Travel Blunders

As per my previous posts, my plan was to travel from London to India then onwards to Singapore. So as I prepared myself for a warmer climate and a new culture that I had never seen before, I headed to Heathrow airport to check-in for my 9 hour flight to India. I arrived 4 hours before my departure time, just to ensure there was no chance of missing my flight. This even gave me a chance to call home before I took off. The check-in desk opened 3 hours before the flight time and up I trotted to the lady at the desk. I had a slight worry about my bag being overweight, but no problem there, off I watched it go down the conveyer. The lady handing me my boarding pass and said "you have a visa, right?" At that moment I really don`t know what my face conveyed to the lady, but all that could come out was, "I need a visa"?

To make a long story short, in the busyness of the last month I had managed to overlook the step of ensuring I had a visa for India. The lady at the check-in called over one of the supervisors who, thanks to his reassurance, saved me from having a complete panic attack. There was no way to get a visa in such a short timeframe. They recommended that the best course of action would be to fly straight through to Singapore and only make Mumbai a stopover so I wouldn`t need a visa. I complied, thinking more about just getting somewhere, versus the experience I`d miss out on. They re-booked my flight to leave the next morning with a 9 hour flight to Mumbai, a brief 1 hour layover and then onto a 4 hour flight to Singapore.

The next morning, I re-approached the same check-in line and repeated the same process. When the lady asked me about my visa, I was quick to reply "I`m not staying in India, just transiting through". Off I went and onto the flight!

Typically I`m an okay flyer. As much as I hate the long haul flights, I manage to pre-occupy myself enough to make them okay. It must have been something about the combination of the stressful events from the night before and the lack of sleep, but when I got on the flight I nausea started on strong. I had taken some medication prior to the flight, but clearly it wasn`t working. What followed was some 9 hours of hell on the flight. I strongly declined the two meals and snacks they served over the flight duration, as I knew anything that went in, probably wasn`t going to stay. Instead, I requested cups of ice to chew on, which along with focusing on a movie, helped marginally. When we landed in Mumbai, I knew the 9 hours of hell was over, but that was only about 75% of the journey...

When my flight was re-booked, they told me I would have a very short timeframe to get to the other flight. I arrived in Mumbai at 12:30, and the flight to Singapore started boarding at 12:45 and departed at 1:30. The line getting off the flight barely moved for 5, 10, 15 minutes, as I looked in my watch in a panic. Finally at 12:45 I made it off the plane, preparing for a sprint to my other flight, when I was faced with a bus... It was one of those airports, where they bus you from the plane to the terminal. I knew this was not going to help my cause of making this next flight on time. As we pulled up to the terminal I stopped looking at my watch and just ran as fast as I could with my carryon bag in hand. I followed the signs to the transfer gate, where I finally reached the transfer desk. The lady at the desk must have seen the exhaustion and panic in my eyes, as she offered me water when I approached the desk. I said I was alright and just wanted to make the flight. She re-assured me that they would hold the flight for me, but I would need to move quickly through the security checkpoint. After trying to remain calm through security, I started my jog again to reach the loading gate. Of course it was no easy feat once again, as I moved swiftly up and down multiple escalators to different floors of the airport and then finally reached the gate I needed to be at. The sign on above the door was flashing "last call" as I handed the attendant my boarding my pass and approached yet another bus to take me to the plane.

I think my panic finally settled, when I saw the two pilots boarding the bus with me. The plane couldn`t leave without them, so as long as I wasn`t far behind I`d be okay. I reached my window seat on the plane and once again all the nausea came back as I proceeded to vomit before the plane even took off. At that point I think my body officially just gave up and I fell asleep. I was clearly tired as I slept through the entire 4.5 hour flight to Singapore and only woke up as we were approaching landing.

Yes, I made it Singapore. A little worse for wear in the process, but the goal was just to make it! More about my first impressions to come.