Over winter break, my family decided to take a trip to North India. This would be a great time to mention that north India gets pretty cold during the winters, unlike Mumbai where I am from, and it experiences a lot of fog!
My family decided to go to New Delhi, the capital of India; Agra, the home of the Taj Mahal, and Jaipur, the "Pink City." Our trip to these three cities was in the order that they are mentioned. On our last day, we went back in New Delhi to celebrate New Year's Eve with our family and friends.
We were to take off from New Delhi back to Mumbai on January 1. New Delhi and the areas around it seemed to be experiencing horrible fog that day, as well as the day before! On our way to the airport, we could hardly see anything. There was absolutely no visibility of the road. We still managed to make it in time for our flight!
Once we reached the airport, everything went downhill. As we reached the airport, we were told that a lot of the flights the previous day had been canceled, that there was a long backlog at the airport, and that they would start clearing out once the fog had been lifted. We were optimistic since our airline told us that there was only a 10-minute delay in our flight's departure.
We made it successfully to our gate, optimistic as before, only to realize that our gate had been changed. That was not the worst part. Once we were directed to our new gate, we witnessed havoc. The area was full of people. It was as if the whole of Delhi and its neighboring area was flying out that morning. After waiting for 45 minutes, we finally boarded our aircraft.
An hour-and-a-half delayed and we were still optimistic since it was the new year, and it was fog, and this was understandable. Now would also be a good time to mention that our flight was supposed to take off at 10:30 a.m. Indian Standard Time, and it was noon already.
We were all seated and waiting to take off. We sat there and continued to sit there for the next two-and-a-half hours. Our flight had boarded, but the queue was so long that we still had to wait. We learned they had to clear the airport to fit the other passengers, and hence, we were shifted to our aircraft. At this point, we lost it. I was traveling with my mother, my father, and my younger sister. While my father is, generally, calm and accepting in such situations, we aren't. We were fed up and hungry and grumpy! IT WAS THE NEW YEAR! And all we wanted to do was get home.
Our flight finally got the signal to leave the gate at 2:30 p.m. IST, and I am not joking when I say this -- everyone in the aircraft clapped and cheered! For every minute until then felt like it was the longest time we had ever experienced, and it was as if time had stopped or was moving at a snail's speed. We could not have been happier. The four-hour delay combined with the actual two-hour journey to Mumbai made this the longest domestic flight I had ever traveled on.
Dubai from Mumbai is three hours, but it took us six hours to get to Mumbai!
In the end, all I can say is a huge shoutout to the most inconvenient and unpredictable fog that made me realize how tiring traveling truly is and how annoying it is to be in an aircraft, even if you are with family!
Of course, shout out to my family for bearing my constant whining and bickering on my second most inconvenient travel experience.