Think about it. Istanbul is straddling Europe and Asia. I'm flying to Dubai, in the Middle East. Then India. Busy day for me!
Waiting to board my flight to Dubai. Hungover, tired, and stressed. Trying to leave it behind.
The plane is massive, and full of people that clearly do not know how to travel. Relax, they're not going to leave without you, and it's not a big deal whether you're the first on board.
No free wifi at the airport sucks-I'm finding it's really hit and miss and totally depends on the country. Also unaccounted for is the difficulty in finding a free socket I can charge my electronics with. At the hostel, you're barely in your room except to sleep, so I don't want to leave stuff like that out while I'm not there-it's too tempting. While I'm sleeping its the same problem-I'm afraid ill wake up to an empty charger.
So basically if i want things charged, I have to sit in my room and wait. Naturally, I'm about to board a 10 HR flight with a dead iPod and an iPad at 14%.
The flight is delayed about a half hour, which isn't too bad; I have a 2 HR layover in Dubai, so it should be fine.
I get on the plane and find my seat, which is at the very front of a section so there's no one in front of me and I have a ton of leg room. Score! As I'm unpacking and getting settled, a steward comes and asks if I would mind changing seats so a family can use the space for a basinette. Well, I would mind, but I'm not that much of a jerk so I agreed. I got a window seat and an empty one next to me, and they gave me the food being served in business class. I sipped free champagne all flight, so it worked out alright. oh, and they had a charging station in the stewards' bay, so they charged my iPad for me while i was on the flight.
We land about an hour and a half behind schedule and now I'm getting antsy. I don't know what the pilot was doing, but I did not purchase a ticket with a scenic night tour of Dubai.
We land and taxi into the plane's parking space, which is obviously the furthest point from the terminal I need to be in. There are shuttles waiting, and these took us on another half hour drive to get to the terminal. Now it's getting close.
I walk in expecting to be filtered into a separate direction for connecting flights, but everyone is being told to go the same way. I take the escalator up to see the longest line of security I have witnessed on this trip so far. Easily a two hour wait. I was faced with a moral dilemma: do i wait my turn, like a good Canadian, or do I throw the 'bows up and make something happen? I mean, everyone was in the same boat as I...
Elbows were up and I crosschecked my way through many disgruntled passengers to let security know i was going to miss my flight if I wasn't bumped to the front of the line...usually they do this for you in Europe or north America if you're catching a connecting flight, but either way I thought once I brought this to their attention I'd be sent straight through.
That would be a false assumption. He just pointed to the line and said "what do you expect me to do? They're also all waiting." that was the last straw for me-I pushed past him, threw my bag on the security belt, scooted through the scanner, and was on my way. No one stopped me, which proves the whole thing was just a disorganized disaster. Not cool, Emirates. Not cool. You WILL be hearing from me, and i do expect something to be done about this. Not the service I paid for.
I put my head down and literally sprinted to the gate for my connecting flight, which was on final call and at the very end of the terminal.
Much smaller plane, middle seat, surrounded by 3 huge Indian guys. Doesn't look like I'm getting much sleep tonight. Note to self: stop booking night flights! They make travel so much harder and tiring! Unless I were flying business class, in which case, note to future rich self: fly all night!
I really wish I had been on a direct flight from Istanbul to Chennai. This whole transfer business makes it so much tougher. Also difficult and not pictured: taking money out before I get to India. Let's hope they have ATMs by now...I remember there was a point in which they didn't have computers in their banks, and everything was kept by hand ledger.
I slept for most of the taxi ride, although we had to stop for a bathroom break at some point. The cab pulls over to this roadside stand with refreshments and says it's in there. In where? This is a shack! Yeah...We walked behind, through a metal workshop, into the sketchiest room I have ever been in in my life. Straight out of Hostel or the Saw franchise. Corrugated metal on all sides, no light, flies buzzing above the hole in the ground that was to be the toilet. GREAT. What choice did I have? Thank god I bought that roll of Charmin To Go in Shoppers before I left on my trip.
TMI? That's India for ya.
Last night, I was supposed to go on Pradakshina (walk around the mountain, its a Hindu ritual here), but I opted out after hiking up the mountain with a bunch of kids earlier in the evening.
The group that did go, including two of my close friends, were attacked. They were robbed and they were beaten. I am so rattled right now, because I was supposed to be there, too. they've told us not to go at night anymore, or in small groups--larger groups only. Combine that with the recent bombings in Mumbai, and India is becoming a rather scary place to be for the next couple of months.
