Lesson#4: Flying out to an International Destination
By Shweta
We are overambitious when we plan a trip abroad, aren’t we? Once Saswat and I pick a country to travel, I usually start researching on where in that country we must go. Almost often I find myself inspired by more cities than I have time to visit. More often than not, I end up trying to squeeze as much as possible in that short span of time. Sometimes as high as 4-5 cities/towns in 10 days. That usually translates to travelling every other day.
One of the many instances happened when we planned our trip to Thailand. We wanted to do as many offbeat islands as we could in our trip. led us to plan 2 days in Bangkok, 2 in Koh Tao,1 in Koh Pha Ngan and 2 in Koh Samui. But, we had already done our roundtrip tickets to and fro from Bangkok. Since the schedule stretched so long, we had to return from Koh Samui to Bangkok and fly out the same day back to India.
The week in Thailand was phenomenal, pristine beaches, breathtaking views, benevolent Thai hospitality. But, one evening before we were to fly out of Koh Samui it started raining. The first couple of minutes we welcomed it, with open arms, after all, who does not enjoy a few drops of rain in a beach. However, our amusement soon turned to horror when the rains did not stop. Half an hour, one hour, three hours, five hours, nothing. There was no respite in the rains, rather, it seemed to get worse with every passing minute.
By night-time, the town had started to flood, the tide had risen and the water levels were getting crazy. By next morning it was close to a cyclone and guess what was sealed first – the airport of course. We panicked, we had no idea if the weather were to clear up any time soon. We had no idea if the flight was going to take off at all from Koh Samui. Nor our odds to reschedule our international flight home booked with a different airline.
Our first hope was that the weather was as bad in Bangkok and that even flights there would get delayed. One quick look at news channels diminished that hope to nothing.The rain was only affecting the southern coast and Bangkok was sunny as ever. So, if we did not take off from Koh Samui in time to reach Bangkok, we were going to miss our flight back home. That meant, we will have to book the next flight out of Bangkok, which of course, was not going to be cheap.
We woke up the next morning and decided to go to the airport and try our luck. We were not the only ones. The airport was flooded with humans in as much intensity as the rains in the streets outside. No flights were able to land or take off in and out of Koh Samui. Many flights expected to land in Koh Samui, were diverted to nearby airports as they ran out of fuel. This immediately led to lesser planes to take off from Koh Samui even if the weather were to clear.
The rains showed no signs of stopping and we went from requesting to begging airlines to put us on priority. Bangkok airlines in which we were to return back to India said their flight was on schedule. So, if we did not take off from Koh Samui in time to reach Bangkok, we were going to miss our flight back home.
I remember, sulking earlier about the 12 hours stopover in Bangkok airport on our return. A part of me was grateful now for keeping that buffer. Yet, with every passing hour of no improvements in the weather, the gratitude dissipated slowly.
Finally, around noon the weather cleared up enough for them to allow passengers to check in. We were on the third plane out of Koh Samui. We took off from Koh Samui around 4 pm instead of 10 am. We had to take off from Bangkok in exactly 4 hours. We said our prayers as the plane took off. (we tend to be dramatic like that).
As soon as we landed in Bangkok, we ran for the baggage carousel. One by one as our bags came out, we made a dash for the international transfer counters. Bumped ourselves up in the security and immigration queues. By the time we reached the boarding gates, we were panting with our calf muscles ready to collapse. But, we made it. Some of our friends with shorter stop overs could not make it in time though and had to reschedule.
Conclusion
Ensure you are in the city from which you are to take your international flight back home at least one day prior. One trick we always do is to plan the itinerary in such a way that you do the local sightseeing of that city last. This will always ensure you are there 1 or 2 days in advance which will sure shot avoid situations such as this.
