I am a self-confessed non-fan of travelling, whether it be by car or train or air. (The actual visit and walking around somewhere exploring it are excluded from my term 'travel' because I love them and technically, it comes after the travel itself to the place. Does that make sense? ) The highest point in most of my travels is about 5 minutes before reaching my destination,all the excitement and anticipation etc. I hated this one especially because, as the title suggests, it was almost a day long... 2 flights of nine and three hours each and a 7 hour long transit to top...My personal definition of hell :)
Leaving behind Flat 41 and all the good/bad times there was not very easy. Well, that's the thing about goodbyes right, they aren't ever easy...I do have the hope of being there again,possibly in a couple of months. It wouldn't be the same, because it would never again be my home...I would just be a guest from time to time...
I don't know what I felt when I saw London disappear as a speck down below. I looked around to see relieved faces of people returning home after a vacation, a few tourists etc. It looked like I was the only one not very happy about leaving...Well...
It is a well known fact that Air India's air hostesses are not the prettiest or the youngest in business. But I seriously didn't know that they had a policy of hiring butt-ugly air-hostesses prior to my travel. Seriously, my Mom (who's 47 and looks 35) is about 10 years younger than the average age of these ladies. I guess that accounts for the cheaper fare and the empty seats...Which male in his sound mind would opt to travel under such conditions...lol. Not to mention the highly weird service...One lady actually kept tapping my shoulder till I woke up to give me my breakfast...That my dear,is Air India for you... (Thankfully I had a pretty nice fellow traveler on my second flight who just collected all the stuff and left it on the vacant seat between us for me to enjoy when I woke up . Otherwise, I might be standing trial for murder by now).
About 9 hours later I was at Indira Gandhi International Airport,New Delhi, named after the only Dictator we ever had to boast about( I am NOT implying that we need more of them), where I was due to have another interesting experience. The guy at the counter stamped my boarding pass and sent me direct to baggage claim despite my mentioning thrice that I am travelling from London and that I haven't been through Immigration yet. He just DID NOT pay attention!!! I came back after getting my luggage because I couldn't leave the terminus to go check-in for the next leg of my journey until I submitted the landing card, which no one collected from me because I hadn't been to Immigration. So I went back to where these two men were checking everyone's passports and boarding passes and waving them through. That caused quite a ruckus, handing me free advice and Coffee and rebuking the guy who let me through without checking properly etc.
Then there was a 7-hour long transit. Well, 5 really, because these events and customs and everything else had taken care of at least 2 hours. One of my friends had said that at the brand new Delhi airport,there was a lot to see and that time would fly by. While I wouldn't completely agree with that, I would say that the officials there are rather nice, from the guards at the various entrances to the men at the counters, they were all rather nice and helpful ( My Mom had all but warned me that the officials at Delhi airport aren't the nicest people and that I should be very careful).
Adding colour to the events before, they just couldn't find my name in the system for my flight to Cochin. It wasn't a problem really, because half the flight was empty and I had a receipt, it was just another example of mismanagement in our National Airline...
When we landed in Cochin, the weather was horrible. The pilot contemplated not landing in Cochin and going to Trivandrum directly(for it was a Delhi-Cochin-Tvm flight) .Just a couple of days back, a Gulf Air flight had slipped off the runway and nose dived into the grass in Cochin, without any casualties ,thankfully. We circled the airport for about 20 minutes, and then it cleared up a bit, even though still rainy, and we landed without further complications.
I am typing this two days later and it is still raining..it is safe to say that it hasn't stopped raining all this while, and not the drizzles I have been accustomed to for the past 2 years, but actual, full-fledged chain of rains...I love rains, but hate the fact that I can't go out at all...(Well, actually,that I WON'T go out at all). I must say, it is definitely a relief being back home...No chores to do, no vessels to wash, absolutely nothing to do, except read or watch something, or better still, just lie around ;) I'm loving it :D.
