Travelling to phoren land requires a huge bit of preparations and I was glad Murphy's law didn't play tricks on me this time. Considering it was my maiden trip abroad, it was surprisingly arranged well by me all alone, without my family there to help me out. Ahem, I had a smug grin on my face and I patted myself - a job well done! :-)
So there I was on the Delhi bound Hyderabad flight. All the last minute calling up relatives and friends was duly completed while waiting at the airport - so much so that my cellphone battery started giving signs of fatigue. I knew it had a few mins of energy left, so I saved the rest for the last and finished all calls by the time I boarded the jet at 2 am at Delhi.
Mumbai aiport in July 1st week was hell! It was a crazy downpour again (that's become a norm every year now) and so flights were getting delayed and cancelled. That ensured that my travel plans were changed to 'via-Delhi' instead of 'via-Mumbai', and there went the chance to meet any my family at the Mumbai airport.
Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi.
Between 11 pm to 3 am this place is a hogwash! A fish market! A place worse than Churchgate station at peak hours! I mean, there were to be thousands of passengers taking hundereds of outbound flights to godforsaken places, and thousands more to see-off these passengers. Add to them the multitude of airport staff, immigration officials, airline staff - u name it! Total chaos all around. A first time traveller can feel totally lost here. In a way this works good for passengers - it makes you go through the check-in and immigration in a jiffy (apart from the wait in the queue) simply because the officials have loads of passengers to clear in a matter of few hours.
To add to the confusion - I was flying Swiss Air (at least thats what my Travel Desk promised, and I could see it on my itinerary and ticket too). But to my suprise, my flight to Zurich was gonna be Air Canada, and then it would be some small-time airline - Cirrus. Nowhere was the name Swiss - just that my tour happened to be connected through Switzerland! The travel agents sure are capable of juggling their hapless passengers around!
The beginning of the flight seemed pathetic, sitting alone on the twin seat. How long could one survive boredom by listening to crap opera songs on the audio channel and flipping pages of 'Cosmopolitan' in French? After a few hours of forced sleep and gorgings on assorted snacks and a glass of Tropicana... the feeling was all numb! The flight was hardly 50% occupied. There was this middle aged Sardaarji on my right - who was luckily the lone guy in a 3-seater, so he stretched out and treated himself to a few hours of blissful sleep. Bored with the magazine I was reading, I looked around...., saw a few more Sikhs on the flight. Proof enough that the flight was headed to Canada! :-)
8 hours later, the flight landed in the Swiss city of Zurich.
If one word is used to describe Zurich Airport, its 'Classy'!. I mean it was my first trip abroad and I was not subjected to an array of airdromes to proudly make this comparison, but I'd heard a lot about these places - praises about Frankfurt, cribs about Charles-de-Gaulle, fascinations about Heathrow... to name a few, and this seemed one of the best!
Conversation with the German gal
It was a 3 hour wait at the airport and it was nice as I spent some time strolling around the gigantic place. While waiting at the lobby, I entered into conversation with a pretty lass sitting on my left. Seemed she too was waiting for the same flight, but I was wrong - which I realized after her revelation. But the most interesting part of the talk was the prelude to it...
"Are you waiting for the Frankfurt flight?", she asked innocently.
"Hmm, actually I'm waiting for the one to Stuttgart." (shucks, couldn't I say something more interesting? That I was Tom Cruise in disguise, and I was shooting for MI4 at Zurich Airport!)
"Oh, well, I think that one's 20 minutes after mine", she replied. "By the way, I'm, Sandra. Sandra Mueller."
"Oh, interesting name! Never heard of someone being called 'Sandra Sandra Mueller'!" (I kicked myself, what stupid sense of humor!!) "My name's Kumar....", I said, stretching out for a handshake.
Surprisingly that comment made Sandra laugh out loud and I knew I was spared... ha ha! That was enough to start up a conversation. She was a student, graduating in arts - history to be precise, and we had an interesting discussion about life in general in Europe, about the liberal arts (me hardly well-informed in this...), and the places to see in Germany! (there are indeed lots of great places around Stuttgart worth visiting - lakes, castles, rivers, forests.... you name it)
Only regret? Me did not take her contacts before bidding adieau (I realized that some time later). And it was not exactly because she was damn attractive, but because she was among the rare Germans who spoke good English. I would soon learn it the hard way in Stuttgart - finding a localite speaking good English is as rare as finding an honest auto-rickshaw driver in Chennai!
Interesting places in the Airport
Camel Smoking Lounge. (notice the tagline 'Tobacco Seriously Damanges Health' below the name on the board. Good na!)
Swiss Watches Showroom. Awesome collection of the originals - all the best brands.
As my flight for Stuttgart took-off, the Zurich skyline became clearer. Switzerland seemed all the more beautiful from the sky, and I finally realized what's there with this country that's so attractive and so pleasing to the eyes, especially to our Bollywood directors. By far its one of the most beautiful places on earth! Plans to visit the Swiss Alps are on the cards, so we would surely be having a trip to heaven sooner than later.
Within 20 mins the small aircraft landed at Stuttgart and I was soon filled by the fever of football! It was 9th of July, the day when Italy and France met in the finals of the World Cup.
Jet Lag? What's that....? :-)
Stuttgart is a beautiful city - surrounded by mountains and very green. It felt goooood! :-)
Next post: World Cup finals day! 9 July 2006.
