A couple of years ago I came
across this quote about vacation.
“When all else fails, take a vacation.”
But what if you wanted to take a vacation and all else
fails? Well, that is exactly what happened to me.
After a dull year, I really needed a vacation. I had to get
away from books and pump some positive energy into my life. While most of my
trips are between Hyderabad and Bangalore, I needed something more this time.
Few quick phone calls later, my sister, brother-in-law and I decided to take a
10-day trip to Kerala. This would be my second trip to Kerala in less than 2
years. There is something very magical
about that place; you can never get enough of it.
Tickets were booked and an itinerary was drawn. I was
supposed to take a flight from Hyderabad to Trivandrum and my sister and
brother-in-law who already left a couple of days earlier would pick me up from
the airport. My flight was scheduled for 4 P.M.
from Hyderabad. My over cautious dad would always rush us when we are
travelling. More often than not, this would lead to a lot of
confusion and few angry exchanges. But this time, I was in control and planned
everything to the tee. The airport is a 30 minute drive from my house. We
decided to leave at 2 P.M considering all the traffic so that I would have
enough time after reaching airport and as per the plan we conveniently reached the airport at 2:40 P.M.
I saw that the check
in at the Indigo counter has already started. When I gave my ticket, the pretty
girl at the counter looked confused. She
looked at me and said, ‘Ma’am, the check
in for this flight has been closed. The flight is about to take off in 15
minutes.’
‘How is that possible?
The departure is at 4 P.M!’ I said with utter disbelief.
She pointed out the departure time on my ticket. It was at
15 hours. Damn the 24 hour format!
I couldn't believe
what had just happened to me. I could only think of my dad’s I told you so, my sister’s fury and all
the lost money. I could feel the blood rush and my head throbbing. I immediately called my dad who was still in
the airport, to come back. I ran from
one airline to another, inquiring frantically about the next flight to
Trivandrum. My only option was to take two connecting international flights.
The first was from Hyderabad to Bangalore starting at 2 a.m and the next from
Bangalore to Trivandrum at 8 a.m. I had to pay a little more than twice the amount I
paid for my missed flight. On our way back home, my dad did not speak a word
and I knew I am probably still not ready to plan a trip completely on my own.
It was 10:30 P.M and my dad wanted us to leave lest we miss
this flight as well. I wanted to protest saying the flight would not depart for
another 3.5 hours, but better sense prevailed and I remained silent. He dropped
me off at the airport at 11 P.M and to my horror the flight was delayed by 2 hours. I called my dad again. He took my call and
said ‘What now? There is no way you could have missed this flight as well!!’
When I told him that the flight was delayed, he said in a
flat voice, ‘the next time I come to
take you from the airport, it will be when you are returning from Trivandrum.
Now go and explore the airport. It is beautiful’. Sigh!
I checked in my luggage and looked around the around the airport.
It was indeed very beautiful but I was too tired and annoyed to enjoy it.
It was pretty cold and the dry winter air blew across my face. Three more hours to go and I couldn't wait
for this nightmare of the day to get over. I took out a shawl and wrapped it around and decided to take a small nap. An hour later, I woke up to see few
more people in my lounge. It was pretty quiet except for the occasional
announcements. The T.V in the room was on mute and late night edition of news
on NDTV was running. I noticed that my flight has been further delayed by an hour. Having lost all the
excitement about the trip already, I just went to sleep. The light sleeper that
I am, I kept waking up at regular intervals to check the time. Finally, the
flight arrived at 5 in the morning. The only good thing about the whole trip so
far was that I got a window seat. You are never too old for a window seat in a
flight. Or for that matter anywhere.
It was still very dark outside and the well-lit city looked
gorgeous. The view was
exceptional but my droopy eyes got the better of me as I spent the journey with
another one of those little naps. The flight landed in Bangalore at
6:45 in the morning. I immediately collected my luggage and ran to the
international departures to catch my connecting flight. I couldn't believe my
luck when I saw that this flight was delayed by 2 hours as well! Annoyed,
frustrated and sleep deprived (yeah, all those silly naps were not enough) by now, I just sat in the lounge doing what I had been doing
the whole day – waiting. I was little happy to see few familiar faces from my
earlier Hyderabad flight. I went and sat next to an old couple and decided to
strike a small conversation. I spoke to them for a while and went around
looking for the costliest coffee I have ever had in my life. I had to pay Rs 97
for a cup of coffee but then I really needed one to stop myself from smashing
the cameras of all those chirpy honeymoon couple who were talking ‘selfies’ at
7:30 in the morning, at an airport, that too!
I walked around for a while and came to the lounge. The old
couple were taking a nap. I, pretty bored by then, thought would strike up a
conversation with someone around. But none of them seemed interested in talking
to a zombie-looking me. But, hey, at least I had sparrows for company. That
brought me to a question, why were there so many sparrows in the Bangalore
airport again?
An hour later, pizza hut opened to rescue the hungry me. I
bought garlic bread, a small pizza and lemon tea. Just when I was about eat my
garlic bread, an air hostess came and rushed us all into the flight. I had to
stuff my mouth with all the things I bought and in the process burn my mouth
completely before running into the flight. Though I was little sad for not
being able to enjoy my pizza and garlic bread, I was happy to be in the flight
after endless waiting. The excitement slowly started kicking in again as I was
just a couple of hours away from finally starting my vacation. But, considering
how my luck has been till then, it was extremely naive of me to think that it
was all over. The flight developed a technical glitch and did not start for
another hour. So, there I was, waiting again, only this time, in the flight.
27 hours, 2 delayed flights, unending waiting and a burnt
mouth later, I finally reached Trivandrum. I kept my excitement down because I couldn't afford to jinx the vacation again. And you know who else had to wait
endlessly as well? My sister and brother-in-law, who waited for over 4 hours in
the Trivandrum airport to pick me up.
Well, after such a terrible start, it was only fair that I
had an awesome vacation later and I did.
Moral of the story:
1) Just let
your dad plan the trip for you. They do an awesome job.
2) Ban the
24 hour format.
3) When you
have such experiences, never start writing a blog post about it. Even before I could realise, I spent endless
hours on this post, much like the start of my glorious vacation.
P.S. The picture was clicked at the Bangalore airport to kill some time. Seems like the man had similar vacation too.
