So it's been 3 months now in dubai and I'm still going strong. Although I really miss my family back home, I know that I can't live in India again. But I'm also not sure if I can live here forever.
So where do I see myself settling down? Well I got just 3 words for you - London, Paris and NewYork :) I see myself living in London and working in Paris and New York.
I am after all the metro City girl. Life in the fast lane is all I can see. I lovely job in fashion in London with travels to Other places for fashion shows, donning the latest fashion with a nice fur coat and knee high boots. That's the life I see for myself and I am pretty sure I'm closer to it now.
How do I know this? Well coz I belive in it.
I believe that life has great things in store for me. Look at me now working in dubai by myself, living by myself and just 4 months ago I was crying in a stuck up job with a boss from hell and a crappy pay check. And now I live in dubai, in a posh locality like marina , earning 3 times my salary in India. Life is good I say and it definitely is moving towards better :)
The only thing missing now is LOVE and I know that is just round the corner too, just hidden from view. All I have to do is just believe that it is there and that I will see it soon enough. :)
Until then enjoying Singledom till it lasts.
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Just belive
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Dubai :)
Wow! I am posting again almost a year later. Been caught up with life i guess.
Life has changed and how! I now live in Dubai! Dubai Marina. The life line of Dubai.
Life is very different and yet better. Ofcourse i miss India no doubt but i am not ready to go back yet.
I had so many apprehensions before coming here. All the obvious misconceptions that Indian women have about an Arab country. Things like you can wear what you like, you will have to wear a hijab, women are treated in a lowly manner, women dont have any freedom etc etc.. But it is exactly the opposite here. Women here are highly respected, getting preferential treatment even. They have equal rights as men although a certain level of modestly is expected. Obviously. Cant really expect a women to roam topless, except for in a nude beach, which, by the way does not exist in Dubai.
So what have my experiences been like in the past 1.5months that i have been here? Well to say my 1st disappointment was that my workplace feels like a cross between Kerela and Phillipines. If i use my statistics then 33% are filipinos, 33% are Kerellites and the 33% is represented by the rest of the world. I always keep grumbling that the 66% of the population are gonna take over the world soon.
My first real celebration of Dubai was a free dinner by Janhavi's cousin at Souk Al Bahar. The lovely Bice Mare which stands right at the egde of the fountain lake of Dubai mall and Bhurj Khalifa. Sitting there watching the fountain and going through a 3 course meal with coctails and wine is what life in dubai is all about. We sat there for a whole 4hrs just talking and laughing and enjoying delicious food and wine. The very close 2nd celebration was with another close friend-Moiz who is also the only other person i knew in Dubai. The amazing hot pot that he cooks and along with rounds of LIT that i make... bliss.
My first couple of weeks were pretty stressful as it is like a full time job trying to find a habitable apartment here. I got to see places that resembled watering holes to downright caves. Smelling all the time of some South Indian chutney. No offence to south Indians really, its just that if you are not used to smelling sambars and chutneys 24hrs a day then this can really get to you. Now was the time to set your priorities. You either lived in a hole or you let a hole burn in your pocket and live it up in Dubai. And it took me three weeks of contemplating to get this straight. Always hunting on dubizzle to find a cheap yet "not hole in wall" kind of place to live in. Then 3 weeks later, lady luck smiled and i found the right place and just loved it right when i saw it. I partied hard that night ;)
So my new apt is the huge Horizon Towers which is a whooping 44floors high and can be seen form mostly anywhere in Marina. I live on the 7th floor, any higher and im sure i would have had vertigo problems. MOE as they call it aka Mall of the Emirates is my fav hangout i think.I am in there 3 days out of 7. And when i am not at MOE or at work, then i am at the pool which is a great respite after a long 9.5hrs shift at work. My roomates are nice mixture of Irish, Scottish/Pakistani, Ukranian, Egyptian, German and British/Filipino. They are a fun bunch and we generally do a lot of things together, like swimming, cooking, dinner, super markets, outings and partying ;)
Somehow out here, i havnt cooked much Indian food. Living mostly on salads and sanwiches. And i realise now that it has become more difficult to digest rice products, if and when i do eat it. I am moving to healthy eating i guess. Getting more of yoghurts and milks. Have given away with sodas. I still love chocolates, never gonna give them up.
I miss my car the most and i fear that i might either forget driving or might get a downright phobia of driving on Mumbai roads. The roads are as smooth as silk here. No bumps, no potholes. And yet somehow the Emiratis somehow manage to crash their cars, inspite of such a long list of rules. I thought that you'd be scared to break rules in the middle east, considering otherwise. The European road rules apply with left hand drive.
Night life of dubai rocks!. And Dubai Marina is the place to be. Clubs here are mainly dominated by the expat crowds. Then again the entire Dubai marina is dominated by expats. And since i am an expat too for UAE, i live here too ;) And if your are a woman, you are showered by women's nights which generally have free booze and free food. Unlike mumbai where women's nights are generally wednesdays, here different clubs have their's on different days of the week. Barasti i learnt is a very popular hangout which is right on the beach. I love my night trip here.
Well thats most of the updates from my 1st 6 weeks of stay in Dubai. I hope that i will add more updates here sooner.
psst...my boss is not at work today and i am updating this from office ;)
cheers
Life has changed and how! I now live in Dubai! Dubai Marina. The life line of Dubai.
Life is very different and yet better. Ofcourse i miss India no doubt but i am not ready to go back yet.
I had so many apprehensions before coming here. All the obvious misconceptions that Indian women have about an Arab country. Things like you can wear what you like, you will have to wear a hijab, women are treated in a lowly manner, women dont have any freedom etc etc.. But it is exactly the opposite here. Women here are highly respected, getting preferential treatment even. They have equal rights as men although a certain level of modestly is expected. Obviously. Cant really expect a women to roam topless, except for in a nude beach, which, by the way does not exist in Dubai.
So what have my experiences been like in the past 1.5months that i have been here? Well to say my 1st disappointment was that my workplace feels like a cross between Kerela and Phillipines. If i use my statistics then 33% are filipinos, 33% are Kerellites and the 33% is represented by the rest of the world. I always keep grumbling that the 66% of the population are gonna take over the world soon.
My first real celebration of Dubai was a free dinner by Janhavi's cousin at Souk Al Bahar. The lovely Bice Mare which stands right at the egde of the fountain lake of Dubai mall and Bhurj Khalifa. Sitting there watching the fountain and going through a 3 course meal with coctails and wine is what life in dubai is all about. We sat there for a whole 4hrs just talking and laughing and enjoying delicious food and wine. The very close 2nd celebration was with another close friend-Moiz who is also the only other person i knew in Dubai. The amazing hot pot that he cooks and along with rounds of LIT that i make... bliss.
My first couple of weeks were pretty stressful as it is like a full time job trying to find a habitable apartment here. I got to see places that resembled watering holes to downright caves. Smelling all the time of some South Indian chutney. No offence to south Indians really, its just that if you are not used to smelling sambars and chutneys 24hrs a day then this can really get to you. Now was the time to set your priorities. You either lived in a hole or you let a hole burn in your pocket and live it up in Dubai. And it took me three weeks of contemplating to get this straight. Always hunting on dubizzle to find a cheap yet "not hole in wall" kind of place to live in. Then 3 weeks later, lady luck smiled and i found the right place and just loved it right when i saw it. I partied hard that night ;)
So my new apt is the huge Horizon Towers which is a whooping 44floors high and can be seen form mostly anywhere in Marina. I live on the 7th floor, any higher and im sure i would have had vertigo problems. MOE as they call it aka Mall of the Emirates is my fav hangout i think.I am in there 3 days out of 7. And when i am not at MOE or at work, then i am at the pool which is a great respite after a long 9.5hrs shift at work. My roomates are nice mixture of Irish, Scottish/Pakistani, Ukranian, Egyptian, German and British/Filipino. They are a fun bunch and we generally do a lot of things together, like swimming, cooking, dinner, super markets, outings and partying ;)
Somehow out here, i havnt cooked much Indian food. Living mostly on salads and sanwiches. And i realise now that it has become more difficult to digest rice products, if and when i do eat it. I am moving to healthy eating i guess. Getting more of yoghurts and milks. Have given away with sodas. I still love chocolates, never gonna give them up.
I miss my car the most and i fear that i might either forget driving or might get a downright phobia of driving on Mumbai roads. The roads are as smooth as silk here. No bumps, no potholes. And yet somehow the Emiratis somehow manage to crash their cars, inspite of such a long list of rules. I thought that you'd be scared to break rules in the middle east, considering otherwise. The European road rules apply with left hand drive.
Night life of dubai rocks!. And Dubai Marina is the place to be. Clubs here are mainly dominated by the expat crowds. Then again the entire Dubai marina is dominated by expats. And since i am an expat too for UAE, i live here too ;) And if your are a woman, you are showered by women's nights which generally have free booze and free food. Unlike mumbai where women's nights are generally wednesdays, here different clubs have their's on different days of the week. Barasti i learnt is a very popular hangout which is right on the beach. I love my night trip here.
Well thats most of the updates from my 1st 6 weeks of stay in Dubai. I hope that i will add more updates here sooner.
psst...my boss is not at work today and i am updating this from office ;)
cheers
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
OWDC - My First Open water Dive
My recent trip, although a holiday, kept me busy most of the times and hence i am documenting my 1st Dive experience right now.
After a few hours in the swimming pool session the day before, i was feeling excited and yet apprehensive about my 1st open water dive. And as i know that i suffer from sea sickness, i was fearing that it might spoil my dive. As i precaution i had taken an anti-nausea tablet before i jumped into the boat.
We had to get into a small speed boat which would take us to the Dive boat which was anchored a about a km away into the sea. It was a nice an sunny day and the sea was calm. Dive boats as they are called are small launches with an upper and a lower deck. They are customised to hold air cylinders and other diving equipments. They also various dropping points from where the divers drop into the water.
As soon as we got into the dive boat we had to get our equipment ready, which was BCD attachment to tank, 1st stage attachement to tank, and getting fins, weights and masks ready. After getting the equipments ready, we had to go for a briefing with our instructor, who was giving us a briefing of what exercises and activities we would be doing in dive-1.
Dive-1 majorly consisted of us getting our bouyancy control right, which meant neutral bouyancy or floating underwater. This takes a while as you need to get the perfect weight and air balance to be neutrally bouyant.
And as we are more bouyant in sea water than in fresh water, it was more important to learn bouyancy control in the open. So there we were in Mango bay floating on the surface and awaiting instructions from our dive master. We had swam close to the shore and standing on the ocean floor with the water upto our chins. The next step was to get underwater and kneel on the ocean floor and then lying down on it face down, equalising all the time (equalization is what you do when you are in an airplane about to land and you pinch you nose and blow to pop you ears). As we layed on the floor we had to release air into the BCD little by little until there is a perfect balance of the weights and the air and we are neither floating nor sinking - we are neutrally bouyant. Neutral bouyancy is important to be able to effortlessly glide through the water.
It takes a while to get this right but when you do, it open the doors for you into the underwater world. After getting our bouyancy right, we had to do some more exercises on the ocean floor like, half flooding and clearing your mask, purging the 2nd stage, practising a controlled ascent and so on. After this was done we were allowed to glide around spotting fishes and corals which was the most exciting part.
The water was blue/green with a slight eriee feeling to it. Everything looked green underneath. The fishes had accepted us as some bigger underwater creatures and were swimming around us lazily. There were live and dead corals which i assumed were brightly colored but which we could not see underwater. For dive-1 we were alowed a maximum depth of 12mts for about 40mins after which we had to ascend and swim our way back to the boat.
Once in the boat we had to change our air tank, and get the equipment ready again and go for the next briefing for Dive-2. Hydration is necessary at this time as the ocean dehydrates you. The out of water time was about 1hr, where we had tea and biscuits while our dive master briefed us about the next dive.
Dive-2 was a much better and less clumsier dive. We were still in Mango bay but on the other side of the reef. There were much more fishes here and swimming here was a total delight. Here our bottom floor excercises consisted of full flooding your mask and buddy breathing. Now full flooding ur mask is a piece of cake and so is breathing from the alternate air source from ur buddy. But when i took the alternate 2nd stage from my buddy to breathe it started flooding and i drank a mouthful of sea water. So i purged it and tried again... again i drank a mouthful of sea water....3rd time i purged the regulator for a longer time in attempts to remove any sea water from it, and tried breathign again... again a mouthful of water. All this while i am under water kneeling on the ocean floor at 10mts depth. My divemaster noticed soething was wrong and immediately gave me my primary air source. The she tried to breathe through my buddy's alternate to check it and it flooded again. She then confirmed that there was something wrong with it. But i was in no real danger here as my regulator was working properly and i had the dive master around me.
We finished the rest of the dive which was a total of 40mins and went back to our boat. Once in the boat we dismantled our eqipment and put them back in their proper places. We then had a review meeting to talk about the dive. My dive master appoligised to me for the faulty equipment saying that this happens very rarely with training equipements.
But at the end of the day i was really proud of myself having completed Day-1 of the OWDC successfully.
Sweet memories and looking forward to Day-2
(pics below courtesy Ban's Diving Resort-Koh Tao)
After a few hours in the swimming pool session the day before, i was feeling excited and yet apprehensive about my 1st open water dive. And as i know that i suffer from sea sickness, i was fearing that it might spoil my dive. As i precaution i had taken an anti-nausea tablet before i jumped into the boat.
We had to get into a small speed boat which would take us to the Dive boat which was anchored a about a km away into the sea. It was a nice an sunny day and the sea was calm. Dive boats as they are called are small launches with an upper and a lower deck. They are customised to hold air cylinders and other diving equipments. They also various dropping points from where the divers drop into the water.
As soon as we got into the dive boat we had to get our equipment ready, which was BCD attachment to tank, 1st stage attachement to tank, and getting fins, weights and masks ready. After getting the equipments ready, we had to go for a briefing with our instructor, who was giving us a briefing of what exercises and activities we would be doing in dive-1.
Dive-1 majorly consisted of us getting our bouyancy control right, which meant neutral bouyancy or floating underwater. This takes a while as you need to get the perfect weight and air balance to be neutrally bouyant.
And as we are more bouyant in sea water than in fresh water, it was more important to learn bouyancy control in the open. So there we were in Mango bay floating on the surface and awaiting instructions from our dive master. We had swam close to the shore and standing on the ocean floor with the water upto our chins. The next step was to get underwater and kneel on the ocean floor and then lying down on it face down, equalising all the time (equalization is what you do when you are in an airplane about to land and you pinch you nose and blow to pop you ears). As we layed on the floor we had to release air into the BCD little by little until there is a perfect balance of the weights and the air and we are neither floating nor sinking - we are neutrally bouyant. Neutral bouyancy is important to be able to effortlessly glide through the water.
It takes a while to get this right but when you do, it open the doors for you into the underwater world. After getting our bouyancy right, we had to do some more exercises on the ocean floor like, half flooding and clearing your mask, purging the 2nd stage, practising a controlled ascent and so on. After this was done we were allowed to glide around spotting fishes and corals which was the most exciting part.
The water was blue/green with a slight eriee feeling to it. Everything looked green underneath. The fishes had accepted us as some bigger underwater creatures and were swimming around us lazily. There were live and dead corals which i assumed were brightly colored but which we could not see underwater. For dive-1 we were alowed a maximum depth of 12mts for about 40mins after which we had to ascend and swim our way back to the boat.
Once in the boat we had to change our air tank, and get the equipment ready again and go for the next briefing for Dive-2. Hydration is necessary at this time as the ocean dehydrates you. The out of water time was about 1hr, where we had tea and biscuits while our dive master briefed us about the next dive.
Dive-2 was a much better and less clumsier dive. We were still in Mango bay but on the other side of the reef. There were much more fishes here and swimming here was a total delight. Here our bottom floor excercises consisted of full flooding your mask and buddy breathing. Now full flooding ur mask is a piece of cake and so is breathing from the alternate air source from ur buddy. But when i took the alternate 2nd stage from my buddy to breathe it started flooding and i drank a mouthful of sea water. So i purged it and tried again... again i drank a mouthful of sea water....3rd time i purged the regulator for a longer time in attempts to remove any sea water from it, and tried breathign again... again a mouthful of water. All this while i am under water kneeling on the ocean floor at 10mts depth. My divemaster noticed soething was wrong and immediately gave me my primary air source. The she tried to breathe through my buddy's alternate to check it and it flooded again. She then confirmed that there was something wrong with it. But i was in no real danger here as my regulator was working properly and i had the dive master around me.
We finished the rest of the dive which was a total of 40mins and went back to our boat. Once in the boat we dismantled our eqipment and put them back in their proper places. We then had a review meeting to talk about the dive. My dive master appoligised to me for the faulty equipment saying that this happens very rarely with training equipements.
But at the end of the day i was really proud of myself having completed Day-1 of the OWDC successfully.
Sweet memories and looking forward to Day-2
(pics below courtesy Ban's Diving Resort-Koh Tao)
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Open Water Diver Certification
Blogging after exactly a year now.. not good not good but...
Yay!... I am a certified scuba diver now... finished my training dives today and did everything from, mask flooding and emptying to a summersault.... Although i am feeling pretty hungover now due to some pressure variations in the dive and extremely choppy sea... I am so excited that i have now crossed off another form my "To Do" list... (see my to do list here - http://heightsoflife.blogspot.com/2011/01/things-to-do-before-i-die.html)
Cheerz people
Yay!... I am a certified scuba diver now... finished my training dives today and did everything from, mask flooding and emptying to a summersault.... Although i am feeling pretty hungover now due to some pressure variations in the dive and extremely choppy sea... I am so excited that i have now crossed off another form my "To Do" list... (see my to do list here - http://heightsoflife.blogspot.com/2011/01/things-to-do-before-i-die.html)
Cheerz people
Monday, July 4, 2011
Delayed to miss....
Aah... been so so long since i blogged.. finally made time for this one :)
I had put up a short version of this one as my FB status, but i wouldnt do it justice if i didnt write a full fledged version of it... so here goes.
So my 2nd buying trip to Denmark was in the last week of June. After a hectic 2days in Delhi for the Super Saturday event, Shaz and Me left for Denmark. Everything went off as schedule during our stay there, the buying, the orders and the innumerable meetings. The real story starts when we were supposed to leave Denmark to get back to India. I'll add the events here chronologically date and timewise so as to provide a clearer picture :)
30th june - 3am
Shaz and me woke up and got ready asap as our taxi was supposed to arrive at 4am to take us to the airport. We had to go out the back door of the hotel as the front door was closed and everyone else was asleep. But for some wierd reason, the path from the back door till the front door where the taxi was waiting, was lined with smooth, loose pebbles. Which meant that it was practically impossible for us to drag our trolly bags, so we had to carry them. 4:03am we are safely in our taxi.
30th june - 4:20am
We arrive at Billund airport and the cab fare is a whooping 350Kr which converts to 2900INR. Getting into the airport we find it a bit crowded and there are queues at the self service counters. We try out one and it refuses to print us our boarding passes. So we moe along to the the checkin counter instead. After 1/2hr in the queue, we reach the counter only to find out that our flight to Amsterdam has been delayed by 6.5hrs Me: "Excuse me!!... 6.5hrs!!!! You do realise we have a connecting flight from Amsterdam to Delhi?"
Checkin Lady: "Yes maam, but you will need to go to the Airport ticket office to clear this out"
Shaz: "Couldn't you have announced this or something? We simply stood in line for 1/2hr.
Checkin Lady: "Sorry maam!"
At the Airport ticket counter-
Checkin Lady: "Klm has booked new tickets for you via Dusseldorf and Frankfurt. So your next flight to Dusseldorf is at 7:50am" and the flight from Dusseldorf to Frankfurt is at 10:10am"
Shaz & Me : "OK"
30 June - 9:15am
In the BA flight to Dusseldorf, still in the air
Me: "Shit we are not gonna make it"
Shaz: "Dont worry Anu, we'll make it, we still have an hour to go"
Me(looking out of the window and hoping that Dusseldorf has a small airport): F**k! look how big the Dusseldorf airport is! We are screwed man!"
Shaz: "Dont worry Anu!"
30th June - 9:35am
Flight landed and we running to the next checkin counter
At the self service counter we get the boarding pass for a different flight which is as 12pm. (Klm apparently saw that we were late for the 10:10am flight and rebooked our tickets. We go to the Customer service counter to enquire.
Checkin Lady: "Klm saw that u are late for the 10:10am flight and rebooked your tickets for the next flight.
Me: But we have a flight to catch from Frankfurt at 1:45pm, will we make it?
Checkin Lady(getting agitated): You have a 55mins buffer, if you dont wait to shop around then you can make it. Junt run like the wind" (yes people these were her exact words. Shaz & Me looked liked such shopoholics to her that she automaticallt assumed that we would loiter around to shop when we were in an 'Amazing Race' type situation to catch the next flight)
So we now had 2hrs to spare so we went around looking at the duty free shops and then sat down to have some breakfast.
30th June - 11:30am
At gate no 84 awaiting the boarding call
Pilot: We are facing some technical difficulties because of which the flight has be delayed by 1/2hr
Shaz & Me: "FUCK!"
Me(After a few enquiries with the pilot): "Aah! well , we are not going to be able to get the next flight any way so we might as well go and eat some nice cheezecake. So much for running like the wind... ahhahaha"
After we picked out some delicies pastries at the nearby cafe, we sat down to eat it while still discussing the happenings of the day. At one point of time we were laughing our heads off as we actually found our situation amusing :P
The flight finally took off at 12:45pm
30th June - 1:45pm
At frankfurt Airport Searching for the customer service counter.
On finding one
Shaz - telling the whole story to the Chekin lady
Checkin Lady: " Ohh you poor dears! let me check what i can do for you." (After checking on her comp) " Well it looks like you have been booked on a flight to Helsinki. but then you will not be able to catch that too as it leaves in less than 30mins.
Me: "HELSINKI!!!!??!!"
Shaz: "Maam we were supposed to take 2 flights home, now because of all this rerouting we are taking 4 flights home andnow you say KLM has booked us to Helsinki???"
Checkin Lady: "I can understand dear. But i will not be able to help you from here. Maybe my colleagues at the Luftansa ticket counter can help you."
Shaz & Me: "Thanks!"
Checkin Lady gives us directions to the checking counter.
Me to Shaz: " Cant believe they were gonna send us to Helsinki. Have they gone fucking crazy?!!"
Shaz: "I know man. From Germany all the way to Finland"
Me: " What are we on a 'touch the airports of europe' trip?"
30th June - 2pm
Luftansa ticket counter
Me - explaining the whole story to the ticket guy
Ticket Guy: "I see... and you have also missed the flight to Helsinki now"
Me: "Ya well we didnt intend to go to Helsinki anyway. Is there anyway you can find us the next flight to mumbai?"
Ticket Guy: "Maam you prev tkts were till Delhi so we can only book you to delhi:
Me: "Ya but becoz of your flight delays we are also missing our flight from Delhi to Mumbai, who is gonna pay for that?"
Ticket Guy: "We cant do anything about that maam, it the rules"
Shaz(getting agitated) "We would like to speak to your supervisor:
Ticket Guy: "He will also tell you the same thing maam"
Shaz: "The checkin lady downstairs asked us to talk to the supervisor as he would be able to help as as manner of goodwill"
Ticket Guy goes and calls supervisor
Supervisor: "Let me see wat i can do for you maam.... There is an AI flight that leaves in the evening at 10:10pm. We may be able to book you on that."
Shaz and Me both didnt want to fly AI but the only other option was to wait another dat for the next flight and Shaz didnt want to wai tanother day. So after contemplating a bit we took the AI flight. This also meant that we were going to miss our flight from Delhi to Mumbai on 1st July at 3:45am as our flight would now arrive in Delhi at 9:30am. So we called up our travel desk and rebooked our Del-Mum tickets for 12pm.
We then enquired if we could go into the city, which train to take, what to see etc etc and left for Frankfurt city.
30th June - 4:30pm
At Frankfurt city. We look around the Central Square clicking pictures and enjoying the lovely weather. Also enjoy a huuge banana split each. Yummm.. the Germans sure know how to make their desserts :)
30th June - 7:30pm
Back at the airport and at the checkin counter. As usual an international flight coming to India has a huge Checkin line.
Me: "Hi! Finally we made it to the flight to India"
Checkin Lady: "Hello my dears you look tired.
Shaz: Explaining the story in short
Checkin Lady: "Ohh you poor dears, you've had a long journey"
Shaz: "Can you please give us some good seats?"
Checkin Lady: "Let me see what i can do for you..... I can give you some economy comfort seats"
Shaz and Me: "Yay! Thank you so much"
30th June - 8:30pm
We go and eat some really nice and expensive dinner at a Chinese place, clicking some pics and reliving the events of the day. In hindsight it made us laugh our heads off :) But we had a nice evening out in Frankfurt :)
30th June - 9:30pm
Boarded flight. Learnt that the flight is going to be 1 to 1.5hrs late.
Me: " Ohh my God! dont tell me we are goin going to miss the flight from delhi to mumbai also"
Shaz: "Dont worry Anu, They make up for the time on air by flying fast"
Me: "Ohh ok then"
The AI flight finally left for India at 11:30pm and i slept all through the flight only waking up next morning.
1st July - 10am
In the flight still
Me: "Shit we are sooo gonna miss our next flight"
Shaz: " Yah :( i'll call travel desk when we land"
We finally land at 10:40am and our lugguage arrives at 11:30am. Shaz calls up travel desk and books us a 2pm flight.
We reach the domestic terminal, each some lunch and wait for our flight.
This one for goodness sake is on time, but then again, we didnt have any other connecting flight to catch :P.
1st July - 6pm
Reached home safe and sound 38hrs later and yet smiling about the entire episode and made a good friend. Sharanpal Kaur :)
I had put up a short version of this one as my FB status, but i wouldnt do it justice if i didnt write a full fledged version of it... so here goes.
So my 2nd buying trip to Denmark was in the last week of June. After a hectic 2days in Delhi for the Super Saturday event, Shaz and Me left for Denmark. Everything went off as schedule during our stay there, the buying, the orders and the innumerable meetings. The real story starts when we were supposed to leave Denmark to get back to India. I'll add the events here chronologically date and timewise so as to provide a clearer picture :)
30th june - 3am
Shaz and me woke up and got ready asap as our taxi was supposed to arrive at 4am to take us to the airport. We had to go out the back door of the hotel as the front door was closed and everyone else was asleep. But for some wierd reason, the path from the back door till the front door where the taxi was waiting, was lined with smooth, loose pebbles. Which meant that it was practically impossible for us to drag our trolly bags, so we had to carry them. 4:03am we are safely in our taxi.
30th june - 4:20am
We arrive at Billund airport and the cab fare is a whooping 350Kr which converts to 2900INR. Getting into the airport we find it a bit crowded and there are queues at the self service counters. We try out one and it refuses to print us our boarding passes. So we moe along to the the checkin counter instead. After 1/2hr in the queue, we reach the counter only to find out that our flight to Amsterdam has been delayed by 6.5hrs Me: "Excuse me!!... 6.5hrs!!!! You do realise we have a connecting flight from Amsterdam to Delhi?"
Checkin Lady: "Yes maam, but you will need to go to the Airport ticket office to clear this out"
Shaz: "Couldn't you have announced this or something? We simply stood in line for 1/2hr.
Checkin Lady: "Sorry maam!"
So we go to the ticket office and there is obviously a huge line outside it, so we join the line. A few minutes later a lady comes around giving some instructions to each person in danish. When she came to us she just overlooked us and went to the people behind us and gave them instructions in Danish.
Shaz: That is so wierd, she just passed us by without saying anytthing.
Me: Go go ask her what she is saying.
Shazcame back after a couple of minutes saying that the lady was asking us to take a token number and stand in line and we would be then called.
Me: Yeah so what! Just coz we dont understand Danish, she would not give us the instructions in English???
For the next 2hrs we just sit around doing nothing, with me constantly cribbing and Shaz trying to console me. At one time we also sat down to relish some Danish Pastries :)
30th June - 6:30am
At the Airport ticket counter-
Checkin Lady: "Klm has booked new tickets for you via Dusseldorf and Frankfurt. So your next flight to Dusseldorf is at 7:50am" and the flight from Dusseldorf to Frankfurt is at 10:10am"
Shaz & Me : "OK"
30 June - 9:15am
In the BA flight to Dusseldorf, still in the air
Me: "Shit we are not gonna make it"
Shaz: "Dont worry Anu, we'll make it, we still have an hour to go"
Me(looking out of the window and hoping that Dusseldorf has a small airport): F**k! look how big the Dusseldorf airport is! We are screwed man!"
Shaz: "Dont worry Anu!"
30th June - 9:35am
Flight landed and we running to the next checkin counter
At the self service counter we get the boarding pass for a different flight which is as 12pm. (Klm apparently saw that we were late for the 10:10am flight and rebooked our tickets. We go to the Customer service counter to enquire.
Checkin Lady: "Klm saw that u are late for the 10:10am flight and rebooked your tickets for the next flight.
Me: But we have a flight to catch from Frankfurt at 1:45pm, will we make it?
Checkin Lady(getting agitated): You have a 55mins buffer, if you dont wait to shop around then you can make it. Junt run like the wind" (yes people these were her exact words. Shaz & Me looked liked such shopoholics to her that she automaticallt assumed that we would loiter around to shop when we were in an 'Amazing Race' type situation to catch the next flight)
So we now had 2hrs to spare so we went around looking at the duty free shops and then sat down to have some breakfast.
30th June - 11:30am
At gate no 84 awaiting the boarding call
Pilot: We are facing some technical difficulties because of which the flight has be delayed by 1/2hr
Shaz & Me: "FUCK!"
Me(After a few enquiries with the pilot): "Aah! well , we are not going to be able to get the next flight any way so we might as well go and eat some nice cheezecake. So much for running like the wind... ahhahaha"
After we picked out some delicies pastries at the nearby cafe, we sat down to eat it while still discussing the happenings of the day. At one point of time we were laughing our heads off as we actually found our situation amusing :P
The flight finally took off at 12:45pm
30th June - 1:45pm
At frankfurt Airport Searching for the customer service counter.
On finding one
Shaz - telling the whole story to the Chekin lady
Checkin Lady: " Ohh you poor dears! let me check what i can do for you." (After checking on her comp) " Well it looks like you have been booked on a flight to Helsinki. but then you will not be able to catch that too as it leaves in less than 30mins.
Me: "HELSINKI!!!!??!!"
Shaz: "Maam we were supposed to take 2 flights home, now because of all this rerouting we are taking 4 flights home andnow you say KLM has booked us to Helsinki???"
Checkin Lady: "I can understand dear. But i will not be able to help you from here. Maybe my colleagues at the Luftansa ticket counter can help you."
Shaz & Me: "Thanks!"
Checkin Lady gives us directions to the checking counter.
Me to Shaz: " Cant believe they were gonna send us to Helsinki. Have they gone fucking crazy?!!"
Shaz: "I know man. From Germany all the way to Finland"
Me: " What are we on a 'touch the airports of europe' trip?"
30th June - 2pm
Luftansa ticket counter
Me - explaining the whole story to the ticket guy
Ticket Guy: "I see... and you have also missed the flight to Helsinki now"
Me: "Ya well we didnt intend to go to Helsinki anyway. Is there anyway you can find us the next flight to mumbai?"
Ticket Guy: "Maam you prev tkts were till Delhi so we can only book you to delhi:
Me: "Ya but becoz of your flight delays we are also missing our flight from Delhi to Mumbai, who is gonna pay for that?"
Ticket Guy: "We cant do anything about that maam, it the rules"
Shaz(getting agitated) "We would like to speak to your supervisor:
Ticket Guy: "He will also tell you the same thing maam"
Shaz: "The checkin lady downstairs asked us to talk to the supervisor as he would be able to help as as manner of goodwill"
Ticket Guy goes and calls supervisor
Supervisor: "Let me see wat i can do for you maam.... There is an AI flight that leaves in the evening at 10:10pm. We may be able to book you on that."
Shaz and Me both didnt want to fly AI but the only other option was to wait another dat for the next flight and Shaz didnt want to wai tanother day. So after contemplating a bit we took the AI flight. This also meant that we were going to miss our flight from Delhi to Mumbai on 1st July at 3:45am as our flight would now arrive in Delhi at 9:30am. So we called up our travel desk and rebooked our Del-Mum tickets for 12pm.
We then enquired if we could go into the city, which train to take, what to see etc etc and left for Frankfurt city.
30th June - 4:30pm
At Frankfurt city. We look around the Central Square clicking pictures and enjoying the lovely weather. Also enjoy a huuge banana split each. Yummm.. the Germans sure know how to make their desserts :)
30th June - 7:30pm
Back at the airport and at the checkin counter. As usual an international flight coming to India has a huge Checkin line.
Me: "Hi! Finally we made it to the flight to India"
Checkin Lady: "Hello my dears you look tired.
Shaz: Explaining the story in short
Checkin Lady: "Ohh you poor dears, you've had a long journey"
Shaz: "Can you please give us some good seats?"
Checkin Lady: "Let me see what i can do for you..... I can give you some economy comfort seats"
Shaz and Me: "Yay! Thank you so much"
30th June - 8:30pm
We go and eat some really nice and expensive dinner at a Chinese place, clicking some pics and reliving the events of the day. In hindsight it made us laugh our heads off :) But we had a nice evening out in Frankfurt :)
30th June - 9:30pm
Boarded flight. Learnt that the flight is going to be 1 to 1.5hrs late.
Me: " Ohh my God! dont tell me we are goin going to miss the flight from delhi to mumbai also"
Shaz: "Dont worry Anu, They make up for the time on air by flying fast"
Me: "Ohh ok then"
The AI flight finally left for India at 11:30pm and i slept all through the flight only waking up next morning.
1st July - 10am
In the flight still
Me: "Shit we are sooo gonna miss our next flight"
Shaz: " Yah :( i'll call travel desk when we land"
We finally land at 10:40am and our lugguage arrives at 11:30am. Shaz calls up travel desk and books us a 2pm flight.
We reach the domestic terminal, each some lunch and wait for our flight.
This one for goodness sake is on time, but then again, we didnt have any other connecting flight to catch :P.
1st July - 6pm
Reached home safe and sound 38hrs later and yet smiling about the entire episode and made a good friend. Sharanpal Kaur :)
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