Flying over the Atlantic in a nice flight with some nice european air hostesses tending to my needs. I can also see a huge mass of water below me. What lies ahead is the 'Land of Dumbasses" as one of my friends calls it. A land where it is totally different from the one I have been in all this while. The flight would soon land in the capital of the Big Apple and I would set foot onto the stupid superpower called US of A. From there I would be taking a flight to Syracuse where I will be spending most part of the next two years doing my MS. I have a lot to look forward to since Syracuse is apparently a beautiful city and the university is one of the oldest and finest. And its situated in New York state. I would be a mere five hours drive from the City that never sleeps-NY City. Times Square, Wall Street...... an endless list of amazing things to look forward to. On the other side I need to drive only for a little more than two hours to get to horseshoe falls or Niagara falls as it is known to all. Its going to be one hell of an experience living and studying in the US. So much to look forward to and its all just a few hours away. Its going to be a dream come true. I am going to have an awesome time...................................................... SLAP!!! "Get up da... Its 12:30pm!!"
Back to reality!! Harsh reality I must say. I am still in my same old bed in my dusty room cursing the strike going on at Frankfurt. I spent most part of the night in the Check-in area in the Anna International terminal. All packed and set to make my first visit to the US, I entered the airport and slowly made it through the snakelike long queue to the counter only to find out my connecting flight from Frankfurt to Washington DC has been cancelled due to the stupid strike at Frankfurt. They took my ticket and asked me to wait for a 'few minutes'. I waited with a few other people who had the same problem. A bunch of eight who had a connecting flight to Atlanta were also stranded and sidelined because of this issue. The Lufthansa people took their own time to set things right. I was there at 10:45pm. After a while we were asked to move from where we were standing because they were setting up that space to check in passengers for another flight to Dubai. We were just being pushed around like mere pieces of baggage and not given proper information as to when we would be put on a flight. It took them quite a while to find out they could not put us on any flight within the next few hours and that I would have to travel the following day.
I was keeping myself occupied by making phone calls to tell my friends I would be in India for at least another day. My parents and relatives were waiting eagerly to find out what action was being taken by the Lufthansa officials. It was 1pm and still they had not found an alternate arrangement for me. The patient lad that I am, I did not create a big scene over there. It took a lot of pressurising and some blasting from my father to finally get me a ticket to my final destination. They handed me my new plan at 3:15am! What an experience! more than four hours at the airport on a night when I knew in a short while that I would not be travelling anytime soon. The flight plan they had come up with was not favourable and my dad took it up with our travel agent and came up with the plan of having me flown into the US on the 8th of August. So here I am, sitting at home with a very funny feeling.
Having said Goodbye to the whole of India, it feels very weird to meet and speak to all of them again and tell them I got screwed by a stupid workers strike in Frankfurt. Every few minutes I just think about what I am going through and laugh my ass off, for that's all I can do. What a superb way to start my journey to the US. What was supposed to be my first week in the US, I am now spending in Chennai. God knows what more he has in store for me. I will just hope its all positive this time. And that I dont have to do a Tom Hanks(The Terminal- for the uneducated) role again and that I can write what I have written right at the top when I am actually on the flight to the US.
Back to reality!! Harsh reality I must say. I am still in my same old bed in my dusty room cursing the strike going on at Frankfurt. I spent most part of the night in the Check-in area in the Anna International terminal. All packed and set to make my first visit to the US, I entered the airport and slowly made it through the snakelike long queue to the counter only to find out my connecting flight from Frankfurt to Washington DC has been cancelled due to the stupid strike at Frankfurt. They took my ticket and asked me to wait for a 'few minutes'. I waited with a few other people who had the same problem. A bunch of eight who had a connecting flight to Atlanta were also stranded and sidelined because of this issue. The Lufthansa people took their own time to set things right. I was there at 10:45pm. After a while we were asked to move from where we were standing because they were setting up that space to check in passengers for another flight to Dubai. We were just being pushed around like mere pieces of baggage and not given proper information as to when we would be put on a flight. It took them quite a while to find out they could not put us on any flight within the next few hours and that I would have to travel the following day.
I was keeping myself occupied by making phone calls to tell my friends I would be in India for at least another day. My parents and relatives were waiting eagerly to find out what action was being taken by the Lufthansa officials. It was 1pm and still they had not found an alternate arrangement for me. The patient lad that I am, I did not create a big scene over there. It took a lot of pressurising and some blasting from my father to finally get me a ticket to my final destination. They handed me my new plan at 3:15am! What an experience! more than four hours at the airport on a night when I knew in a short while that I would not be travelling anytime soon. The flight plan they had come up with was not favourable and my dad took it up with our travel agent and came up with the plan of having me flown into the US on the 8th of August. So here I am, sitting at home with a very funny feeling.
Having said Goodbye to the whole of India, it feels very weird to meet and speak to all of them again and tell them I got screwed by a stupid workers strike in Frankfurt. Every few minutes I just think about what I am going through and laugh my ass off, for that's all I can do. What a superb way to start my journey to the US. What was supposed to be my first week in the US, I am now spending in Chennai. God knows what more he has in store for me. I will just hope its all positive this time. And that I dont have to do a Tom Hanks(The Terminal- for the uneducated) role again and that I can write what I have written right at the top when I am actually on the flight to the US.
