First International Flight
20-Mar-15 I was scheduled to take my first international flight.
I had a stopover at Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) destined to reach Singapore by 00:05 on Saturday, 21-Mar-15.
The timing of the flight was carefully chosen to maximize my time of stay. My visa for Singapore allowed me 30 days of stay. I still remember how excited and nervous I was!
Excited, because it was FINALLY my first international travel…
Nervous, because when it came to international travel, I had an awesome track record of – BEING STUPID.
Trust me when I say STUPID, I freaking mean it!
Do you want to learn how to be stupid? Here is one story…
My first international travel was scheduled for 22-Aug-13. I was to travel to Singapore to meet my brother and stay with him for 2 weeks.
The icing on the cake? My brother booked tickets for me for my first Metallica concert.
There was no limit to my excitement. So much so that I partied like a maniac the previous weekend. I invited friends over and humble-bragged about my upcoming trip while binging on beer.
All that excitement pretty much ended up in smoke.
Why? Because I had to cancel my flights 5 hours before takeoff. #TRUESTORY 🙁
Once I had canceled my flights, I started pondering on the epicness of my stupidity…
Remember the party last weekend Saheb? Remember the binge drinking all night long and how you fell ill the very next day? How you hoped that it would be temporary but fate had alternate plans for you?
Anyway, this is how the story unfolded on the day of my travel…
My brother called me in the morning, asking me to buy him a Metallica Tee which he could wear at the concert. While I was slightly feverish and my gastric was being a bitch, the excitement to watch a Metallica gig, sporting a kickass band T-shirt was a legit idea – #FanBoyMoments
I asked my cousin to accompany me to Palika bazaar to look for the prints which my brother really wanted. We searched several shops and saw (maybe) over a hundred t-shirts, however, we could not find something which was to my brothers’ liking
I swear older siblings can be a pain at times, just saying 😛
However, in the bargain, what really happened though was that as soon as I got back home, I collapsed on my bed (literally). I guess I may have blacked out for a while. When I regained consciousness, I felt a little better. I called the airline and booked my seats and in-flight meals.
As and when the time to my flight was closing in, I started to feel more and more unwell. The thermometer read an internal temperature of 104’F.
Yes, Fuck My Life !!!!!!
I called my brother and told him about my illness and we finally decided to cancel the trip.
So, it was just about 5 hours to my first international flight, when I had to call it quits! 🙁
Moral of the story – Common sense is not so common? Hmmm, I wish I could buy some…
Ok, let’s be fair. I need to cut myself some slack. I ain’t that bad either. Haha!
My brother indeed had a lot of work to deal with at that time, and it seemed like a logical step to cancel the trip altogether. I really felt sad about the same but don’t really regret it as I was sure about one thing – I did not want to take an international flight when I was unwell, more so for the fact that I had a connection at KL and that would require me to change terminals. Could have been a really bad idea considering what happened next.
I fell completely ill after that. The next two weeks which was supposed to be my best vacation was spent tossing and turning on my bed.
Today, I consider that experience as a boon in disguise. Everything happens for a reason they say and I cannot agree more.
My first flight had to wait until my next attempt, and that story is worse than this one. I just can’t help laughing at it today. Wondering if I should even tell that to you guys. Damn that one is freaking embarrassing!
may be, one day i will…
P.S. The banner image was clocked by me using an IPhone6.
i was just going through your experience and can actually visualise the moment as i was a part of this epic incident. I would say these are some memories which you can always be treasured and pen down. These stories will be stamped in your travel autobiography.
Holding the title of Wannabetraveller, you can always deep down into the travel world and endure the most outmost refined cultures, history and the beautiful people globally. You may cherish the best est food carnival and the aged Ws (wine and whisky).
Today, your foolishness and stupidity has given you this opportunity to achieve your dreams and be a wannabe…..
So being foolish will help you to Dream,….Plan……… Achieve
Happy Travel man!!
Shibir,
Haha, you sure were a part of that freaking story! Remember how sick I got after that?
What chaos.
Yes, I was foolish and have learnt my lesson for good.
Haha, I like how you have taken my messenger status and thrown it back at me!
DREAM | PLAN | ACHIEVE…Yes, that’s the strategy 🙂
5 stars for Self-flagellation :). But, written in a very easy style. Nice! Next write up, try your hand at some kind of travel themed fiction. You could write about how brown guys are ‘randomly’ chosen for special treatment while visiting USA. Of course, the anchor would be “body cavity search”. Ha ha
Vin,
You don’t remind me of “Body Cavity Search”. As much as I cannot thank you enough to take me along to see the West world, I will always hate you for making me paranoid that entire trip.
Haha, Karma is a bitch! You were almost on the verge of getting one in Cancun.
What a trip! Thanks to you 🙂
Hi, there.
Plans can’t keep up with changes. In life, there is such a truth.I used to work for an American travel company and had the most problems before the trip and after the trip .even in the trip.(It means that everyone comes to me for help)
Every time when I get into trouble, I will tell myself, “calm down”, and then think about it, first need to solve the immediate problem. Then find out why this is the case, finally accept the reality, glad that the problem has been solved, for a positive thinking, in fact, this is good, if not so, maybe there will be worse results.
When I encountered more things, the ability to solve problems also enhanced, the mentality also relaxed.
Later, in my team, everyone even gave me a name “master Meizhou teacher “.
What I’m saying is, Saheb, even though you temporarily changed your first travel plan, if you don’t change it, maybe the problem will get worse. So, be happy with your change of plan. Maybe if the plane you were planning to fly on was going to crash, or if you went that day, something worse was going to happen.
That’s how I see it. Whatever happens is inevitable. We need to face it and accept it.
Everything has a good side and a bad side. And what we need to do is see the good and screen out the bad. Be a positive person.
The meaning of travel is not only to take photos and see the scenery, the most important thing is to meet all kinds of problems during the travel, so that I can become a master of solving problems.
Feel life with your heart and treat the people around you with love.
We will become philosophers of life.
Hi, again Meizhou,
I quite agree with you and that’s exactly what I have done. Accepted, learnt and implemented the changes. And see, how I have moved on to an amazing journey.
Had I taken that flight, maybe that would have been my first and last international trip. But it’s the Universe’s way of making you suffer in the short term only to present to you the true benefits for the long term 🙂
Life’s good!