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Warning: Long post of a long journey. Impatient souls beware!

This travelogue traces my journey back to Virginia Tech, USA after a three month stay in Mumbai. Date: 12th Aug, 2010.

The route taken was-

Flight #1: Jet Airways Flight 9W228 to Brussels (BRU) from Mumbai (BOM)

Flight #2: Jet Airways Flight 9W228 to Newark (EWR) from Brussels (BRU)

Flight #3: US Airways Flight 4181 to Roanoke (ROA) from New York (LGA)

* * * * *

When I started from home, I was mentally preparing myself for a long boring journey, firstly because I was travelling alone and secondly, because unlike my previous journey where the thought of “Back to Aamchi Mumbai” had kept me excited throughout, this time there was nothing exciting to look forward to. But, destiny had other plans!

At 11.00pm, the Departure area of Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport was teeming with crowd, as usual. August being the annual “student export” time of the year,  it looked more like a college campus than an airport. The display screens were already showing “Security Started” against Jet Airways flight 9W 228 to Newark/Brussels but I decided to spend some time with the family and waited outside till 11.30pm. As a result, when I eventually entered the check-in gates, there was a serpentine queue of more than 100 passengers ahead of me at the four Jet Airways counters that were catering to all their night departures simultaneously- London, Hong Kong, Johannesburg and my flight, while also dealing with double reservations on overbooked flights! Quite a mess! After a tiring wait of 75 minutes, I managed to check-in my bags at 12.45am. I requested that my carry-on baggage also be checked in and they readily agreed.

The immigration formalities took just 15 minutes but then it was time for another gigantic queue- this time for security. The exercise took 30 minutes and I was finally down in the departure gates area by 1.30am, less than an hour to departure. As I walked the long way towards Gate 15, the signs against my fight changed from “Security” to “Now Boarding” and for the first time, without waiting a single minute at the gate area, I got to walk straight into the aerobridge and I was inside the Airbus A330-200 by 1.45am. I have always got boring co-passengers and was prepared for the same, but this time I was in for a pleasant surprise. A young girl, roughly my age, came searching for seat 29C and before I could react, she asked me if I would exchange my seat to a middle seat in the center four rows ahead so that her male friend could accompany her. I refused to give up my hard-earned window seat and I was almost sure I had pissed her off even before the flight takes off! I tried to save the situation by telling her about my interest in aviation photography and hence the interest in the window seat and some small talk about the destination university, course etc. and hoped it would help ease the tension!

At exactly 2.18am, as scheduled, the captain announced that we had clearance for pushback and after a long taxi to the Kurla end of the main runway, we had a smooth takeoff at 2.25am. I could spot the Western Express Highway, Santa Cruz and Khar stations, S.V. Road and a brief glimpse of the shimmering Bandra-Worli Sea Link before the rain clouds consumed us and it was darkness all around. The dinner (or whatever that can be called) was served around 3.30am and the vegetarian option had chhole with what can be best described as a puri-idli fusion! Taste was delicious, living up to the Jet Airways standards. Finishing the dinner, I browsed the in-flight entertainment and happened to stumble upon an episode of popular Hindi comedy of 1990s – Zabaan Sambhal Ke! I was surprised that I still could sing along the title track even after so many years! After that, I don’t know what came to my mind that I decided to watch the recently released not-so-famous Hindi movie Atithi Tum Kab Jaaoge. The comedy was watchable yet midway through it I slept off, only to wake up and finish it before morning breakfast was served. The vegetarian option had a small masala dosa, upma with sambhar and red chutney alongwith a croissant. The non-veg option with egg omelet and chicken cutlet looked very uninteresting and soggy.  As we had just finished eating, the captain announced commencement of landing procedures for Brussels. I fished out my camera to capture European countryside and my co-passenger Akshata commented, “Hey, that’s a nice camera!” End of a prolonged uncomfortable silence since takeoff!

We landed at Brussels with a loud jerk at 7.29am local time and the captain happily announced his achievement of arriving 21 minutes before schedule! As it always happens in predominantly Indian flights, scores of restless passengers were up and blocking the aisle even before we could taxi our way to the aerobridge! A very long walk through the terminal and a longer queue at the end of it for mandatory security check took 45 minutes and I was back in the gate area of Terminal B by 8.30am. At security I realized I had left my jacket in the plane, so I quickly walked along the moving walkways towards Gate 38 at the extreme end of the terminal where our plane was parked and requested the staff to retrieve it, which they did promptly. Having 40 minutes to boarding, I walked back a long way (moving walkways are uni-directional) to the souvenir shop to buy a few fine Belgian chocolates. Long walk back to Gate 38 and I was told the departure is delayed and would start only by 10.15am. Meanwhile I met a couple of students joining Virginia Tech this Fall and they insisted on taking a walk around the terminal. Long Walk #2! When we returned, we were told that the plane had developed a technical snag and departure was pushed back to 1.00pm!

A few passengers were getting restless and immediately Jet Airways staff, once again proving their excellent customer service, announced that they had meal coupons for everyone which could be used anywhere in the airport terminal to have lunch while the plane is repaired. By now, I had reached a friendly comfort level with Akshata and her male friend, so the five of us decided to go together to explore the food options at the terminal and spend our coupons worth 18 Euros each on some sumptuous meals! Long Walk #3!  As we reached halfway across the terminal, it was announced “Jet Airways passengers for Flight 9W 228 to Newark start boarding immediately!” The prospect of not being able to use the free food coupons left us disappointed for a while but then we realized most of the passengers were anyways busy buying food and would not board the plane anytime soon, so we decided to join the crowd and rushed to a nearby grab and go outlet to make the most of the 18 Euros we had! A long queue meant we could not try the Pizza counter. I just asked a waitress if we were allowed to buy chocolates with the food coupon. She replied, “Yeah take anything, just spare our beer glasses!” and all hell broke loose! More than a dozen passengers attacked the fridge holding a variety of chocolates and picked up all they could in the stipulated amount. The lady at the billing counter happily added muffins and cupcakes worth the amount remaining after the chocolates were billed to complete the 18 Euro limit! Meanwhile Jet Airways representatives kept pleading the passengers to rush back to the aircraft! The scene at the boarding aerobridge was amusing with passengers with plastic bags filled with chocolates and some even with pizza in hand boarding the plane in a hurry!

As everyone settled down, the staff realized we were one passenger short! A series of announcements asking Rucha Sharma to board immediately did not yield any results. The pilot announced with regret that he had ATC clearance for 12.00pm takeoff but that was now gone thanks to the missing passenger! Finally at 12.30pm, Miss Rucha Sharma arrived and got a rousing welcome with the passengers breaking into a spontaneous round of applause and cheering! By now, me and Akshata, who studied at the college opposite mine in Mumbai, started chatting about nostalgia-inducing places in Matunga and in the process, didn’t realize our takeoff was bang over downtown Brussels and missed taking photos of the beautiful city! No regrets though, the sights are all saved in my mental memory! After some time, we tried playing the Multiplayer games on the In-flight entertainment but they were not fun enough. By this time lunch was served, comprising of Veg Jalfrezy, jeera rice, dal tadka, salad, curd and pickle. Post lunch, all cabin lights were turned off and all window shutters closed, creating a very sleep inducing atmosphere. After a long discussion over available movies, Akshata and I narrowed down on Delhi-6 as the choice to watch next. The movie, and the sleepy atmosphere helped pass the next four hours when the airhostesses came out with the snacks. Piping hot Ragda Pattice was exactly what was needed to freshen up now! This was followed by Belgian chocolate ice cream.

By 2.00pm local US time, we were in the airspace around New York and our approach into Newark was such that it gave us a beautiful view of Manhattan skyscrapers and the vast industrial areas on New Jersey side, and this being my third ‘darshan’ of New York city in eight months, I was playing guide to Akshata showing her NYC landmarks from the air. All was going well until we reached an altitude of 400 feet and Expected Time to Landing 00:02 minutes when the pilot suddenly applied full throttle and pulled the aircraft up steeply, gaining altitude and stabilizing it around 3000 feet mark and announced, “Guys, if you were wondering what’s going on, there was a plane on the runway and hence ATC asked us for a go-around!” Tragedy averted! This gave us a second chance to see New York City all over again and Akshata, who had missed the Statue of Liberty the first time, managed to spot it this time, with some help from me. We finally landed safely at 2.45pm local time, 2 hours 15 minutes behind schedule!

The disembarking took 15 minutes and the long queue at the Immigration counters ate up another 30 minutes. Now I was counting every minute as I had a connecting flight to take from LaGuardia, after negotiating peak hour New York traffic to reach there! While we were in the queue, an elderly gentleman from our flight, not knowing English at all, kept walking to wrong areas and after a couple of shouts of “Sir, please wait” yielded no result, the African-American security lady shouted in Hindi- “Kaka, yahaan!” and it worked! Things you need to learn when managing an airport in New Jersey! As I walked down to Baggage Claim after the immigration formalities, I was stopped by a sign that read- “Baggage Carts cost $5” Yes sir, Welcome to USA- the free country where nothing is free!

The baggage had arrived before me so it was a breeze collecting it and walking out to the terminal but a long queue wasted 10 precious minutes in boarding the elevator to go to the ground level for Ground Transportation to LaGuardia. The shuttle arrived at 4.00pm, four passengers including me boarded, and just when I thought we were on our way to LGA, the driver took the shuttle to Terminal A to pick up one more passenger. Out from there he drove back to Terminal B where I had boarded, and picked up one more passenger. By now it was already 4.35pm and I was getting nervous. Finally we took the Pulaski Skyway and into the Holland Tunnel, which surprisingly had very little traffic for that time of the day, and out into downtown Manhattan. The driver knew bylanes across Chinatown and he avoided major traffic to get onto Manhattan Bridge and out into Brooklyn, and there the sprint stopped. He had promised us that we would take the Queens Expressway and not face any more traffic lights but as my luck would have it, an accident had blocked two lanes of the highway and traffic crawled at a snail’s pace. Although my flight was at 7.25pm, I had told the driver it is at 6.30pm and I need to be there by 6.00pm by hook or by crook! A little rash driving in the hopes of a good tip and we did manage to reach US Airways terminal of LaGuardia airport at 5.45pm local time. The check-in counter was empty and I explained to a lady there about me coming from an international flight and hence being allowed two free checked bags and she was extremely co-operative. The process took less than 10 minutes.

I had purchased a can of apple juice from my “free food coupon” at Brussels and I was asked to drink it right there or throw it (I chose the former!) before going into Security. The X-ray scanners showed two strange circular objects in my carry-on baggage and I was asked to step aside for extra scrutiny. The lady inspecting my bags got chatty after I told him about my 24 hour flight and studying at Virginia Tech and the security drill ended up being just a formality with the lady just smiled seeing the two strange objects which were nothing but steel “dabbas” filled with ‘thepla’! Time now- 6:30pm. Knowing it would get late reaching home I decided to grab a pizza from Joey’s and the extremely slow attendant wasted my 20 precious minutes in getting the order done. Time now- 6:50pm.Quickly finishing the dinner, I rushed to Gate 4 for boarding only to be told the flight US 4181 to Roanoke, VA is indefinitely delayed! At 7:15pm, we were asked to move to Gate 2 for boarding. I looked out, there was no plane there! Something fishy! The lady at the gate shooed everyone back to Gate 4! Finally at 7.30pm, we were allowed to step on to the tarmac and board the tiny turboprop DHC Dash-8 plane.

On all my domestic flights by US carriers, I had seen only aged, grumpy females as air-hostesses but Surprise! Surprise! This flight had an extremely cute looking young blonde air-hostess- the types seen only in movies! My co-passenger was a US Airways pilot just relieved off duty and he explained me the orientation of the runways at LGA before dozing off to a much needed sleep. At 7.50pm, our captain announced “Currently we are lined up 14th for takeoff so we are gonna sit here for quite a long time” and as an afterthought added, “Yes, I know Engine Number 1 is not turned on, but I promise I will turn it on before we take off!” Thank you very much! He kept his promise and we took off at 8.15pm making our way across the beautiful gleaming lights of New York City stretching for as far as the eyes could see! An unforgettable sight! The beautiful spectacle was seen for 15 minutes before rain clouds played spoilsport. The “beverage service” in the domestic flight consisted of one glass of either cranberry juice or Coke or Sprite, served free. No other choice, no second servings. Have it or leave it. The toilet in this plane was the smallest I ever saw, measuring no more than 3 feet x 3 feet. No kidding!

Once above the clouds, the entire journey presented a beautiful view of dusk sky lit up in orange, green (yes, first time saw green color of sky!) and deep blue. After an eventful noisy flying of 1 hour or so, we started the descent towards Roanoke and the cabin air pressure was not maintained properly causing severe discomfort and pain in my ears. We landed at a completely deserted Roanoke airport at 10.00pm and the pilot, taking the most advantage of this situation, taxied the plane at full speed across the runway, onto the taxiways, across another runway and a sharp turn onto the tarmac, reminding me of those “F-1” rickshaw drivers in India! The passengers alighted in two minutes flat; I walked up to the terminal and out into the Baggage Claim area where my bags arrived in less than one minute and bingo! From the plane to out of the airport terminal in less than 10 minutes! That was the fastest I have ever been out of any airport! What an end to a long exciting journey!