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Published: April 27th 2007
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So close
About this far from the plane the day before, it was hard to believe that I was finally getting on it. When I last left off my time in Nepal was coming to a quick close. I was looking forward to two nights in London to catch up with Mike (central america) and Liam (uganda) over a few pints of bitter and a sunday roast or yorkshire pudding. However my time in London was cut to one night, not even twelve hours, by an unexpected 24 hour delay in Delhi! So what does one do with a full day in India? Well I guess that depends on your situation!
It all started in the wee hours of the morning on the 25th as I had just finished jostling and shoving my way through one the many chaotic 'line-ups' all but hindering the employee staff from getting anything done. In truth, I guess it started when I decided to book with Royal Nepalese Airlines -
THE WORST AIRLINES EVER - but for this story we'll start at the airport. Like I said, having just finished shoving and pushing old Indian/Nepalese people who have no concept of a Queue or Line-up or civility I noticed an old lady trying to come back out the door I had just finished squeezing through -
ain't going to happen. I heard something about cancelled and was pretty sure Royal Nepalese - renowned for delaying and cancelling flights - were not going to fly and that I would be stuck in Nepal. There was some more shouting, some cheers and a good ten minutes of chanting by most of the local people when I realized that the flight was indeed going to be leaving, just four hours later than scheduled. I asked if I would still be able to make my 13:50 flight to London and the boss re-assured me that I would and so checked my bags and handed me my boarding pass. About one or two hours later, after having checked through customs, the same boss man came to find me to say the flight had been delayed yet again and that I would need to change flights if I had any hope of making the connecting flight. Here we go!
It turns out I wasn't the only idiot to have booked with Nepal Airlines -
THE WORST AIRLINES EVER - as well as a connecting flight for the same day, so James (an English guy) and I joked about making the flight
BEST AIRLINES EVER!!!!
Great work by this team getting me in the air. Aside from the woman trying to put her stinky feet on my arm chair it was an awesome flight as well. and what we were going to do. Soon thereafter we were put on a flight with Druk-air - landing time: 12:35. That would give us about an hour and fifteen minutes to make the connection. Only problem is that we would have to clear customs and pick up our bags. After listening to someone tell another tourist what they just HAD to see in India, we were in the air and crossing our fingers. We had asked both Royal Nepalese Airlines and Druk-air to get someone from Jet Airways to meet us and with any luck whist us away to London. Surprisingly there actually was someone there to meet us upon landing, but only to tell us that it would be impossible. SHIT! She asked why we left the times so tight and despite our lengthy explanation I think just the simple mention of Royal Nepal Airlines -
THE WORST AIRLINES EVER - would have sufficed. She was super helpful though and did as much as she could. Even all the customs agents got involved with the situation. About midway through all the hussle and bussle I decided it might be prudent to inform them that I did not have
Writing a blog
have to kill the time somehow. an Indian Visa. James did.
At the mention of this there was some heated discussion between all of the staff involved when halfway through someone dropped the K-bomb! James could clear customs but me, I had to go back on the next flight to Kathmandu. My heart sank! It was like someone just told me that as sure as the wolrd is round, I was going to have to jump into a pit of King Cobras. My head sank to the desk. I hadn't felt such a level of depression in a really long time. A scenario started playing out in my head of me back in Nepal dealing with the travel agent and the Nepal Airlines staff. We had written down the names of the two employees who had 'helped us' and they would pay! I wondered what the likelihood of me killing somebody would be. As I came to I realized James was talking to them on my behalf and I just asked, "Is there any way I can go to London?" Not only would I miss London and have to go back to Nepal, but I would miss my flight on the 27th to Montreal. James
Hours of reading.
Well after well over a year and many, many painful chapters I have successfully read books 1-11 of Robert Jordan. wrote down his email, I thanked him for his help, and he checked through to go talk to Royal Nepal Airlines -
THE WORST AIRLINES EVER - while I was escorted to a chair. I asked one of the men in charge - rather depressingly - if I was going back to Nepal. When he said I would go to London I could have kissed him. I couldn't shake his hand hard enough!
The only question now was when and how much? And where was my bag? I was escorted up random stairs and showed the plane that I should be on. So close. I could almost touch it. So far away. I proceeded through several security check points before getting sat down in a football field length and width corridor inside Indian customs and outside the departure security checks: No man's land, and home to Duty free shopping. I was told I would be able to use the same ticket I had and that my flight would be at the same time, just a day later. I felt relieved and began to explore what would be my home for the next twenty-four hours. As the hours passed I
Subway
Thank god there was a subway. Although I am pretty sure that this is what made me sick, at least it was good at the time. began to realize that I may not be going anywhere. After all I had no visa to go through customs, and furthermore I had no valid airline ticket, let alone a boarding pass. I began to wonder how long they would just let me sit in this little section? I was in my own little prison and parole was coming up. When James showed up, I felt a sense of relief that was only set back by several people questioning my right to be on the flight. It seems very likely that ahd James not talked to all the airlines and arranged everything for the both of us the day before, I would still be stuck in Delhi.
So what do you do with a full day in India? Well you HAVE to go to the Subway near the end of customs! You just HAVE to compare the blue seat section to the red seat section! And you just HAVE to go see the 20th century restrooms with its' imposing 24 inch Aquarium outside! You CAN'T miss that!
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Jordan
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Nice!
I blew my last rupees at that very same subway....