When I started from home, I did not know what to expect in the journey and at the end of the journey. I was overloaded with luggage and a few petty anxieties regarding international procedures and currency issues. But more than anything else, I was overwhelmed by the terrible heat of Delhi from where I was supposed to leave for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The flight from Delhi was delayed by over an hour. And when we boarded the flight, which had come over from Shanghai, I realized that our boredom from waiting for the flight was no match for that of the air hostesses who were serving us in the flight. God! They looked like they would kill us if we even asked them to get us some water.
Except for the one incident of a haughty Indian having a minor tiff with a sleepy Ethiopian, nothing much happened that can be called funny or exciting. So with nothing much to do and nothing at all to expect, we called it a night soon and were greeted in the morning by the wonderful foreign skies and fluffy clouds that lazily floated around the airplane.
The view from above was beautiful. Africa is beautiful. We could see small settlements and vast (and when I say vast I mean really vast) forest covered regions of hills and valleys. It was refreshing.
We landed at Addis Ababa hoping to catch our next flight to Lagos, Nigeria, within an hour. But then again, the second flight was delayed by an hour and a half.
Indian Stretchable Time follows us like the Vodafone dog, I thought.
But the disappointment of the holdup was soon replaced by the glee of realizing that everyone was smoking in the airport terminal.
Yay! My first smoke abroad! I look around for a friendly Ethiopian to borrow a light from and smoke the waiting time away in bliss.
When we eventually boarded the flight, I had more reason to cheer me up. We had got emergency exit seats. That meant I did not have to sit cramped up into a tiny spot for five-six hours.
When the plane took off, I took the opportunity to take a good look around at the landscape from the window. Addis Ababa would definitely be a place I want to visit sometime in future. And yeah, the air hostess was sitting right in front of me and she was kinda pretty.
I continued scrutinizing the land below for quite some time. And then voila! Down came the drinks trolley!
They were serving only beer and wine, but what the heck, something is better than nothing. I helped myself to a beer can and sat contented for the rest of the flight and even slept a little with the comfort of being able to stretch my legs, till the end of the journey.
The flight from Delhi was delayed by over an hour. And when we boarded the flight, which had come over from Shanghai, I realized that our boredom from waiting for the flight was no match for that of the air hostesses who were serving us in the flight. God! They looked like they would kill us if we even asked them to get us some water.
Except for the one incident of a haughty Indian having a minor tiff with a sleepy Ethiopian, nothing much happened that can be called funny or exciting. So with nothing much to do and nothing at all to expect, we called it a night soon and were greeted in the morning by the wonderful foreign skies and fluffy clouds that lazily floated around the airplane.
The view from above was beautiful. Africa is beautiful. We could see small settlements and vast (and when I say vast I mean really vast) forest covered regions of hills and valleys. It was refreshing.
We landed at Addis Ababa hoping to catch our next flight to Lagos, Nigeria, within an hour. But then again, the second flight was delayed by an hour and a half.
Indian Stretchable Time follows us like the Vodafone dog, I thought.
But the disappointment of the holdup was soon replaced by the glee of realizing that everyone was smoking in the airport terminal.
Yay! My first smoke abroad! I look around for a friendly Ethiopian to borrow a light from and smoke the waiting time away in bliss.
When we eventually boarded the flight, I had more reason to cheer me up. We had got emergency exit seats. That meant I did not have to sit cramped up into a tiny spot for five-six hours.
When the plane took off, I took the opportunity to take a good look around at the landscape from the window. Addis Ababa would definitely be a place I want to visit sometime in future. And yeah, the air hostess was sitting right in front of me and she was kinda pretty.
I continued scrutinizing the land below for quite some time. And then voila! Down came the drinks trolley!
They were serving only beer and wine, but what the heck, something is better than nothing. I helped myself to a beer can and sat contented for the rest of the flight and even slept a little with the comfort of being able to stretch my legs, till the end of the journey.
