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It is indeed interesting to have a bittersweet start to my vacation. There are two things that elated me and disappointed me – what elated me was boarding the flight from the departure gate from where I wanted to board a flight for ages (this might sound childish to almost everyone who read this but I find happiness in small stuffs like this) and what disappointed me was the flight journey from Chennai to Dubai.
I have always boarded international flights from Chennai Airport, but it was all from the boarding gates that were located in the ground floor, which is the old airport terminal. I always wanted to take a flight from the gates that were located on the first floor, near the security check. This time, I had my boarding pass and the gate was printed as 17. As usual, I assumed that I might have to take my flight from the ground floor, which is a total turn off as it looks older and pathetic than one can imagine. When I was asking for the directions for lounge, for which I've access to, the security guard checked the details of my gate and pointed to the one which was located right below the lounge. Trust me, at that point, I felt so elated, thrilled and it almost felt like my inner peace attained multiple orgasms. I gladly made my move to the lounge, spent an hour and a half eating and reading a book, and then arrived the boarding time.
Here comes the disappointment – the moment I entered the flight (it was a Boeing aircraft), I was like ‘Alright! This is going to be a shitty experience', and the feeling got confirmed immediately after reaching my seat 37A. While checking in, I asked for a possibility for a free business class upgrade but the airline authority said that the flight is almost full and there is no way to opt for a free upgrade, so I went ahead and asked for a change of seat to the one with extra legroom – and boom! I got allocated with 37A, the seat next to emergency exit with no window. I was aware of the fact that opting for a seat with extra legroom will not have any window, and for this reason I always choose aisle seat. Unfortunately, the aisle seats were filled up (holy crap! Even weekdays are crowded!) and I got a window seat sans window. Trust me, getting a seat with extra legroom is no fun if you've a person sitting next to you. You feel all cramped and suffocated (that's how I felt for the entire 3 hr 45 mins journey). And then I had a surprise coming in the form of food. I never expected Emirates to provide such a disappointing inflight meal. I always opt for vegetarian when I'm flying and all I got was 2 vadas and 2 dosa roll (LOL! Yes, you heard me right – it was a dosa rolled with masala comprising of potato and peas). Maybe they opted for a new cutlery but the food tasted all plastic. I felt nauseated taking a bite of the food. Luckily I did not make a mistake to skip food at the lounge that balanced my hunger. Even the water tasted plastic with a mix of orange juice. I never expected to experience this with Emirates. After enduring the disappointment, all I did was sleep for 3 hours.
I had another interesting event after reaching Dubai. The flight landed at 6.20 AM local time at Dubai and my connection flight (I'm writing this as I'm waiting at the gate) is at 8.30 AM local time. I disembarked the aircraft at 6.30 AM and I had the target to reach the gate by 7.00 AM to complete the boarding without any hassle. But here came the challenge. Dubai airport is so fucking big that taking a detour and heading in a wrong direction to a wrong gate will cause you tonnes of pain in the arse which might even lead to missing the connecting flight. Right after disembarking the aircraft, I rushed to the security check, and luckily there were less people in the queue. Finishing it within 5 minutes, I went to the help desk and checked for the possibility of free upgrade (yeah, I ain't giving up). Hearing ‘no' from the airline authority, I proceeded towards the gate. My gate was A12. I followed the signs and walked for 20 fucking minutes to finally get to an elevator. Getting into the elevator took me 3 floors down and disembarking it, I again followed the sign boards and walked for 3 minutes that got me to a train station. ‘Whaaat?' it was the only expression that struck my mind at that moment. I immediately rushed towards the train boarding point and boarded the first arrived train. It took close to 3 minutes which seemed like a never ending ride to the Gates A station from Gates B station. Disembarking the train, I was displayed with another set of sign boards and walked for another 5 minutes to reach another elevator. ‘Please! I give up,' I had this running in my mind as I was both hungry and sleepy. Disembarking the elevator, I was displayed with another set of sign boards. I, for a moment, started to search for my house as I thought I might have reached Chennai walking this long. And then, thankfully, I noticed a sign board that read “Gate A12”. ‘Phew!' I sighed and walked to the gate. After checking with the airline authority for a possible free upgrade (I never give up) and after hearing “no” from them (damn! I hate people saying no to me), I proceeding to the security check (yes, they do a swab test before they allow you into the boarding gate). The official who did the swab test was too friendly and we had a brief yet fun conversation.
I checked the time and it was 7.20 AM. I exceeded 20 minutes from the target 7 AM but it was still worth a try. To kill my sleep, I decided to open my laptop and ended up typing this article. The boarding for my next flight to Los Angeles will begin any minute now and I will try to write another article with another experience very soon. Stay tuned!
