooked, according to my colleague but this, I suspected, was some technical error since they changed their tune in the next five minutes from suddenly having seats, then back to not having seats, and back to having seats and finally allowing all of us to check-in.

Of course, we made a dash for it, thinking that we were the last 13 passengers yet to board. We also had the personnel escorting us all the way to the gate.

To our relief (and disbelief), the boarding gate was still packed with passengers yet to board. We slipped into the crowd. All that fuss for nothing.

So, folks, herein lies the lesson of air travel in these (post-) pandemic times: be prepared to remain flustered all the way to take off.

It will also dawn on you that all the pesky social distancing rules on terra firma don’t apply when you’re in a metal tube with wings up in the sky.

I’m not complaining, it’s just that the irony is not lost on me. – May 13, 2022.

* Azmyl Yunor is a touring underground recording artiste, and an academic in media and cultural studies. He has published articles on pop culture, subcultures and Malaysian cultural politics. He adheres to the three-chords-and-the-truth school of songwriting, and Woody Guthrie’s maxim “All you can write is what you see”. He is @azmyl on Twitter.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.