Finally it was the morning of 2nd April . It was one night before the travel when I was not anxious at all. I slept like a log and woke up with the alarm. I am generally an anxious traveller and am fitful the night before a travel . That was not the case this time . Because of the awesome sleep I was all raring to go and in wonderful spirits . We had a light breakfast and bid goodbye to super sunny for a day Leeds for the next 14 days.
In Manchester our formalities got sorted real quick. We got some alcohol from the duty free shops and spent our time well reading books. The flight was a new one from the carrier Indigo flying direct to New Delhi. It was to be a gruelling 10 hours 30 mins long flight. We had extra leg room seats. They were relatively quite comfortable. It was not the best of the best flights. The in flight entertainment needed a lot of work. There was also quite mediocre food service. But as such it was worth the money one pays.
We reached Delhi on schedule at 430am. Immigration though swift was marred by beuracratic red tape. There was some manual form to be filled but though there were many personnel around they did not seem forth coming with help. We being Indians were ok but we saw people from other nationalities struggling. I hope the officials are more proactive in ensuring a smooth landing experience for everyone.
Immigration done we went through customs and made our way to the domestic terminal. It was a very smooth walk through the canopied walkway. In the domestic terminal K hit on his priorities. Idli.com was the first port of call where we gorged on some delicious idli, vada and curd rice. We spent some time people watching after which it was time to make way to the boarding gate.
As we were approaching there was a call for K. He was escorted by an air line staff . There were some prohibited items in the bag! It came as a surprise but we were assured by the airline staff it would all be ok. A CISF personnel came and checked . It so happened we had got some perfumes and similar for relatives . It ended up being in the same suitcase and the alarm was raised cos it seemed to exceed 2 litres. They checked and calculated and we were given the clean chit . K did confess that the suitcase was packed very well and now it had all been super messed up!
Well that was interesting. After that we queued up for boarding. Suddenly one person came up and asked if a phone belonged to someone . It was mine! I have no idea how it had ended up where it had ended up! But it was like a miracle and I was super fortunate to find my phone.
The domestic flight was quite good where we slept like dead bugs. We finally landed in Bhubaneswar after close to 24 hours of journey. We were hit by the harsh 35 degree centigrade heat upon emerging from 18 degrees in the flight. The sight of Papa at the gates made me realise I was finally home!
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