In which I write about the harrowing tale of my trip from India to USA-Part 1

If brevity is the soul of wit, then all the explanation below is redundant. I guess the title says it all. But I am going to flout Shakespeare and explain in detail (in TWO parts) the bone chilling tale of my trip. Makes sense to me that if I suffered so much, I might as well get a post out of it.

I was supposed to leave India on the night of 14th Jan at 10:00 pm. My flight route was India-Srilanka-London-Chicago-Orlando. Just for kicks, I check my online itinerary in the afternoon. I saw that my India-Srilanka flight is unconfirmed, Srilanka-London flight is canceled and there is no information on the rest. So I call the airline in a panic and they said that they are rerouting me through Dubai and so now my itinerary looked like India-Srilanka-Dubai-London-Chicago-Orlando. Clearly, stopping at 5 airports wasn't enough.

The up-side was I got to spend some more hours with my parents and started from home at 9:30 pm for my flight at 1:10 am. I flew to CMB (Srilanka) and there outside the plane was a staff waiting with my name printed and holding a placard. I felt like a visiting dignitary for a moment, but knew that trouble was afoot. The flight which was supposed to leave at 3 am to Dubai had been delayed to 4:15 am. And they reissued me a new ticket which would take me from Dubai to Frankfurt and then straight to Orlando. I praised God that I wont need to do customs at another airport, drag my heavy bags and then recheck it for my domestic flight in US. There were two others (one incidentally a junior in my college in India) who had the same problem and they still had to go through London while I got a direct flight. I tried not to look too happy even though I felt inordinately so.

But not for too long.

I got to Dubai and then there was security checking there, and then ran all the way to the gate (at the other end naturally) where my Emirates flight to Frankfurt was waiting. So I make it, get settled comfortably, but it took a while for the plane to take off. I never thought about it. Thinking back, it was a good thing I didn't because if I did I would have known that there was not a snowflake's chance in hell that I would make my Orlando connection in Frankfurt. Ignorance sometimes is bliss, people. Take my word for it.

About half an hour before we landed, I felt that it was going to be a close shave and I asked the flight attendant if I'd be able to make it to the 2:05 connection if we reach Frankfurt at 1:30. And she told me "You are not the only one with this problem. We have several passengers with the same issue." If any one of you reading this think this is an answer to my question, please raise your hands. Try as I might, I cannot understand how that is supposed to make me feel better. So other people have connections as well that they might not make. Am I supposed to stand up and say "All the people in this aircraft who might miss connection flights say Boo???" So different people have different issues.

Compare me to another lady who is traveling by herself and has not had a nights sleep and been spending the time since 10 pm (plus the time changes) the previous day at 3 different airports and being rerouted and delayed and in spite of all the traveling already done has another 4000 miles before she gets home. Then we will talk. But I didn't say that.

Second and final (thankfully!) part of this gripping tale will continue tomorrow...Stay tuned or not.