hello … I am back after 2 hours of rest at the Frankfurt airport … all set to board my second flight … which would take me from Frankfurt to New York.
So, during this “rest” period of mine, I enquired about 2-3 airline persons regarding gate A60. My Lufthansa LH767 brought me till gate B25 (i think i write the no. correctly … coz once I left the gate, I straight away started looking for my next boarding gate, as I had been warned many times that the Frankfurt airport is really very big – I completely agree to that now – and it took people all modes of transport available to reach the boarding gate from their alighting gate)
So, once I found that I am heading in the right direction, I stopped by to freshen up myself and then made it straight towards A60. I kept asking people and taking elevators up and down until I found myself at a train station, where two ladies were waiting for the tube (that is what they call those trains – having two or more carriages – taking passengers from one gate to another inside an airport) I simply joined them. Those two were crew members of the Lufthansa airlines helping passengers who needed assistance to travel. And when the tube came, I simply joined them inside. That cube took me from inside of the airport out to the passage and then again inside and dropped me to terminal A.
Now the search began for gate 60. Lots of walking and lots of looking forward to the sign of gate 60 and yes, one security check of me – minus my belt and shoes – took me to gate 60, where I heaved a sigh of relief after reaching and patiently waited for my flight announcement. There, while waiting, I saw many people lying down trying to catch up with sleep till the next flight begins and others just waiting, looking around, observing people like me and some looking for a completely empty row of 4 seats, even if one seat was occupied, they just ignored it as if nobody is there but still-we-cannot-sit-on-that.
Then, I heard an announcement regarding some flight from Frankfurt being canceled and passengers being offered discounts for alternative flights. And to tell you frankly, I kind of panicked … was it my flight … aisa hua toh main toh bich mein hi latak jaungi … these were precisely my thoughts. Another reason to this was because the time of the announcement was 09.45 a.m. and my flight time, as mentioned in the boarding pass, was 10.15 a.m.
Praying in my heart, I went over to the Lufthansa counter to enquire and the lady – as if having decided to test my patience – asked me to wait for 5 mins while she talked and greeted her colleagues, Merry Christmas. Arre mere Christmas ka bhi toh koi socho – I kept thinking. Then, finally she obliged me and – much to my satisfaction – told me that my flight was bang on time and the announcement would be made shortly. Phew … I almost sighed out aloud while sitting on the couch.
Then, the much awaited moment arrived and the I moved to board the flight after the announcement – again Business, First and rear seats for Economy Class first. I located my seat – 39G – and found a lady seated there already – with the next two seats promptly occupied by her daughter and her husband, in that order. My first thought was – Ye airlines ya meri company walo ne kuch locha toh nahi kiya :O
magar, aise soch ke kuch hone wala toh tha nahi … so I just asked her, that I think there is some confusion here and 39G is my seat. Then, her husband promptly came to action and checked his tickets saying that his family’s seats were 39 D, E, H and G. So, after some checking, it became clear that their seats were the ones left after leaving mine
Then, after putting my cabin luggage in the overhead shafts, I settled down in my seat for another 8 hours of air travel. This one was normal, I was feeling really really sleepy but couldn’t get to sleep. Then, I watched the movies being offered – I saw Julie and Julia, Up and half of G-Force. All this while, the person in front of me kept turning back and looking at me – I am yet to figure out the reason.
It seems, I was the only vegetarian on that flight. Sab pehle mujhe aake mera meal serve kar rahe the, and after that the rest of the flight. What, what did you say, meal ka taste ? kyu mazaak udaa rahe ho bacche ki … ab I would be really rude if I would say ki khaana accha nahi tha, considering ki mujhe itni special service mil rahi thi … but, I would also be lying if I said the food was good/ok/average. I hope you get my drift …
Anyways, the flight finally got over and I got down at the JFK airport at New York, USA.
Thus, I (as my colleague would later introduce me to our clients – a gift from Santa) landed in the US of A … on the 25th of December, 2009.
Rest of my journey from NY to Buffalo … follows in the next post.