Who are these Guardian Angels?

I am not an Atheist, nor am I a staunch believer in God. I believe in a force that guides me. My Guardian angels are a part of that force maybe? If you haven’t read the first part, read it here.

The Journey

The bus left from Varna at 12.00 am, it was about a six-hour journey and I was hoping that I could fall asleep because of the tiredness from the last two days. Despite the bus being comfortable, two gentlemen behind me decided not to stop talking, making sure I barely dozed off for an hour. I reached Sofia, it was raining and I had a long wait ahead before my flight. A coffee, a quick breakfast, and I was on my way to the airport as I was not sure what to expect in terms of checking in because of covid.

Why I will not travel on Whizzair ever again

Yes, they are a budget carrier, but that doesn’t mean they should have un-informed staff at the counters. As I am about to check-in, the lady says I cannot travel since I don’t have a visa for Dubai. Now I have been traveling via air for over 25 years and this was the first instance where I was asked why I don’t have a visa for a destination when I am not going to exit the airport. I am just transiting. Being under stress I lost my cool and asked for their topmost boss.  I was ready to sue them because this was not mentioned anywhere when booking the flight.
Fortunately, the lady was more knowledgeable and instructed them to give me the boarding pass. Finally, I started the journey at 12.10 pm, already 12 hours in the journey with less than 6 hours of sleep in the past 48 hours.

Dubai airport

No wonder it is one of the best airports in the world in terms of service and well-informed staff all around. A quick transit between the terminals, people to guide you in the right direction at every corner who knew exactly what I was asking. I got through the security check in a breeze, showed my documents, and went to the counter to get my boarding pass for the Spicejet flight to Delhi. It was declared that the flight was half an hour late which crept up to 2 hrs.
Now I was genuinely worried, my connecting flight from Delhi to Mumbai was in 3 hrs 20 minutes on landing. I had to clear immigration, get a boarding pass and go through security within that time.
As soon as I boarded the flight I asked the flight attendant for a pill to stop my headache. They sensed I was worried and asked my concern. When they heard my journey till now, sleepless last few nights, and why I am heading to Mumbai they were on an alert and kept a check on me. I had not opted for a meal when booking the ticket and asked them if they had something I could buy? Apart from munchings they had nothing so I passed. I asked for a coffee which they did not have:) But then the air hostess somehow conjured a real good coffee and insisted I have it. What she said made me believe that people still care – We can at least do so much for you after what you are going through at the moment. If anyone senior at #spicejet is reading this they deserve a raise. ( flight SG706 Dubai- Delhi, 23.35 pm, 23rd of November 2021)

Delhi Airport – Utter chaos and apathy

I had exactly 1 hr 30 minutes to get through all the formalities and be on the flight. I managed to clear immigration in 35 minutes after begging and requesting people to allow me to move up the queue. I had to ask at least five people to find where I had to get my boarding pass ( read FIND) because of a lack of clear directions. I stood in a queue to get the pass while people who had flights a lot later were standing in front of me. After getting in an altercation with one of the Spicejet employees they finally pushed me up the queue, by then another 20 minutes were gone.
What happened next was the height of mismanagement. There were around 300- 400 people in front of me to get through the security with just three belts for them. I spoke to another employee, asked her- “can you get the people boarding this flight up the order or I am going to miss the flight?”
Her answer was there are many people who will miss their flight, I cannot do anything about it. Rather than wasting my energy on her, I ran to the line and by requesting people at times just ignoring them just kept pushing myself up the line. I would never do this in my life but if I had missed the flight I did not know how long it would take me to reach Mumbai and get to the hospital.
When I came through the check the time left for the flight to take off was just over 5 minutes. There was not a single Spicejet employee on the other side who could answer my questions or assist me to get to the flight. I ran with the mask on like possessed as the gate was possibly the furthest away. I was just hoping and praying that they had held the flight back.
At 46 years and very little exercise in recent time, I realized I haven’t got much left in me. I nearly passed out and doubled up not being able to run anymore. But then…

My guardian angel never gave up on me

The cart which transports elderly people to the gates was coming from the opposite side, he saw me, sweating, trying to stagger through, eyes teared up. He stopped and asked which flight, gate number. I could barely speak and all I could say was the gate number. All he said was “Milega, Tension na lo” – You will make it.. Don’t get tense..He took me to the far end of the terminal when they were closing the gate thinking I didn’t make it.
I got on and they closed the plane doors.

I was on my way to Mumbai.. To see my dad..
To be continued..