Travel to London - Part II

As I entered the flight, the attendant guided me to my seat. I unpacked some of the technical handbooks from my cabin bag and comforted myself in the one of the allotted aisle seats. Flight was pushed backed from it's original position. Although it was moving, it felt as if it was being dragged by some small vehicle, as yet the engines were silent. It felt that it was being lead to the start of the runway. Suddenly, there was a pause of about 2 minutes, I was completely lost. Didn't knew, what the pilots were up to. We were strictly instructed to be seated and tighten our seat belts.

Instantly, engines started roaring, and the bird thumped-off the runaway. I couldn't take my eyes off the faraway window on my left. Machine gradually gathered speed and took-off. Objects on the land started becoming smaller and smaller and soon we were in air. All that was visible was sky and clouds. Flight attendants and airhostess were off, serving beverages and juices. As I was not well, I preferred some piping hot tea for myself.

Being alone on a maiden flight and that too when you are not well, becomes a boredom. Soon luncheons were served. Being a veggie I preferred veg. meal pack. It was pretty good then heard of.

As London approached, the altitude was being reduced at an enormous rate. A severe pain kicked-off in my ears. It felt like my ear drums would soon blow-off. Pain was intolerable and I had to immediately call one of the flight attendant. Upon explaining the problem, he instantly pointed it to be the result of the cold that I was suffering from. He asked me to take deep breaths and exhale while trying to yawn, similar to the way we do while waking up in the morning. Asked me to nibble a chocolate. Remedy surely brought some relief. As the aircraft touched ground, pain was almost off. That was a bizarre experience that I would always remember.

My check-out took only 45 mins. As I was not carrying any coins or calling cards, I used my India credit card to ring up my room mate in London. He guided me to reach Canary Wharf and agreed to pick me up from station. Started-off experiencing London tube train with a change at Piccadilly Circus reached Canary Wharf in half an hour. He was there to pick me up and there I was, at my new, but temporary address in London.

The apartment was cosy and comfortable. It has all the required amenities and is well above expectation. I helped myself with some hot dinner and got inside the bed for a good night sleep.

Travel to London - Part I

Travel to the city of London happened at a blink of an eye. At a short notice of 4 days, I was conveyed about my overseas trip. On a lovely Friday afternoon in Bombay when we were preparing for my sister's night-flight to US, my cell buzz zed and it was none other than my senior, who intimated me of the urgent travel requirement to UK, for next Wednesday.

I was stunned at the news, even though I had a very faint idea about the subject. This being my first overseas travel, I had to start from the tail-end of purchasing my baggage, as well. There was an overhead of purchasing new suits, ties, blazers, etc. as they form mandatory part of the attire, while working at HQ office. Within 2 days I completed my priority shopping, and rest of the list was left with my parents.

Monday morning I had to travel back to Pune to collect tickets and other relevant data and documents. These helter-skelter made me fall sick, as I hardly slept or ate anything. By the time I reached Pune, I was engraved in perfect cold and fever. Things in Pune were not easy. Completing long travel formalities, segregating and packaging my luggage and data clean-up from my PC, made life worse. There was an added UK airport requirement of chest x-ray too. Most of my time and energy was consumed, and by the time I reached Mumbai (Home), it was already 11pm, Tuesday night.

On the way, back to Bombay, I text messaged my news of travel, to all near and dears. Some called back, while some messaged back and some even made to my home by 11:30 pm. I was supposed to take a 'British Airways' flight scheduled to take-off at 1:00 pm next day, on Wednesday. As I was deadly tired and was suffering from high cold and fever, I decided to take some rest before getting onto final packaging and set my alarm to 3:30 am.

Starting at 3:30 in the morning got everything together. Packing went for 4 long hours which included arranging clothes, spices, initial food, etc. As usual weight of the luggage exceeded the permitted 23 kgs. This lead to packing and unpacking, most of the time, reaching trade-offs. My parents accompanied me to the airport. When leaving home it was dry and sunny, but soon the rains took over. Though, airport is at a 30 minutes drive from my home, it took us 1.5 hrs to reach. Finally, finding my way through the morning traffic and rains, checked-in at the airport at 10:30 am. Parents waited until security check was completed.

Rest of the experience will be continued in Part II.