Experiences of Germany Trip - Part 2

Once i reached the Leipzig airport now started all the trouble. My tamil friend(who is the only person who can talk in english) just left on his way to his college and now i am in search of a taxi for me to go to Halle. Yes, i need to travel again for another 20 mins to reach my destination. The actual problem now was that the only person who knows english well had left me on his way to his destination. I just stood there looking for a taxi and suddenly a big Mercedes Benz black color came and stood in front of me. I wondered who was it and was just so surprised (in fact schocked) to see that it was a Taxi. WOW !! Mercedes Benz in black color and i am going to sit in that. That very thought made my mood. I Love cars a lot. I did  not want to wait and put my luggage in the back of the car and just made myself comfortable in the car. I took a paper from my bag which had the address of the hotel and showed it to the driver. Then i only remembered the Sunday afternoon news for hearing impared in DD. Wow no talking only signs. He shows me a Thumbs UP and we started from there. All of the time i was just admiring my self in the car and the roads of germany. WOW MAN what a clean place. Never saw anything like this before. Was so very happy. 

We drove for another 20 mins and i was at my hotel. I just paid the taxi, took my luggage and stood just like that on the road just to feel my feet on German soil. Yes i am really in Germany way far away from my home sweet home INDIA. The place i was in is known as Halle/Saale. Saale is the river that flows through the city. For sometime i was feeling that i was the only person alive on the earth. It was so very quite and not even a single person to be seen on roads. Remember the time was 12:00 in the afternoon and was Monday. It was very terrifying. The hotel door was locked from inside. I need to press the bell and wait. Then came a beautiful German girl from inside opened the door and said something in german (which i later realised that was 'WELCOME'). So went in Checked-in to the hotel. My Hotel was City Hotel room no.114. I entered the room along with my luggage and was a very small room with a kitchen. I put all my luggage at one place and just jumped onto the bed. The bed was so very soft and good i just did not get up for 10 mins. Then looked around the room and checked everything. I put my wrist watch on the table and went onto the bed again to sleep. After sometime i can hear the clock ticking sound of my wrist watch which is at atleast of 3 feet distance from my bed. That was the silence i was living in. I could feel my ears crying loud for some kind of sound. To just make myself feel better, i opened my laptop and played some real good old indian songs. Felt better. Then i realised that its time for lunch. 

To be continued ...

Experiences of Germany Trip - Part 1

Experiences of Germany – Part 1:

 

On 5^th of October 2008, at round about 10:00 I was there at the Hyderabad international airport with my luggage of a big suitcase and a hand baggage. The very first look at the international departure gave me the memories of my college days where in I was dreaming of flying out of INDIA one day. This was the day I thought and I had a small discussion with my brother and his friends who had come to see me off. Then in another 15 mins I left them, said BYE-BYE to them and entered into the gate. What a sight. How big is the international departures place.

 

As soon as I entered the gate, I have no idea of what had to be done and then came a guy with a Walkie-Talkie in his hand and asks … “Which flight sir?”. I said “Lufthansa”.

He said this way and took me to the check-in counter of Lufthansa. I checked in my luggage took the boarding-pass and continued into the immigration check. Now what on earth is immigration check? What should I do? Where should I go? All kind of questions that flashed seems like I was about to shout in my mind. Then suddenly saw a board saying – “Immigration / International Departures”. I went there and saw people filling up a form for the immigration. There was a very well dressed old man there filling up the form. I went up to him and asked - “Excuse me Sir, I am new to this procedure, could you please help me out with this?” The gentleman was kind enough to stay there till I fill out my details in the form and guided me to the rest of the immigration and security check. I thanked the man and went on my way. He was travelling to DUBAI.

 

By the way, I did not tell you where in Germany I was going and what the status is. Let me first take a look at the airport and find myself a comfortable seat and sit down. The time was already 10:45 pm and my flight was at 12:00. I still had and hour and 15 minutes to have a good look at the airport. Now that I had find myself a good seat with good view at the runway with a hot coffee in my hand and the book of R.K Narayan – Malgudi Days in another hand, let me tell you where in germany I am going actually.

 

The place is called Halle. It is in the north eastern part of Germany near to Berlin, the capital of Germany. Well Germany is known as the automobile giant of the world. All the major car manufacturing companies are from Germany. What is the first thing that comes to your mind when I say GERMANY? Well, I do not know how to read your mind but in my mind the very first thing that came to my mind after I heard GERMANY is SECOND WORLD WAR and HITLER. Guys its history itself where I will be landing in another 12 hours. What a feeling?

 

Halle, Germany is one of the biggest cities in the countries and a good place to live. That’s what I heard when I was in India, but was waiting for it to be true. Time passed away just like that looking at the crowd. Then the announcement came for boarding the flight to Frankfurt. Well I will have to get down at Frankfurt and take another flight to Leipzig. From Leipzig to Halle I will have to take Taxi and go to hotel. Well till Leipzig my transport was arranged. From Leipzig to Halle I will have to take a Taxi and go on my own. Well this is a big test for me. I landed in Frankfurt airport after 9 hours of continuous journey. What a big airport was it? I had to go to gate number A29 to take my flight to Leipzig. Well I was in the arrival terminal and had to go to the departures terminal.

Well I started my journey from one terminal to another. First is the Immigration Check and security check at Frankfurt airport. They scanned me, my luggage. Once I came out of the scanner I was asked to come to a room. Now this scared the hell out of me. I was asked to take out my laptop and my laptop was scanned thoroughly and after the scan was asked to go. What the hell was that? No idea. Then I started the search operation for the gate A29. I was walking and walking but could not find the gate. I had only 30 mins left for the flight. Now the tension creeps. I tried to ask some one but no one to answer me as no one knew English all were germans. Then for my luck I saw an Indian couple. BINGO, got the way to the gate.

 

Soon I was at the A29 gate to take my flight to LEIPZIG. I checked in and was waiting for my flight. Then I saw another INDIAN checked in the same flight. I immediately went to him and could not stop myself from asking him “Are you from INDIA?” Then we both started conversation and knowing each other did not take much time. The guy was a student who came to do his MS in BIO TECH in the Leipzig university. He was from TamilNadu, INDIA. We both talked a lot and continued the same within the flight also.

 

To be Continued …

My First Flight Experience

The 1^st of October the day when I had to go to Chennai for my VISA interview. 2^nd October was the VISA interview. I had entered into the Hyderabad International Airport domestic Departures gate. This is the very first time I am into an airport. I felt a little tensed as I don’t know where to go and what to take after entering. As soon as I entered the gate I was asked to show my ticket. I showed them and as my flight was Air India, they asked me to take the first counter on the right which is Air India to collect my boarding pass (a new ticket with Air India logo and your seat no). Then followed to the security check and after that was in the waiting area. In my whole life I had waited for trains, buses, friends but never for flights. This is the first time. What say!! At 4 PM I heard the announcement saying “Passengers boarding the flight ICXXXX to Chennai please proceed for boarding from gate no.A29” I went to the gate and expected to see a big plane outside the door. But, I got into a BUS L. They will take us all to the plane in a bus. In few minutes I was standing beside a big plane (not huge). Thought of taking a photo but could not as it was already time and I was the only one left outside. I boarded into the plane and there was a lady in Orange Saree standing at the entrance and saying “Namaskar”. I went to the seat and to my surprise and luck I got a window seat. I was very much happy. Immediately I put my seat belt. The plane was ready for take off. I was told by many friends that for the first time the take off and the landing of flights will be a little scary. As I was thinking this suddenly the plane started moving. It increased the pace so very fast that I felt like the plane is already flying. As soon as the plane was in air I was like feeling my weight suddenly got reduced a lot. My heart was flying and I was having a great time. What happened inside the flight is the same what u see in most movies. Drinks served along with some snacks. By the time I was feeling and enjoying the first flight suddenly there was an announcement that the flight will be landing in Chennai airport and prepare for landing. I had been to Chennai many times but not as fast as this. While coming back to Hyderabad I had to come in Kingfisher which was also the same experience. By this time I was feeling like I was travelling in planes from time when I learnt the spelling of plane. This was my first flight experience.