Chennai - Dubai - Paris

Date 04-October-2014

Today I traveled from India to Paris via Dubai.  It was first time I was traveling to any foreign soil. It was day full of events. First I started my journey from my home in Chennai. I was not feeling well, having some back pain and some cough. I was unsure how I will travel to such a long distance and for next 17 hours without trouble.  But with faith in god I started from home to airport by taxi. Once I was at airport, I was feeling bit better.  May be it was because of the chaos around or crowd.  My flight time was 4’ O clock in the morning.  I started checked in process, security check and immigration process. It took less than one hour. So before 2 ‘O clock I was waiting for flight.

Flight arrived little late by 15 minutes. I was not aware that time that these 15 min delay is going to cause headache. I boarded a huge plane. It was Boeing 777. First halt was Dubai. It was 4 hours journey. During this journey I spent time to figure out front seat monitor operations. I spent some time watching some cartoons, movies etc. I took around 1 hour sleep too. Air hostess were very beautiful and doing their job very neatly. Just 1 hour before landing to Dubai I had some breakfast. We landed in Dubai around at 7.50 AM IST.  My next connecting flight to Paris was at 8.20 AM. So I was having very less time to do all security check and catch next flight. I and my co passengers were running to catch flight. Dubai airport is so big and we took take train to reach terminal. After going through some conveyor belts, lifts and train finally I reached to gate for Paris flight. I was probably last person to board the plane. So I was having almost no time to see Dubai airport. All I understood that it is very big place and extremely busy, clean and advanced.  While landing to Dubai I was able to see the ‘Al Khalipha’.  It’s toooo much tall. Just amazing.

So after running around for some time finally I was able to catch next flight to Paris. It was bulky plane Air bus 380. When I rushed inside plane I immediately realized that I am surrounded by so many foreigners. So initially I was bit nervous. An old French lady was sitting next to me with her young daughter.  On my left side there were many Korean people were sitting. There were many kids. I observed that all Korean were watching movies, children were playing games on monitors. I noted that Koreans are big fan of games and action films.

Plane took off safely and I headed towards Paris. Monitors were continuously showing our location, altitude, speed, time to destination etc. By this time I became expert in operating chair TV. There were three cameras where we can see from pilot’s view, down view and one camera showing complete plane. Now after settling down I scrolled all channels, movies etc. But I was bored to see any movie.  In the meantime breakfast came. It was vegetarian since we mentioned it already while ticket booking. Fruit juice was very nice.

Our plane traveled over Turkey and Iraq before entering Europe. While flying over Iraq I was nervous due to war situation over there. Probably it was also because shot down incidence happed to Malaysian plane some time back. I was looking various city’s names on the screen which I heard only in the news. It was different experience. Then after spending seven hours in plane we finally reached to Paris.

Here, shocking news was waiting for us. After waiting for some time for luggage, we were told that checked in luggage haven’t reached Paris. It was the result of first flights 15 minute delay.  It was not just for me but also for many co-passengers. Now was clue less what to do. However, airline assured us that they are sending here by next flight. But I was worrying very much since all my office and warm cloths, charger, battery for camera and above all food items were in that Bag. There was no chance to survive.

However, airline staff already knew about this problem and they promised us the home delivery of the bags after it receive them from next flight. So I arrived at hotel with just one bag. Although I was prepared for this situation but I never thought that it could happen.  

After arriving to hotel I just relaxed a bit. I was thinking about how to adjust the whole time if luggage does not arrive. In the evening I went to port de versali.  I purchased navigo pass for five modes of Travel. It is a pass for local commuting. It works for five modes of transportation in Paris. After purchasing this pass I went to one market nearby and purchased some needful grocery. Then I returned to hotel. Since I was not having my luggage with me I was not sure what to do about dinner. But (thanks to Gopi our colleague) I was invited for dinner. It was first dinner in Paris or Europe I had. I will remember it.

Thus, first day was full of events. It was filled with many variations in my moods. Finally, I went to bed after very long day.