Calling all passengers for Flight BA 256 to Heathrow

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Dharmsala to New Delhi
Sion and NikiHmmmm..where do we start??

Our plane to England left Delhi on Friday morning. Arriving at Heathrow at 1.10pm, meaning we should have made it to Birmingham by early Friday evening. However, there was a small glitch. Let me explain.

We arrived in delhi on the 26th of May, meaning we had six nights to kill before our plane left on the 1st of June. Knowing full well, that planes on the first day of the month can be troublesome, we took the time to repeatedly check our tickets and our Australia Post pocket calendar to make sure the month of May had 31 days in it, it did, and that our tickets did infact state the departure time as 8am, Friday 1st June, they did. Everything was going as planned. We spent a few days buying presents for the family and so on, dining well, basically using up any of our money that was still in Rupee form, because we didn't want to be buying British Pounds with Rupees, we thought we'd try and use it all up. Then on 'Thursday 31st May', whilst out last minute shopping in the bazaar, we though we'd grab a cold drink from a nearby cafe that also offers cheap taxis to the airport, and book our taxi for the following morning. so after a coke and a chai, we went and told the guy we wanted a taxi to the airport tomorrow morning. As he wrote it down i noticed he had the date wrong, he'd written down that we wanted the taxi on the 2nd June, not the 1st, so i corrected him. This threw him a little, then he said quite confidently, today is the 1st of June. I said, no, it couldn't be. he said it could. He checked with his friend, who in turn, phoned his friend on his mobile, just to make sure, then assured us that yes, it was the 1st of June. I looked at Niki, she looked at me, both of us frozen in disbelief.

"We've missed our fucking plane!!!!!!!!!" I said
"Oh Shit!!!!!!!" exclaimed Niki

In a crazed, and somewhat hysterical panic, we settled our bill, and ran to the nearest phone to try and figure out a way home. What luck, it was Friday night in Australia, so STA our travel agent had closed for the weekend, so we got in touch with British Airways, who got us in touch with Qantas, who told us that they can't do anything until they speak to STA, who are closed for the weekend. ARghhhh.

So, BA have aparently put us on the next available flight, the 5th of June, but this isn't confirmed, they have to make sure its okay with STA on Monday, and we don't nkow how much we're gonna get charged or even if we're on the flight.

So, in the meantime it looks like we just have to sit back and enjoy the 45oC days, the bad Delhi food, the dirty Delhi streets, and keep our fingers crossed that we can get out of India sometime soon. My apologies go out to Nanny Griffith, who I'm certain would have been sitting in the front dining room, right from the moment she got up, waiting for us, just in case we showed up early, not knowing that we were fast asleep in a dingy hotel room in Paharganj's Main Bazaar.

Yes, we know we're stupid, yes we know we should have checked the date, but we were so sure. We put so much time and energy into making sure we didn't miss the plane, that we had all the details right, that we forget to contextualise ourselves. This objective flight on the 1st of June, did leave the day after Thursday the 31st May, but we forgot to make sure that the 'objective' flight corresponded with our 'subjective' reality of it being a different day. So many dated invoices, receipts, newspapers, CNN, dates everywhere, but we completely ignored them. We were so intensely focused on not missing our flight, that we inexplicably and inevitably missed our flight. We are officially complete and utter idiots. But then, it is only another few days, its not like we have anywhere we need to be, no meetings, no lectures, no jobs, just more holidays.

Well I hope that you're laughing at us right now, we are, it's okay you're allowed to. And if you've learned nothing from us on this journey across India, which i doubt you would have, then learn this.

If you ever have an international flight to catch, make sure you know what day it is

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Comments

[Ouaga]

I feel your pain
Go eat lots of cakes at Ajay's and try not to kill each other in the Delhi heat kids.

[anonymous]

To err is human
Remember the man and woman who can't make a mistake, can't make anything. When I read the blog, I felt the horrible realisation. When you have been in England a week or two you will be wishing you had missed the next flight too. Only joking!

[Ben]

You bloody morons
Nice. Real nice. Although by the time I'm writing this you are already in merry ol' England. (I hope) I'm looking forward to your take on some Western countries now. Should be fun.

[spanna]

oh dear......
Hellllloooooo!! I did laugh, and I am still laughing..... trust something like that to happen...... Well I hope it has all worked out for you and that you made it on another flight!! P.s. Niki, wishing you a very late, but very happy birthday....xx