Travel Stories · The Jinx Files

Try Another Day

True story. Set during the period of my life when making stupid travel mistakes was my Superpower.
…a follow up from First International Flight.

This was somewhere around October or November 2014. I had already left American Express, and started working for a company named Songdew. I had about 10–12 days of free time before I joined my new job and this was THE perfect time for a vacation.

My brother had travel plans related to work, so I gave up any hope to visit Singapore.

01

Travel Jinx

Brother cancels his work trip to Singapore. A friend visits him on the exact same dates. What an Ass. Grrrr!!!! :x

😤

Next, I tried to convince my parents to take a short vacation with me but the closest to travel we ended up doing was a sightseeing of Delhi. Dilli Darshan as we call it in India. WTH!

02

Travel Jinx

Parents' idea of a vacation: sightseeing of Delhi. The city we already live in. All 10–12 days. Wasted. 🙁

🙃

Six months later

Finally. This is it.

Fast forward six months. Having spent a few months with the new organisation I was aching to take a proper break. I had not taken a holiday since 2007. But guess what?

My Travel-Jinx was finally going to get over!

My brother was getting married and I was making plans to join him and his friends for his bachelor's trip in Phuket. Woohoo!

The Setup So here I was, excited once again and this time, the reason for the happiness was twice over. My boss was teasing me at work and telling me all the crazy things I should expect during my visit. I packed my luggage in a small duffel bag. Enough for an extended weekend. Passport. Check. Friends Sahil and Prateek — meeting me at the airport. Check.

Once they arrived, we went for a well deserved smoke before our crazy holiday. They had bought some alcohol along, so we got arranging our luggage to get them checked in.

All set! We are ready to check in to one of the most memorable trips of my life.

The walk to check-in

One question. Everything changes.

As we walked towards the check-in counter, what followed was the most expensive conversation I have ever had without spending a single rupee.

✈️

Airport · Check-In Queue · 2015

Tap "Continue" to relive the moment. If you dare.

P

Prateek Saheb, are you carrying your passport? You know right, you cannot afford to miss this flight. That would be another of your stupid travel mistakes.

S

Saheb Yeah dude! All good. 😎

P

Prateek Great, and finally your jinx is about to end. Hahaha! Btw — when was your passport issued?

S

Saheb Hmm... before I moved to Delhi. 🤔

Sa

Sahil You had the passport for that long? But you never travelled out of India?

S

Saheb Nope! But that's about to change now. Haha! 🌏✈️

P

Prateek Hold on dude! A passport is valid for 10 years. You need at least 6 months of validity from your travel date.

S

Saheb Oh! I did not know that rule. I know that an expired passport would not work and my passport has not expired. So... we're fine?

P

Prateek Show me your passport. Quick! Let me check the validity.

P

Prateek F**k! Your passport is invalid. What now?

S

Saheb Don't be ridiculous! Stop kidding with me. This is not funny.

P

Prateek I am not screwing with you. It is short by 12 days. See for yourself.

At this point I got really nervous and was hoping that by some miracle, my passport would have enough validity to allow me to check in. While in my heart I was praying like crazy, my mind was running various scenarios.

Saheb's internal logic — real-time

Talk to airline staff

🤞

Maybe they'll ignore it

🙏

This is India! Jugaad will work

😅

Actual probability of any of the above working

😐

I was a little too naive to have thought that. The airline staff pricked my bubble of ignorance very quickly. We were talking about international travel — which meant international laws. Even the highest authorities could not allow him to bend the rule.

"Sir, even if the Prime Minister of India comes here and vouches for you, I cannot let you go. Even if I let you go, the Thai immigration will chop your passport as invalid and deport you immediately. Trust me, you definitely don't want that, ever."

Airline Staff, New Delhi Airport #TRUESTORY

03

Travel Jinx — Final Form

Passport: technically not expired. Validity remaining: 12 days short of the required 6 months. Result: escorted out of the airport. By security. While friends boarded for Phuket. 🙁

💀

DENIED

Would You Have Made It?

Most people don't know the 6-month rule until they're standing in the check-in queue with 12 days to spare. Check your own passport here — before the airline staff does it for you.

Passport Expiry Date

Your Travel Date

The aftermath

Rock bottom had a basement.

At that moment, reality hit me hard and I felt a drop of cold sweat run down my spine. My head was reeling and I was panting for breath. In addition, I was feeling very hot, my palms started to sweat and my feet started to shake.

While I tried to register the facts, my friends got their boarding passes. I stood numb not knowing what to say or do. The airline staff summoned a security officer to escort me out of the airport, but I took a step back.

What was happening Everything was happening too fast. I had to compose myself from the realisation that I was NOT going to my own brother's bachelor's trip. Witnessing my dream getting shattered, I felt broken as I bid a safe flight to my friends while the security officer escorted me out of the airport.

Fuck!!! Me and my stupid travel mistakes. Am I jinxed?

After that I stayed disconnected from the world for the entire duration of my leave. I had been through a lot of embarrassing situations in life which were funny. This one was a league apart. It was not only embarrassing — it was insulting. A life lesson on stupidity and learning from mistakes.

Two days later I invited my childhood friend Miton to come over for a drink. I needed a friend at that time, and who better than the ones you grew up with. I felt much better the next day. I told my friends how stupid I was and made fun of myself — which helped me get over the situation and move on.

The promise

The night is darkest before it is dawn.

The next logical step was to get the passport renewed. That story in itself is a freaking nightmare — will leave it for another day.

My new passport had a validity of 10 more years. To avoid going for another renewal anytime soon, I had to make sure to have the most number of pages in mine. Then, I made a promise to myself:

The Promise I will travel as much as possible for the next 10 years and more.

Countries visited since that day

0

and counting.

Little did I know that my promise would actually come true.
As I write this story, I cannot help but contemplate that dreadful episode. It was just 5 years ago.
Since then — 25 countries around the world. No looking back.

I had suffered extreme amounts of setbacks and embarrassments. I made stupid travel mistakes before I could take my first successful international flight. Now there is no looking back.

Believe in your dream and stay a wannabe.
Dreams do come true.

Moral of the story

Being Wannabe

Pursuit Of Identity

Start Anywhere

Best Trip?

Am I worthy of love?

Yes, I missed my brother’s bachelors!