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Published: November 6th 2006
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I know I only wrote two days ago, but just wanted to write about the total drama flight with Air India...
We reconfirmed our flight about 3 days in advance at the air India office in Nairobi, as we were leaving, the lady behind the desk gave us a tip that it was very busy and that we should get to the airport very early.
We took her advice and arrived just before 2pm for our 6.20pm flight. Arriving more than 4 hours early, we expected to be the first in line waiting for the check-in desk to open in an otherwise deserted area. To our surprise, we entered the airport departures building to see a mass of Indian families and an even bigger mass of suitcases! Obviously, they had been given the tip too!
As they opened the desks, the lines quickly moved along. Not because people were getting quick service, rather that everyone was squishing forward to consolidate the line! The family in front of us had at least a dozen bags, which they couldn't keep moving as fast as the line. As soon as they had moved the last one, the first needed moving
along again! I tried to help at one point but their bags were sooo heavy - the plane will be lucky if it gets off the ground!
Finally, we got to the front of the queue and presented our boarding cards and passports. They looked down the list of names (80% of which were Patel, no exaggeration!) and found us at the bottom. Unfortunately, they then explained that the flight was heavily overbooked and that we would have to wait on stand-by as a big group had booked and was being given priority! Our tickets had been bought way back in June, whereas the huge party had been booked only a month or so prior, but yet they were given the priority. There were families who had been sitting at check-in since mid-day (over 6 hours before the flight!) and were still not allowed to board.
Tempers were understandably high, and a group of men almost came to blows with the airport officials because of the outright discrimination. Scott, meanwhile, was documenting everything, including names and ID badges, and making sure it was known. This must have scared the manager, as 30 minutes before the flight was due
to take off, he let us check-in, jovially saying that he assumes that there will be no letter mentioning this to head office after all!
So, 20 minutes before take-off we boarded the flight and two hours later we actually took off! Meanwhile, the big group that had booked, we discovered, were part of a Hindu church group and they would periodically break into songs and prayers, filling the whole plane. It was quite atmospheric and got us in the mood for India! Besides, with all that heavy luggage being put on the plane, we needed all the help we could!
Finally at 4am we landed at Bombay (Mumbai) and made our way to the luggage carousel. My backpack came as the last piece before the belt stopped, without sign of Scott's. We KNEW they'd lose our bags after all the confusion! Luckily, after 40 minutes of running around talking to different people and filling in various forms, they somehow found his bag - phew!
Now we are in Bombay and we love it so far. Today is the first day of the Diwali festival, which marks the start of the New Year. There are flowers and
paper lanterns everywhere, and scary firecrackers too on every street corner! Not sure where we are heading next...either south to Goa or north to who-knows-where...
Hope you are all well, and don't take too much of your time reading all my travel blogs! Those of you planning a trip in the future (you know who you are) will get their own back when I am back stressed at work, doing my first year of teaching, and you are off gallivanting around the world, sending your travel-stories!
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