The biggest hoax

After an early rise the day before I decided to take things slow and took my time for grooming and indulging in the great breakfast buffet with muesli, pancakes, fresh fruit juice and younameit. Then I packed and went down to the lobby. Remembering I should check in for my flight at half past twelve at night I sat down at one of the computers and logged on to the Singapore Airlines website.

It didn't work. I got the error message that internet check-in would only be available 2 to 48 hours ahead of the flight, I should try again later. But I was in that time frame! - Wasn't I? I checked the date of my flight: December 13. I looked at my watch: December 13. It dawned on me my plane was already on the way, at that point somewhere between Singapore and Seoul!

My mistake dated back to the bookings I did back in Vancouver. I had foolishly assumed the flight out of Mumbai on December 13 at 00:30 would be leaving at the end of that day and booked the connecting domestic flight from Delhi to Mumbai accordingly around 17:00 on December 13. During my stay in India I had repeatedly reviewed the dates, using the sheet with the reservations for all domestic connections whenever I flew around, and trying to get in touch with Singapore Airlines in order to change my seat selection for the return flight (this never worked out due to busy phone lines). Still I wouldn't notice that I couldn't possibly fly to Mumbai in the afternoon and touch down in Singapore in the morning of the same day! - It turned out that the biggest hoax of my trip I played on myself.

I tried calling the Delhi office of Singapore Airlines, but the line was still busy, so I decided to take a taxi to the international airport and figure things out there, hopefully not having to go back into town. A 45 minute taxi ride took me there with all my luggage.

The airline offices lined the mazelike hallways of three buildings outside the international terminal. A 7 year old got 10 Rupees for showing me to Singapore Airlines, but they couldn't help me as their flights had a seat availability of a negative number... I needed a different airline. My next choice was Air Canada, but I learned they were no longer represented at the airport. The helpful guys at Lufthansa could finally make a booking of a swift connection via Frankfurt leaving the same night (3 AM) for around 1800.- CAD, stretching their working hours into the lunch break. (That was after going round at Swiss, considering the option of staying a couple of days in Switzerland and meeting my family. However, this would have been about twice the price for some reason.) - I considered myself lucky to be able to leave basically on the same day not wouldn't have to wait in Delhi for who knows how long, since at this time of year the flights are usually full up to the toilet seats!

I would have to buy the tickets prior to check-in, and I wouldn't get allowed in the terminal before 11:30. - I had to wait for 11 hours. I certainly didn't feel like sightseeing anymore (I had planned to see the Fort in Delhi that afternoon), all I wanted was an internet lounge where I could write my blog and inform my plantwatering neighbor, but most importantly check the balance of my credit card whether it was sufficient for the ticket purchase!

Believe it or not, there was no public internet access at the airport. Someone recommended to go to the Centaur hotel, a five minute drive. I found it in the middle of nowhere, an utterly posh airport hotel with a 10 story tall lobby. After explaining my situation to the receptionists they decided I should talk to the manager. He didn't seem too friendly, but he opened the door to a back office and started to get a computer ready to work on. I asked him about the rate. "200 Rupees an hour." Very well then. I asked him to please call me a cab.

The 3 minute drive cost 100 Rupees. I didn't have much of a choice but to accept their service, advice and condescending treatment. I entered the small cybercafe they had pointed out: 15 Rupees an hour... That's more like it! However, those computers ran on Windows 98 and the headsets didn't work. After much empty-handed tech support by the staff I finally left the place and asked around, but nobody knew a different internet place in the area. I stopped a cab. It basically took me just around the corner and dropped me at a solid cybercafe chain, the same one I had already used in Trivandrum! There I could finally call my credit card company in Switzerland and have them raise my limit. There would have been no backup plan for this solution.

There I stayed until they closed at 22:00. Hungry as I was I just walked in the first restaurant I found in the high traffic and low appeal area, and it turned out to be pretty exclusive, with a plasma screen and live music. One last time I wanted to go for a traditional vegetarian Indian dish and ordered paneer with tomato. - It was simply delicious. Silky texture, well-rounded spice, beautiful color. The nan bread was a delight, too! Why couldn't all the food of the last three weeks have been like this?

Back at the airport I got in line with tall Teutons for my Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt. But it wouldn't be until 4:00 until we could finally board the plane, just to wait another hour until the plane would finally start moving to the runway. then it taxied out for so long I thought we were gonna drive to Germany. - Eventually we took off.

A kind air hostess had offered me to move from the jarred front to an area in the back of the plane with plenty of free seats. After much consideration I asked a guy sitting in alone in the 4seater row in the middle of the plane whether he had planned to lay down, and surprisingly he agreed to switch with the two seats next to the window that I had claimed. - I slept for the whole flight stretched out across the immensely uncomfortable seats (the old fashioned Lufthansa chairs are among the worst inventions of the 20th century, ranking not too far behind the nuclear bomb).

Despite the delay there was ample time for catching the Air Canada flight to Toronto. For some reason however we ran late again, making it impossible to catch the connection to Vancouver. They sent me on the flight one hour later, but as I found out afterwards waiting at the baggage claim in Vancouver failed do the same for my suitcase. The keys to my apartment were in there, but luckily my plantwatering neighbor was home to let me in.

The backwards culture shock set in waiting around at the airports: It's amazing how much space western people take up. Everything looked new. There was a budget and scheduled time to neatly decorate baggage service desk with Christmas ornaments.

Although I had wasted a brand new dress shirt, two pairs of sandals, two bags, one domestic and three international flights, it was a rewarding trip after all. I was in a car accident in Mumbai. Puked secretly into the sheets of a sleeper train. Swam with jellyfish. Had a third world X-ray. Got tickled by an elephant. Got my neck cracked at a barber shop. And I managed to picture the Taj Mahal with no people around.