Day -1
My travelogue starts with my packing.. Flight was at 7 in the
morning of Nov, the 15th and the earlier night kept my totally
awake. The company had booked tickets in a way that I can check in just 1 bag
of 23 kgs. Hence, I need to dump as much as possible in that and fortunately, I
had a sky bag just fit to be carried as cabin baggage. On feeling happy that
the checkin bag weights just under 23kgs, here comes the first debacle, he
handle broke off L.. Still, I was content with the vertical handle and
continued the packing. Booked Ola cab for the journey to airport and had
multiple calls with the driver to guide him to my apartment. I switched myself
into an awesome Jeans & a nice looking t-shirt, both presented by a cute
friend of mine.. I loved myself in that..
My father wanted to come with me to the airport, (or maybe I wanted?),
but later dropped the plan.. Finally, I stepped out of the house and seconds
before I could board the elevator, here comes the next debacle. The other handle
of the bag broke too L and I was with no other option to travel with it. While
attempting to lift it into the elevator, received the third blow. The broken
handle lever got stuck in my tee and made a small hole. Alas.. worried about it
for few seconds and moved on. As though this is not enough, on coming to
basement, the cab was missing and the driver claims that he is right outside..
cancelled the cab and booked another, but the same cab got booked again. But,
he came this time and I finally left the house bidding good bye to father..
Day 0 (15th Nov)
Reached airport well ahead of time and close all formalities
in order. My packing was perfect not to cause any issues in checkin and
boarding. The flight was delayed by few minutes and I boarded the plane without
any other hassles. Not to miss, had a short nap in the waiting time. British
Airways flight it is.. and I could only get a middle seat in the rear. Spent
most of the time sleeping and watching movies for a short while. Alcohol available
aplenty, but I chose to pamper myself with lot of chocolates, cookies &
some chips. 11 hours air time it was and I finally landed at 12:45 PM local
time. It took quite a bit of time in walking to the immigration counter, given
the mighty Healthrow airport and its Terminal 5 was so vast. Immigration
counter was long, but it was being served fast. A cab pickup was booked by the
company and they were continuously calling me, though I didn’t pick their call J.
Finally, it took an hour for me to collect my baggage and get to my cab. The cab
driver – a young guy was upset about his 1 hour wait, but it was not in my
control. It took more than 70 minutes for me to reach the hotel and I experienced
my first glances of London, its streets and Sunday traffic.
Settled myself, into the hotel, a cute nice small room with
all basic facilities. Connected to wifi and informed friends on my arrival. A
shocker message was waiting for me and put me off completely.
After taking a brief gap, stepped out into the cold evening
and glanced at the surrounding. Made some small purchases and bought a SIM card
too. Got a rhyming no.. 07598987089 from O2. Tried to made Masala oats in the electric
kettle and ended up spooling it.. Activated the new SIM and went to sleep. Jet lag
was chasing me and I was very sleepy even at 6PM..
