Flight Diaries: Entry 3

I had promised I would write this post some 15 days back. So, let’s get on with it 😛 I feel much better when I write down all my experiences.

Now after enjoying our Christmas and New Year with our parents, we (i.e. Nelisha and I) had to travel back to Goa to start with our college and work, respectively. So, our tickets were booked for the 4th of January. That was one day before I had to join back for work and one day before she presumed her college would resume. The flight was at 11pm so we would reach Goa at around 4am Indian Time.

Normally, my Daddy gets all wound up some 4 hours before my flight. He’ll be trying to do 3 things at a time, pack my suitcase, shove something more into my already-full-about-to-burst box, make my brother check the weight of my suitcase/box for the umpteenth time. Most of the time, we reach 3 hours before my flight’s departure. But, this time we were half an hour late.

Then we got more late at the check-in counter coz our luggage weighed more than the stipulated amount. But that was the usual amount of time we waste at that counter.

The shock that was awaiting us took us around 30 minutes to pass by. The line to enter the immigration area was totally crowded. We literally did not have any feeling of being in Dubai International Airport. I personally felt like I was back in Goa, standing in line to enter a public bus. The rush was impossible and in total chaos. People were entering our line from all sides. There was no clear line.

After cheating our way from this line to that line (“When in Rome (do as the Romans do)” 😉 ), we entered the immigration area, and OMG!! ALL the lines were full !! And it was total chaos ! I went to ask an airport official whether he could allow us to skip the line coz it was already 10pm, which meant we had only 1 hour left for take off ! He was like, “You still have time maadam” (I always love to say that line in an Arabic accent) 😀 😀 😀 . I was like (in my mind), “Yeah, you are gonna stop the flight for us, right?“.

At around 10:15pm, we finished our immigration and headed to our next stop, the “Hand Bag Check Counter“. There was another big crowd. We were speechless coz we had just 45 minutes to finish with this check and then run all the way to the Duty Free and then somehow catch the flight !!!

We were literally ready to beg with people to let us go ahead in the line. But, we managed to control ourselves, and kept quiet and waited our chance.

After the check was over, we ran/walked/jogged to the Duty Free. It was already 10.45pm, we had just 15 minutes to grab whatever we wanted and run to catch our flight.

In the Duty Free, in about 5 minutes we gathered everything that we both wanted to buy and headed towards the cashier. We went to two separate cashiers to save time. At the cashier, when I was unloading the items from my shopping basket, my mom calls saying that the Airport officials had called them giving them a warning. If we didn’t reach the Gate in another 5 minutes, the flight would take off without us.

Hearing this, my mind was screaming, ‘Carol !! Run !! Forget this !! Just Run !!‘. But, how could I forget the chocolates that I was buying for myself and friends ? 😛 😛 😛

I paid the money for all the items and while the cashier counted my balance, I put the items in bags to carry them. The cashier gave the balance to me and told me to check. I said, ‘Yes, Okay‘. But, in my head I was like, ” Go to hell with the balance now !! I have a flight to catch !!!“.

We went up to the first floor where our Gate was. Then we started running/walking/jogging/tugging our hand baggage plus our Duty Free items… I would have cracked out laughing if I had seen anyone running/walking/jogging/tugging like we did !! 😀 😀 100% Cardio !!

When we reached the Gate, the guy at the Gate was like, “You going to Goa ?“. Panting, we could barely utter a Yes to him. We entered the flight and then realized all the passengers were already seated. Lol, we were the last passengers to board the flight ! Maybe the second last 😀

I will always remember that night; we were literally begging our legs NOT to fail us, begging them to take every step towards the Gate and then to the flight. The moment we were seated, we both heaved a huge Sigh!

Mission: Reach-Flight-Before-It-ditches-us was accomplished !!! 😀