We went to NY in the US and visited Montreal and Toronto in Canada.
19th December 2008
Mamaigaru dropped us at the airport. Flight being at 2:15 am, we reached the airport by 11:30 pm to be on the safer side. We went so early just to realize that the flight is delayed by 2 hours and now it’s at 4 in the morning. This was just the beginning! We checked in the luggage. As against our (Raveen and me) fight before we left for airport, the luggage weighed just within the limit. My baggage exactly weighed 23KG and his weighed 22.6 and the 3rd bag was just 6kg. Air France gave us some drink coupons at Coffee Day ‘coz of the delay in the flight. Cold coffee and strawberry milk shake kept us a little away from irritation. Not knowing what to do, we just slept. Raveen slips off to sleep where ever he is. But for me as usual it was so cold that I could neither sleep nor just sit. I then realized that I have to get used to it as we are going to spend the next 15 days in the extreme weather conditions which I have just seen in the photographs but have never experienced. we were onboard and it was almost 4 in the morning. I was very excited as it was my first long distance flight.
We never thought of our connecting flight till we reached Paris. We reached Paris at 12:30 pm and the connecting flight is at 12:45pm. There was a handsome young French man waiting there to recieve us at the Paris Airport. A handsome young man! We were not prepared for such a reception. He took us from one terminal to another first in a bus and then in a train and then walked for some time. All this exercise to realize that we missed the connecting flight an have to take another flight at 4 :30pm in the evening that goes to Newyork. This is the second time - our transporting getting delayed! It was cold and I wasn’t wearing any jacket. We were exposed to that cold only for less than a minute when we go down the bus. That was not bad. I felt good. we asked his name and it was so complex to pronounce it. We then had to take a flight in the evening at 4:30 pm.
We never had a planned schedule and so at that point we wanted to stay back in Paris. We were making all the plans as and when it came. This made us relax and just do what we wanted to do at that time and place. We asked the handsome to check if we can take the flight on the next day so that we can stay in Paris for a day. The flight to NY on the next day was not going full into which they could accommodate us but the problem was with my Visa. They will not give me a visa unless some cancellation happens to the flight. (that was an absolute lie....you will know why?) So we had no option other than taking the flight on the same day at 4:30. The French man who was with us was very helpful. Because he was there we did not have to stand in any queue. This man as anyother French could not speak english but spoke 'Shudh' hindi...as shud as Dharmendra's hindi in Chupke Chupke ;).
We had a hard time getting some vegetarian food. We then walked around..shopped..slept..fought ..and finally they announced boarding. The man was back again to get us into the aircraft before anyone else. But we didn't want to go and stare at every one who boarded after us.
The food problem started again. We have clearly specified in the internet when we booked the flight that we want AVML (Asian vegetarian meal) on the flight. But they haven’t noted that and obviously we didn’t have food that night. We just had a glass of wine and some fruits. They even refused to give some more crackers with the drink as they didn’t have enough of them. AIR FRANCE!!! (Again something else to know)
We had around 33 hours of the Friday, 19th December, 2008. We then realized how important it is to have 24 hours in a day!
The Aircraft captain got a huge applause from the passenges for smooth and safe landing insipte of some parts not working and some other problems.
We got the stamping immediately with out any hardships. Murali was waiting for us. He was there for a long time and couldn’t get thru us as we were still on board. We went home and had a bath after 35 hours and then started talking and talking and talking and slept at around 4 in the morning.
20th December, 2008
I got up before anyone else. I was overwhelmed by the snow and just went out with out telling
anyone.I didn’t know that there will be the security system to get in to the apartment. I just wore the coat for the cold and just walked out. I had no idea how cold it was going to be. I went out and took some photographs. After about 15 minutes i started feeling cold. I had no glove, neither did i cover my ears and feet properly. But intelligently I took the photograph of the door number. I washed my hair before going down and this added to the cold. Icicles had formed on the ends of my hair. I tried to go back thru the same door and I realized that I need to have an access key to get into the apartment again, which I do not have. I walked here and there for some time. I saw people in the gym. I didn’t know what to do. I was so cold that I couldn’t walk. My hands were frozen. I then saw a gate and thought can get out of the gate. But the gate also was locked. I realized that I was in the back yard and so I could not get into the apartment without the access key. I started praying to God to help me go into the apartment again. The only thing i could think of was to just over the gate and get to the main door. But God heard me. I saw some kids playing in the snow and a woman taking care of them. I waved to get her attention. She opened the gate for me and told me how to get into the apartment. She asked me if I knew the flat number. I thanked her and got back into the apartment. I was so proud of myself for being clever and haven taken the photograph of the door number. Hmm..That was my first experience in the snow.
I still saw every one sleeping when I went back. I acted as if nothing happened.
Every one slowly got up and Raveen and I were hungry. We did not have food for..., I don’t know how many hours. I checked their kitchen and found some poha. There were vegetables and I decided to make poha. Murali and Raveen helped me to make poha. As Murali was sharing his apartment with his friends I had to make it twice as I didn’t know the quantities.
Murali, Raveen and me went out at around 12. We went to the train station to go to Manhattan.
We walked and walked and walked taking a lot of pit stops. We had to borrow Murali's camera as our's was not functioning properly. We decided to buy a camera the next day. For now we had the camera but the question was who will take the photographs? It was not about who is good at taking the photographs, but it was more about who wants to take the glove out and click a picture. Murali was kind enough to do that a number od times. After some time I took over. Raveen didn’t even attempt to do anything! we know how interested he is in photographs, we didn’t bother asking him.It’s worth mentioning about my shoes here. Before leaving for NY, I got a pair of shoes from Commercial Street, Bangalore. Otherwise I just had a pair of sneakers. I wore the new shoes as they looked very smart. As against the shopkeeper said, they are not made to walk in the snow, the water got into the shoes from the sole and it made my socks wet. After walking for some time I was so cold that I couldn’t walk any more. I saw my feet as a block of ice. The more I walked the more they started to pain. When I was walking I had a feeling that my feet are going to break into two. They became numb. We had to go into a mall where I took some rest and waited till I felt ok. I dried my socks for some time and was ready for the walk again. We walked in the mall for some time and did a little damage by shopping.
It was dark and we headed towards Times Square. Times Square is an amzingly happening place in NY. Our heads were just up when we were walking on the roads - So many lights and ads, colourful poster with lights , cartoons roling down the buildings, lights flashing. On the way back, we went to Old Navy and bought some clothes. I bought most of them and Raveen just got 2. We then went back home and ordered some food. It was around 10 in the night. We were out the whole day and were very tired.
It was announced that the next day there is going to be rain and bad weather. So Sandeep and ammayyatta came to Murali’s place to take us to their place at New Jersey, which is around an hour away at 11:00 O clock in the night. By the time we went home it was 12 and we just slept.
21st December, 2008
We got up early as we were not jet lag. We actually were jetlag but thought we were not! We spent some time with the family and then we went out with Sandeep for a couple of hours, shopping. We had a good time with him. The rest of the day was spent at home. That night Ashok came to pick us up from Vijayatta’s house to their house. Ashok’s house is another hour’s journey from the place we lived. We slept at their place.
22nd December, 2008
The next morning, by the time we got up the kids left for their schools. We spent some time with Sobha and Ashok before they left for work. We had a good chat with Sarojini aunti, Sobha’s mom while having breakfast. We were to meet Harshad and Shalaka at the NY Penn station the same day On the way we had to stop for a while to ship all the items Raveen's company ordered from different merchandise stores in the US to check the products and the quality. We gave them Vijayaatta’s address and we took them along with us to FedEx them to India. They were too many items to carry them along with us. The nearest train station from that place was Newark, from where it took around an hour to reach NY. We were late! Harshad and Shalaka were already waiting for us at the NY Penn station.
The first thing we did after we met was - Guess what? Eating! We ate pizza and quickly wrapped up in 15 minutes. The temperature was around -11 deg C that day. It was really cold. We were covered fully except for the face. It was so cold that my eyes and nose started to pain. And then I couldn’t talk because my jaws were paining. We had to make a lot of pit stops ‘coz it was very cold. We went to the site where the world trade centre used to be there. We then decided to take the ferry to see the statue of liberty. We had to take a train to go to the next station to take the ferry. The last ferry is at 3:30 pm and it takes around an hour to go and come back. It was 3 pm. We rushed to the train station and took the train. We somehow managed to reach the place to take the ferry. We saw the ferry. We stopped to click some pictures and then went towards the ferry to get the tickets. There were closing the gates. We then ran to the ticket counter just to know that we were 2 minutes late for the tickets. The pain of walking in the col,d all the way till the ferry was in vain. All four of us were shocked and did not know what to. It took us 10 minutes to get over the fact that we were just 2 minutes late.
Now we decided to chill and just keep doing whatever comes on the way. We were all cold because we hadn’t taken any pit stop for a long time. We found a museum and then immediately ran into that. We checked in our coats and went around the museum for half an hour. There was nothing interesting in that place. We went to a section which displayed different clothes worn by different tribes of people. The kind of work done on their dresses, where they got the beads from, how long it took for them to get a dress done etc. We were there only to keep ourselves warm. Hmm. And it was time for us to get out of that place because the coat check-in room closes at 4:30 pm.
At 4:30 we decided to go to Times Square. As it gets dark early there, by the time we went to Times Square, it was dark and all the beautiful lights were on. The moment we went to Times Square, we stopped for a coffee. Then we walked around and then decided to go to the Madam Tussahs Wax museum. We stood in the line for the tickets to enter the museum and we found the ‘city tours’. Immediately all our minds changed and we got the tickets for the city tour that starts at 6:30 pm and ends at 8:30pm.
The tour bus was open! We realized it only when we got into the bus. The whole idea of taking the bus was to be warm. Now we had no choice except to take the bust as it was expensive. The ticket was 35$ each. We went around the city and then got dropped at the same place where we got in to the bus. It was around 9:00pm. We took the train back to the Penn station. Harshad and Shalaka stayed at Long island and we stayed at NJ, both in the opposite directions. We had something to eat in that station and then got tickets to go to the respective places. The moment we bought the tickets we realized that the train in next 3 minutes. We ran and ran to get the train. If we miss this one the next train is after 3 hours. It was 10 in the night. We called Sandeep before and he instructed us where to get down, so that he can come and pick us up. The moment we got into the train we fell asleep. In the Amtrak trains, they announce the name of the station 2 minutes before the station arrives. I was so deeply in sleep that I suddenly got up when some station name was announced and thought that we crossed the station we had to get down at. I woke up Raveen immediately and then he told me that we still have a long way to go. We got down at Princeton junction. We didn’t find a phone to call Sandeep and so we just took a taxi, paid $18 for a short distance and got back home. It was 12 in the night and Sandeep was waiting for us to call so that he can come and pick us up. It was his birthday. We gave him some birthday bumps and gone back to sleep as we were very very tired.
23rd, December, 2008
It was Sandeep’s birthday. We did ‘harathi’ for him and all of us had lunch together. It was good fun. Chakri mamaigaru, Saamaja and Samhitha did a small ‘kacheri’ by singing some Baba bhajans. Mamaigaru played veena very well. We kept on asking him to play more songs. Sandeep played guitar. It was all very good. Then towards the evening there was party and some of Vijayaatta’s friends came over. Sandeep, Suman and Swetha cut the cake as their birthdays were also in December. Raveen and Sandeep played Table Tennis before the party started. We had a flight to Montreal the next day and so we wanted to go to Murali’s place as it would be easy for us to get to the airport. Towards the end of the party, Ammayyatta and Chakri mamaigaru dropped us at Murali’s apartment. Even though it was late and far, they took the pain of dropping us. They took care of us so well when we are with them. They also showered us with a lot of gifts.
24th, December,2008
Murali called a taxi for us and also gave us all the instructions to get to the airport. He gave us an extra phone so that we can communicate with him and with the taxi also. We were very happy to be with him as we felt just at home. We went around that place in the morning and came back home by the time the taxi was called. We were taking the flight from NY to Montreal. Our flight was at 4 and we were in the cab at around 1:30pm. The cab driver is an Indian and he said we were late ‘coz there will be a lot of traffic and it will take atleast 2.5hrs to get to the airport in that traffic. We sat in the cab just praying. One good thing was that even if we miss that flight we can stay back as I had the permit to stay in the US till the July next year. The driver took some other route and dropped us at the airport just 30 late than the time we expected to be in the airport.
We took all this tension to go to the airport just to find that the flight is delayed due to bad weather. (Remember how it started!) And no one actually knows when it would take off. We waited and waited and the flight too off at 7:30 pm. It was a small ATR. It was really small. If a person is around 6 ft tall, he can’t fit in the aircraft. Hmm..Finally we reached Montreal. It was 24th night when we reached. We paid 30 CAN dollars to get to the hotel we booked to stay. We actually booked the hotel only for that night but then we extended till 30th.
25th Dec 2008 and 26th December 2008
25th Morning we went around the Av Du Park where we stayed. Sacha and Marieve came to pick us up from the hotel at around 2 in the afternoon. We then stopped by Mc Gill for some time took a couple of photographs and then headed towards Sacha’s house in Old Montreal. We were very warmly welcomed by his parents. Then Santa got gifts to Sach's Mom and wife on behalf of us and gifts for Raveen and me on behalf of all of them.
It was a lot of fun being with all of them. They are extremely sweet people. They were fascinated to know about our culture and tradition. They saw all our wedding photographs and loved them. I was so proud to talk about our culture. They then showed their wedding photographs. Their wedding happened in Dominican Republic (We almost went but didn't go!). It was so much fun. We then had a very lovely dinner. His mom made so many dishes for dinner. I was soo full if I can't even explain! After dinner Sacha dropped us back to the hotel.On 26th we relaxed a little bit and then went around Eaton Centre and Mc Gill. We went to one of the theatre's to watch the movie, 'Slum Dog Millionaire', a really nice movie about the life of a boy in a particular slum in Mumbai, based on the novel 'Q & A' by Vikas Swarup, Directed by Danny Boyle; written by Simon Beaufoy, music by A. R. Rahman. The movie won Oscar's later.
27th December 2008
Oh! What do can I say about Tobogganing! As usual Sacha picked us up from the hotel and we went to this place which was white and covered with snow all over. People were already tobogganing. Raveen had his ski pants and he was good. Sacha got all the required stuff for me, like the pants, jackets etc. We then had a quick snack and got ready, picked up the blotted tires
and went on top to slide down the snow slope. We sat in the tube hole and then started sliding down the slope. There were so many slopes and each slope is steeper than the next one. We started with the less steep one and then went on and on and on...It was a lot of fun. May be because of the weather, we weren't tired at all.When we first started it, Raveen went sliding down the slope. I was next in the line and obviously Sach was last as we didn’t know how to push ourselves sliding down. Raveen was my Super Man! I heard him shout as he slide down. I was even more scared when I heard him be scared. It was my turn! I also started shouting and at a point I couldn’t even shout because the wind was hitting on the face. More than that during the slope there was some weird feeling in the stomach and all the concentration was on that one and so I think I stopped shouting. And when the main slope is over, it started slowing down and at one point it stopped. At the point where the speed starts reducing, you feel so happy and so good and you actually feel like going back and sliding down again. That was a wonderful experience.
We did this for around 2 hours with a break. We headed towards a small village called St-Sans. It was like a town to dolls! That town so small and so cute. If there was a village for Barbie dolls, then imagine how it would look! This town was exactly like that. Everything arranged and well organized. We could not take any photographs as the camera was dysfunctional due to the battery not being charged. What a lovely place was that. We went to this village to have Creps (stuffed pancakes with maple syrup). There is a place in this village that is very famous for these pancakes. They have 100 different varieties of creps. Its just like our Masala Dosa which will have potato stuff in the middle. Each Crep is double the size of our medium sized dosa. They have Crep-desserts also.
28th December 2008
As usual we got up late in the morning and then the first thing we need is to do is to eat. We went to Eaton centre. We had some food there and just went around. Did a little bit shopping, got a camera for Shankar, and got a bag for ourselves as our suitcase was torn. We ate at the palace where Raveen and Sacha used to eat the thai food every day during their MBA days. The baingan curry and the sticky rice.
We then went around the eaton center for some time and then came back to the hotel room. We were to go out for dinner with Sacha’s parents. They have booked a table for the dinner at a restaurant close to his parents house which is old Montreal. And the place where we stayed was apprx an hour’s journey from their place. He would every day drive so far to pick us up, take us around and drive us back to the the place we stayed. Raveen's other friends had called and decided to meet. Marieve was coming back from Boston that night. Sacha was too tired to come back for the get together.
29th December 2008
But we got up early in the morning by 7:30 and are out of the hotel by around 8:30. Then we went to the bank where Raveen had some work. It took around an hour. This bank is just opposite to Raveen's MBA School, McGill. We then went around the Mc Gill University. Unfortunately we couldn't go inside the buildings as it was closed for renovation and holidays. But we peeped into the windows and saw a few places where Rav and Sach used to hang out during his days of study. Then Sacha come to this place to pick us up and we then went to a SPA called BALNEA. Guess what happens in this spa! There is a Sauna, Steam bath and a Jacuzzi. The Sauna is around 80 deg C. and the steam bath around the same temperature. And at the same time there were small pools which were around 10 deg C. So....we go into one of these hot places, spend some time there till you are really hot and then go jump into this the cold pool close by. And you continue this process. Doesn't it sound CRAZY! The first time we did this, it was little hard. But it felt good as we continued doing it. It was so relaxing. There are also rooms where you can sit and relax and also sleep actually. Isn't this amazing! And all this for less than the cost we pay in India, Bangalore for a good massage at BodyCraft. We couldn’t take pictures inside. so we have taken a few pictures outside. There is one picture of the pool outside and people in the Jacuzzi.
When I packed i didn't even imagine that i would get into cold water. Sacha's mom gave all the required things along with the dress to get into the water.
It was very sweet of Sacha to pick us up and also drop us back to the hotel. And he would resist dropping us at the end of the lane from where we could easily walk. He would stop right in front of the hotel so that we can directly go in and he would then take a U turn and go back.
We really missed Marieve. We wish she was around.
It’s hard to find such a good friend! We will miss him a lot!
Marieve was coming back from Boston and Sach had to go and pick her up. The plan was to go out with some of the other friends. No wonder Sach was tired and could not make it . I was also very tired and just dozed off. It was 7 in the evening by the time Sach dropped us back to the hotel. Raveen promised me that he would be back early latest by 11pm. We didn’t have a phone contact also and more than anything its a new city for me. I watched tv for some time and then slept. For some reason I woke up and it was 12:30am: and I don’t see him around. I had no clue of where he is! I remember him say that the place where they were going is in the next lane and is very close. For a moment I almost got ready to go and search all the eatouts for him. And then I realized that its not safe to do that. If ‘m lost it will be even more difficult for me get back. I had no number to call also. Raveen was carrying his Indian phone along and thought I would called on that. It was ringing right there just next to me. Now there are no limits for my tension. I was walking around like a troubled cat. It was 1:30am and I almost cried. I just lay down and slept off. At 2 in the morning he came back and wakes me up. I was so angry and upset, for he has put me in tension. He was not even listening to me and was busy asking me to get ready. He wanted to show me something. We went out and it was snowing! Fresh snow! WOW! It was awesome. We both forgot everything and started playing with the snow. We hit each other with the snow balls. We cleaned some cars that were covered with fresh snow...
30th December 2008
Early in the morning, we got up early to take the VIA train to Toronto. It was supposed to leave at 9:40 AM. BUT! The train was late! It took around 5 hours to reach Toronto. We slept in the train so much that we didn’t even waste a sec in doing something else. We packed some macaroni pasta and grapes for lunch. We got up, had lunch and then slept again. Then we reach Toronto at 5. We got Sacha’s apartment keys which was on the King and Bathurst Street. We took a taxi. Most of the taxi’s refused to come as we had too much luggage and it would not fit in the car.
I met some more friends of Raveen who stayed in the same apartment. Joddy, Scott, Christina.
Scott and Joddy are too funny. They came home and took us out for dinner that night. I had fun being with them.
31th December 2008
It being a working day, all his friends were working and we went around the city. We went to the CN towers.
It was fun. 
....View from the CN Towers.That night for the new years, Scott got tickets for the Raptors vs Denmark foot ball match. I’m not a sports person but still I enjoyed the game. It was a lot of fun with the raptor running around during the break. Joddy had already gotten tickets for a New Year party, supposed to be the biggest one happening in that part of the town. This was not a great party at all! May be because we went there late and everything was almost over by the time we went there. Before going for this one we had another friend’s party to attend in their apartment. It was a very nice apartment. Some of his MBA friends were there at the party. They all became nostalgic! This wasn’t good either. But thats ok..we all had a good time together.
01st January 2009
It was 3 in the morning by the time we slept. We got up only at 12 in the afternoon. We got ready and went out in search of food. We stayed at home the rest of the day, trying to get over last night’s hang over. We suddenly decided to go to Niagara falls. We browsed the web and booked the train for the next day and also a ‘Bed and Breakfast’.
That night Cristina took us out for dinner.
02nd January 2009
The train to Niagara was at 10 in the morning. We spoke to the ‘Bed and Breakfast’ person, TOM before we left. He was very kind enough to come and pick us up from the train station.
We left the bags at the bed and breakfast and decided to walk to the falls. If ‘m not wrong, it was around 1 in the afternoon. The first glimpse I got of the Niagara was the US side. Raveen asked me if it was amazing! Hesitatingly I had to say yes ‘coz it wasn’t any better than the jog falls in Bangalore. We then walked and walked and then reached the Canadian side of the falls. This was just astounding!
The amount of energy and the force with which the water falls is just un-imaginable. The icicles that formed on the trees and the railing are just too pretty to stop staring at.We spent some time there and then walked towards the Clifton tower. Clifton tower is fully commercialized. There were a lot of fun places like the maze, haunted house, family fun, Repley’s, Madam Tussads, and many more. We did a few of them and just walked around for some time and got into a ‘Rain forest pub’. This place was very good. They also had an attached gaming. We had lot of fun here. We were just playing the game ‘Deal-No Deal’. We then went into the restaurant and spent some time there talking. By the time we decided to head back, it was 7:30pm.
It was very cold and we could walk. Talking a cab from there was as expensive as taking the train back to Toronto. We somehow made and in the mean time, we realized that we have passed the place where were supposed to stay! This place was not on the main road. And now we realized that we are lost!!! We, two intelligent soul’s on earth, forgot to take the address of the ‘Bed and Breakfast’ before we left the place in the morning. We had no clue what to do and where to go. We don’t even know the name of the place. Raveen had let all the papers related to the booking in the bag which we let in the room. With this we lost the chance of getting Tom’s phone number.
We kind of remember the place and so thought we will walk in to each lane and see if any place resembles our memory. We walked 2-3 lanes. it was bitingly cold and our search was in vain. For some reason Raveen searched his pockets and he found a discount coupon for some restaurant on the Clifton hill which we took from the Bed and Breakfast place. Luckily we saw the stamp of the ‘Bed and Breakfast’ on that small paper. We were so happy and were very proud of ourselves for getting a way out.
We were so tired that we slept by 9. We were supposed to get up early by 8 ‘coz the breakfast will be served at 8.
03rd January 2009
We somehow managed to be there on time. We were still 15min late. But that was fine. There were another couple at the breakfast table. We got into a chat with them. They suggested us go and visit Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake. This town is by the Lake Ontario. It is very expensive to take a bus to this place. It was $40 per head and cab, we didn’t even bother asking. Tom was kind enough to take us both only at $40.
On the way to the town he stopped at various places and told us the history of these places. We stopped at a place where we overlooked the United States. We saw the huge dam that is being constructed. Tom dropped us at point and said he will pick us at the same point at 4 in the evening. We had to take the return train at 6. There was just shopping in this place. We walked in so some stores and did a little bit of shopping. Raveen got bored after some time and then we decided to eat something. We went into those places which Tom has suggested. He warned us not to go into some places as they were frightfully expensive.
Tom and wife came exactly at 4 to pick us up. We just had a bag and they carried it along with them so that we didn’t have to take it along with us. He dropped us at the train station. We had fun.
Now! Guess what! The train is late. The train which was supposed to leave at 6 and reach Toronto by 7, now reached Toronto at 10 in the night. Rubbish!
By the time we went back home, Sacha and Marieve were back home. Thank God! We cleaned the house and kept it in good shape before we left for Niagara. We ordered some food and everybody came over to spend some time with us as we were flying back the next day.
04th, 5th and 6th January 2009
We all friends met again finally for the breakfast. We had a blast. As usual I had some last minute shopping to do. Marieve took me out for shopping and we were back by 12. We immediately left for the airport with Sacha and Marieve. Raveen and me cried when they left us at the airport. No use of crying! We have to go back!
Now it starts! The Bolly wood movie climax!
The flight took off to Paris. We reached Paris much before the departure time of our connecting flight to Bangalore. Can you believe that we boarded and we were on the flight? And that too on time!
Something fishy...
It was snowing in Paris and our aircraft was 6th in the queue for cleaning. We waited for 1 hour and its our turn next. Wow! We were all excited just to here the captain say that something in the aircraft is not functioning properly and we will have to go back to the parking lot. The aircraft will take off only when the technicians approve that the aircraft is in good condition. It was 1 in the afternoon and we were not given food also till then.
We came back to the Paris Charles de Gaulle International Airport. We are just waiting and waiting...no food, no information. And we don’t see any airline authority around. Suddenly at 6 in the evening they announce that we are going to take off in a couple of hours. Wow that sounds good! But No food till then! In the airport there is only one coffee shop that is open and they had only expensive coffee and nothing to eat. Now another announcement, ‘due to bad weather, the airport is closed and no aircrafts will take off’
As the whole airport was closed and so many flights were cancelled, they had no places of stay also in the city to accommodate people. We were made to sleep in the airport that night. All our baggage was thrown there as orphans. No one knows what to do if the luggage is misplaced. The temperature in the airport is around 5 degree centigrade. Almost all the passengers left their jackets in the luggage thinking that we will not need them. Now, at 11 in the night we get cheese sandwiches to eat. We didn’t sleep the whole night as it was cold and we had no place to sleep except on the floor and it was too cold to sleep on the floor. We somehow passed time and the next day the flight leaves at 11 in the morning. We reached Bangalore at 1am on 7th January.
Now guess what!
Where’s the luggage? The luggage has not been loaded on the flight as they could not identify the luggage. It took 10 days for them to identify the luggage and send it to us. And in between all this one of our bags got stuck with customs for nothing. Raveen had to go to the airport which is 30Km away from the city of Bangalore to release the bag and get it.
And when I tried to contact Air France online, I get a java.lang.NullPointerException.
This is how our trip ended. We satisfied ourselves that we didn’t want to come back and so this happened to us!
But, we had an amazing trip. We both were together and enjoyed all the moments. We ran around in the airport helping some older couples and giving them updates. This was a different kind of fun.
Thanks to Raveen for gifting such and lovely trip for my birthday.
