30 June 2011
“The fuel leak has been confirmed. This flight cannot take off. Please deplane.” were the words of the captain. It was not the way I expected the trip to start!! The Spice Jet aircraft to New Delhi was all set to take off when we heard this announcement. Luckily, the leak was not detected while flying.
With no inputs from anyone from the airline, the carefully planned trip of Ladakh seemed to be in jeopardy. The trip to Ladakh was planned four months before. We had been busy planning various routes, taking to several travel agents, reducing the cost (Ladakh trips are expensive!!) and booking tickets.
The airline buses took us to the exit gate, which led us to the arrival hall. After few minutes, we were standing at the airline counter to get a new boarding pass. We got it quickly, but it had no information about the flight schedule!! The airline staff had no idea to handle such a situation. “Pass the security and wait at gate 3” was their answer. We went through the security check again!!
There was no staff at the gate. We sat down and starting discussing various options that we could consider in case if we miss our evening bus to Manali. The bus was at 6:30 PM, and we had a lot of buffer time. But with uncertainty over the flights, things could go wrong.
Few people fed up with waiting started making noises. Finally, the airline staff was in action. People with no check-in bags were put into another flight. We did not fall into that category.
There was another flight at 11:20 AM, and the airline staff decided to put the remaining people on that flight. It took quite some time to get the seat numbers for all people and to start boarding. At the tarmac, we had to identify our check-in bags. It led to further delay.
We congratulated ourselves for starting the trip on a weekday. On weekends, flights are generally full, making it difficult to accommodate other planes.
A new drama unfolded inside the plane. The airline had a limited stock of food. Air hostesses were clueless about handling such a situation. With some struggle, they found some cup noodles and offered the same to hungry passengers. I never imagined that I would be eating cup noodles in flight!! (Cup noodles has become a norm on domestic flights in India)
T1 terminal at New Delhi was a mess. It took us a long time to get the check-in baggage.
The HPTDC bus to Manali was to depart from Connaught place. Taking a taxi was not a good idea considering the traffic jams in New Delhi. Hence, we opted for the Metro train.
Murphy was in full action on that day. The Metro train seemed to go extremely slow. I had been on several metros, but none of them went so slow. Even a road engine goes faster!! An announcement is heard “Due to some problem, there will be a delay in Metro service!!” What a day!!
After some time, the train started to go at a respectable speed. Our stop was at Rajeev Chowk, a major junction. People outside were trying to get on the train, unmindful that there will be people getting down. Police were deployed to control the mad crowd. What a shame!!
We got out of the station and hired an auto to cover the last km. In the middle of the journey, the auto stopped, and the driver could not restart it!! After several tries, it made a sound and then got into action. It was the final hiccup!!
We were just in time for the Manali bus!! Ladakh dreams were about to start!!!!
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| Pangong Tso in Ladakh |
sandeep
allz well that endz well 🙂 and the post endz well with a beautiful shot 🙂
Srik
What a start. I hope that was just the final hicup. Waiting for the next post, Aravind.
– Srik
The wild
glad to hear you made it on time ,thumb rule which i always follow as well is to have buffer time on such long journeys for such eventualities ,hope you enjoyed ladakh 🙂
Santosh
Ah Arvind, loved this… 🙂
I feel for sure this would be one of your most memorable trips so far.. waiting for more…
rakesh holla
I like last pick…Nice start waiting for the next post:-)
rahul aggarwal
damn!!! u must have had a long day…making to the manali bus…but good u finally made it!!!
waiting for the next post about ur adventure and what all u expored there…
regards
rahul
Aravind GJ
Sandeep, Santhosh, Rakesh, Rahul
Thanks.
Srik,
Thanks. Ladakh story will continue!!
Arjun,
The extra buffer time we had saved us on that day.
Aishwarya Belliappa
:)… I will never forget how long it took for the Noodles and sandwich to arrive….
Aravind GJ
Aishwarya,
🙂