When I informed my friends that finally I would be
travelling and it was like jane se pehle party dete jana(don’t leave without giving
us a party) and along with that advices starting flowing from all directions.
Some of them told take some Indian spices, you will not get
anything there, carry some utensils and especially pressure cooker (this I
realized later was the most important thing), some told me to carry thermal and
winter wears as it will be cold there while others told “chod sab you can buy
everything there waise bhi euros me kamaega waha”.
Some told me to check the baggage allowance and then decide
what to carry and what not, so I checked on websites the baggage allowance for
direct flights to Frankfurt was less as compared to flight with layover so I
booked a ticket for Etihad Airways which had a layover of one hour and twenty
minutes in Abu Dhabi.
Next 5-6 days went in shopping and planning. Then finally
the day arrived when I had to travel “Finally”
My flight was around 9:10 PM at night so I had to reach
airport 2-3 hours before the departure. My cab arrived around 5 to take me to
the airport. Airport was around 45 minutes distance from my apartment.
My friend bid good bye to me when I got into the cab. I
reached airport around 5:45. There was still a lot of time and checkin counter
was not yet open. So I sat down on a bench was starting looking around seeing
all types of people Indians, foreigners and girls. I called my mom and sister
and informed them that I had reached airport. Then called some friends as I was
getting bored: P and they were like “waha jake bhool mat jana, ladka ab euros
me kamaega”.
Somehow I managed to spend my time. It was now 8 and check-in
counters had not yet been opened. There were many people waiting in queue for
checking in but there was no one at the counters. Then people started asking
why the check-in was getting delayed. After some arguments and hue and cry,
finally the check-in started at Air India counter for Etihad Airways. I was a
bit worried while checking in about my baggage. I was afraid it might exceed
the limit of 30kgs free baggage allowed. Because of that I did not pack any of
the utensils even pressure cooker. I thought I will buy them there itself. But
when I put my baggage on belt it was 29 kgs and I was happy that I managed to
pack all my stuff in 29 kgs only. After checking in I filled immigration form
and then was again in queue for immigration check. After again waiting for some
30 minutes I managed to pass through immigration check and it was already
8:45PM but boarding has not yet started. Again people had started panicking and
started asking the persons at Gate. This continued for another 20-25 minutes
and then finally the boarding started around 9:15PM.. The departure time was
around 9:10PM. After boarding the plane I again called my home and talked to my
sister. I was pretty excited as it was my first international trip. I don’t know
for what purpose the flight was delayed but it started around 10PM. A delay of
around 50 minutes. In the beginning I was excited but then I stated worrying.
What if the flight arrives late in Abu Dhabi and I miss my connecting flight. I
was supposed to meet one of my colleagues in Adu Dhabi. We were to board the
same connecting flight from there. I was worried so could not get sleep in
flight so I started concentrating on food. It was around four hours journey to
Abu Dhabi. The flight arrived about forty minutes late in Abu Dhabi. I got down
from plane in a hurry and boarded the bus. I was happy that now its not too
late but then I came to realize that my happiness was short lived as the bus
itself took 10 minutes to reach from plane to airport. I was cursing Abu Dhabi
for having such a big airport. Once I got down from plane I started running to
find my may to the flight leaving for Frankfurt. I didn’t wait to look for my colleague
as I knew that she might have not waited for this long. Finally I arrived at
the security check after getting lost on my way to finding the gate for
boarding my connecting flight and to my surprise there was a very long queue
for security check and that too only one queue. People were shouting that they
are getting late for the flight but the guys at the security check didn’t bother
to respond. The only reply was they won’t go leaving you here. They asked everyone
to take of shoes belt and all the other things except clothes and put them in
bag. It took around 20 minutes for me to pass through the security check. Again
I started running and reached the immigration check. The guy at immigration had
a look at my passport and visa stamp and asked few questions in Hindi. I answered
them and then he smiled and told me to run as I was getting late. I again
started running and reached the gate for boarding the bus. I handed over my
boarding pass to the lady standing there with a big smile she verified and then
I boarded the bus. It was already two and departure time of my flight was 2:05 PM.
I got into the flight and I was all sweating. I saw my colleague sitting on one
the seats. She was telling me something from her place. With her expression I
could make out that she was telling me to look behind. I didn’t understand what
was she telling me to see but then I looked back and my Delivery Manager was
sitting there on one of the seats. He said Hi to him and he smiled back and
said finally you managed to board the flight I thought you will not make it.
After smiles and talks I sat down on my seat and took a deep breath and felt happy that I managed to make it. The seats next to me were vacant. I asked my colleague to take that seat. She came and sat next to me. Then I started telling her about my adventure and she was laughing. She told that she was waiting for me at the airport and then from nowhere she saw the manager there. He was also going to Mannheim for our project. After some chit chat I again started concentrating on food and then after that saw a movie and then slept. After some hours of sleep I woke up in the morning, freshened up and got ready for breakfast. We were about to reach Frankfurt.
After some time our flight landed at Frankfurt International
Airport. I got down from the flight and then we had to go through immigration
check. The officer at the immigration check asked some questions and then put a
stamp on my passport and felt relieved that finally I could enter Germany. Then
me, my colleague and Manager were waiting for collecting our baggage. My
colleague told that she will get a trolley to carry her luggage. I saw her
going and coming back empty handed. She told trolleys are chargeable here and
she didn’t have any change. None of us had change we had only 50 euro notes
that were given to us by the Forex department in our company. Somehow we
managed to drag our baggage out of the airport.
My colleague’s husband was coming to airport to receive her.
He was waiting outside the arrival area. She introduced us to her husband and
then left, then it was only me and my manager. My manager had to make some
calls so he bought a sim card at the airport and made some urgent calls. He
checked with one of the shopkeepers where to get the trains to Mannheim. The
shopkeeper told us to catch the tram and go to Terminal 1. The DB Bahn(Train
station) in Frankfurt is near Terminal 1 So we boarded the tram that took us to
the Terminal 1. There also we had to drag our baggage through many escalators
and somehow managed to reach the DB Bahn.
I noticed the people there were so organized. In Indian you
will find a mob at ticket counters here people were calm and standing and
waiting for their turn in a single queue while there were multiple counters. In
Indian you will find one counter and multiple queues.
We took a ticket to Mannheim for ICE train (ICE are
Intercity Express trains that have stops only in Major cities and travel fast).
It cost us 25 EUROS. We boarded the train and I thought in my mind so this is
how it feels inside a train in foreign country which I had seen only in movies.
I took a window seat and started looking outside. I could not see anything except
greenery all around. No tall buildings as I thought before coming to this
place. I took us around thirty minutes to reach our station. We got down at
Mannheim station. It was a bright sunny morning. I came out of the station and
found a cab station just next to station. I was surprised to see even the cabs
here were all Mercedes (that’s what we call German style). My manager took a
cab and left for his hotel. Then I also took a cab and gave driver the address of
my hotel. It took around fifteen minutes to reach my hotel. When I reached my
hotel I saw many buildings with the same name as my hotel “Am Exerzierplatz”
and the place was all deserted. I could not see even a single person anywhere,
only buildings and cars parked (this I realized later that everything is closed
here on Sundays.). I was confused weather I had reached the wrong place. I was
standing outside the building that looked similar to the one that I saw on
hotel’s website. I was looking for an entrance to that building but all the
doors were closed. Then a nice looking girl came outside and asked if I needed
some help.
I told her that I had booked a room at Am Exerziaplatz but I
was not able to find the hotel and if she can help me with the directions to
that hotel. She gave a smile and said you are at the right place. Then after
completing with the check-in formalities she showed me my room. I was feeling relaxed
now that finally I managed to reach my destination. I was lying on my bed and
then smiling and thinking “Log bhaagke train ya bus pakadte hain maine aaj
flight pakdi.”
