Even since I was a kid, it was one of my burning desires to see foreign land. After joining the IT Industry it was certain that my chance will also come, sooner or later. Although it turned out to be a longer wait than expected but I was glad that my chance DID came finally. Excitement was in the air and preparations were aplenty (Thanks to the chilling weather expected there and the foreign policies of my company). The entire penultimate week was spent in shopping like crazy. Everything was going fine till the night on the last day, but then……. I slept. While I was supposed to catch a flight early morning, so was supposed to leave around 2.30 – But the eyes parted only @ 2.20. Woke up & headed to the airport in a jiffy. To add to the chaos - Realized in the cab mid-way that am not carrying my ticket (How could anyone do that!) – Came back again & picked the ticket, thus killing more of the crucial time.
By the time I reached airport – I was nervous of having screwed my first flight abroad. It was great that my colleague Tiru was waiting outside. The transition was smooth & the customs were friendlier than expected. Met some ol’ friends from Infy @ the airport – Those guys were going to London for an Iron Maiden concert (And I always thought you need a ‘reason’ to travel, the farther the distance – the bigger the reason should be). Nice to have been proved wrong by my pals. Finally time arrived to board the flight. Though have traveled innumerous times in the domestic circuit, this carrier was interesting nonetheless. It was a fundoo flight - full of gizmos (Buttons by the side for TV remote, reading lights, headphones, hostess’s assistance etc.), a TV screen (Though they have it in KingFisher too) and many other small details which can only be experienced (Read – I don’t remember them). Time started to elapse in the flight & the teetotaller in me gave way to the adventurous & experimenting Gemini. Most of the people who have been on International flights earlier, used to swear by the quality, taste & varieties of the available liquors there. So while I was around - I wanted to savor the experience. So I tried a white wine initially (Which was nectarous) and followed it with red wine (which was acerbic). After the latter experience - I gave up on further experimenting.
It was a stop-over flight via London. So we got a chance to spend some time in the Heathrow Airport's Terminal IV. And buoy.. What a place! A blazing red Ferrari was the first sight, we immediately started shooting it (as if it was a once-in-a-lifetime sight). Many unique and first time views followed. It was less of an Airport and more of a hugeeeee shopping mall. A must notice thing there was the people. ALL of them had great taste (going by the clothes they were wearing & the way they accessorized them with complementing stuff). The terminal looked like a ramp on fire. Everything was an eye candy & we exercised our eyes so much that they cried for sleep. Time finally came to board the next flight and we were supposed to go through the painful verification process again. The Immigration officer turned out to be a true bastard. He picked me & my friend in the lot. Asked for our passports, made us sit separately while he was verifying our passports, asked us to show 'another' photo identity proof, sign in a blank sheet etc. etc. Although it lasted only for 5-10 mins. – It was really embarrassing & caused me tension unlike anything. We came to know how Indians are harassed outside (And what an irony coz going by his fluent Hindi he can only be another Indian or a Pakistani).
Nonetheless - the journey continued and we reached Toronto. Toronto was one of the most well illuminated city from a bird eye's view (I’d seen Kolkata & Delhi on a Diwali day but this beats them even on a regular day). The weather turned out to be warmer than expected. We went through the baffling process of immigration again. Thank god the officer was friendly this time but was slow as a snail. As we finished the stampings, we went ahead to collect our jumbo sized baggages. When we tried to look for the trolleys, we realized that even they are CHARGED. And that too @ $ 2 apiece. Throughout our lives we'd kept complaining that things are so expensive in India, and that was the first moment when we realized how wrong we were! To add to the problem - All that we were carrying was $ 300 in 3 $ 100 notes and a fancy WTM card. None of them could help us there. Anyways - We managed to come out of the situation (By using our good ol' Indian Credit Cards). After that it was the time to search for a taxi. The only signboard which signaled towards them read -- "Taxi/Limo". As any other first timer, we were apprehensive in going towards that direction, So we asked a security guard for a 'General Taxi' -- He pointed us towards the longest Ford I'd seen till date! Since we had no other option - We decided - "Let's see whatever happens!" It turned out to be good. That was just like any other general taxi that they have here (The names include Chevrolet Optra, Hyundai Elantra, Nissan .... and many others). Before boarding the taxi, while we were returning the trolleys - We realized the importance of putting things back in their places when we got back 25c on placing the trolleys in their holders.
The journey to our apartment was short. Mainly coz the Ford was cruising @ 120kmph consistently. The driver turned out to be a Pakistani and spoke fluent Hindi. On dropping us - He wasn't shy enough to ask for a tip and we were more than glad to oblige (Only to know later that he had overcharged us already in the fare). Finally - after arriving in our respective suites - The warmth & the sight of it <
Here are the sample pics> made us so glad that we forgot all our weariness after a 24hr + flight across multiple time zones.
Every journey is a new experience in itself. But this one was really special (As all other 'firsts' are!)
