This morning, Jen and I got up early as usual, packed our bags (as usual) and went downstairs in our hotel to get some breakfast before leaving for the airport. Dorgee was there, pacing (as usual). We ate a quick breakfast, loaded up the taxi with our bags, took some last minute pictures with Dorgee, and were off to the Kathmandu Airport. It was a foggy morning and there was very little traffic. We pulled into the airport, found where we needed to go, said goodbye to Dorgee, and were off. As we stood in line at the ticket counter, we kept hearing other people say that their flights to London were delayed and I thought - so glad I'm not going to London! As we got to the ticket counter, the woman told us that we were unable to check in due to the weather conditions. Apparently no one with a connecting flight could check in because everything is delayed.
We waited and waited and then they finally let the people flying to London check in before us. A man approached us who worked with the airline and asked where we were going. We told him Colombo, Sri Lanka and he said that we couldn't check in because we would miss our connecting flight in Delhi, but that he'd look into other options. He took my itinerary and left and we didn't see him again for about 45 minutes. Everyone else was gone at this point except for one man who was just sitting with his luggage on a cart (we couldn't figure him out). Turns out that 45 minutes would be the shortest time we had to wait today...
He finally came back and told us that our only option was to fly to Mumbai/Bombay at 1:15 p.m. and then take the 2:10 a.m. flight to Colombo, arriving at 4:45 a.m. the next morning. I told him that this was not okay and we needed another option. He disappeared for another 15 minutes and then came back. Nothin'. At this point all dreams of having a nice, free hotel room in Colombo that Jen had booked for us using her points at the Hilton vanished and the harsh reality that we'd be living in airports ALL DAY today replaced it. Lame. SOOOOO lame.
We waited for a few more hours in Kathmandu and finally boarded our flight to Mumbai after passing through 3 security pat-downs. I don't get that. How the heck am I going to pick up a weapon in the few seconds since you last patted me down??? Once we landed in Mumbai (Jen calls it Mombay!), a lady with the airline asked us if we were flying to Colombo. We told her yes and she told us to wait. There were about 8 of us and they were going to give us the "special" treatment since we'd gotten the short end of the stick today. We waited and she led our small group to a room next to the security headquarters where men with guns kept coming in and out and both men and women in uniform seemed to be checking in and out. They told us to give them our passports so they could get us our tickets. 2 HOURS LATER, we finally had our passports and tickets returned to us. Yeah. Jen and I played MASH and pretty much planned out our lives while waiting for our passports to come back.
So then, the lady takes us through security and parades us through the airport to the "Executive Lounge" for some "refreshment". This consisted of coffee or tea and then a sandwich - none of which I eat or drink. Awesome. Just waited for over 2 hours for nothing! I left hungry and so frustrated. I tried to find food in the airport, but everything either had gluten or a really strange person working the cash register that had a new lame excuse for why he couldn't get me food each time I tried to order (the cash register doesn't work, you can't pick just one item to order, it will cost you 4 times more than what it costs everyone else...). I finally buckled and went to KFC (which my family will laugh at because they know I hate it) and got chicken fingers, then spent time picking off the gluten coating. :) Good times!
I have been sitting here in the Mumbai Airport for the past 8 hours with just 2 more to go and have seen some very interesting things. After wandering the great vastness that is this airport (it's actually ridiculously small for an international hub), we decided to crash at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf on their cushy overstuffed chairs. At first, things were silent and all that we could hear was this ridiculously annoying music playing that takes old classics like "On Top of Old Smokey" and puts an orchestra to them, making it an elevator music classic. I think we've heard the loop about 30 times now.
Anyway, there was this family that caught my attention that began to gather near us. I think that they are Sikh. At first they looked like any other family with a mother, father, and 2 sons, but then more and more of them came. It seemed that each time I looked up, there were more of them here! But the thing that I think amazed me more than anything was their happiness. I guess that I have seen a lot of people in the past 6 weeks who are a bit oppressed by either religion or culture, but these people were smiling and laughing and so enjoying this sweet little baby boy. One of the fathers in the group kept throwing him up in the air and making him laugh as his 2 boys (probably about 8 and 6) looked on and laughed. I think it is amazing how much joy one little baby can bring into anyone's life - such perspective!
I know this nightmare will end. I know we'll eventually get there. I know one day I will be home again. Sometimes we have to just wait and wait and wait to get where we need to go.
No comments:
Post a Comment