When I got married to my boyfriend of 2 and half years, I had no idea that we were embarking on such an adventurous life. I always thought of my boyfriend as a soft guy who plans ahead for everything and doesn't like taking risks. This nature of his is in stark contrast of mine, as I am quite the go-with-the-flow/happy-go-lucky kinda girl. Before I got married, I had no clue about the importance of saving money, making investments, the share market or all the other big financial terms he used to use in front of me, in the hope that I would learn these things from him.
The first year after our wedding, we spent apart in different countries, me on the Island of Britain, doing my Masters degree, and him working in a city called Aachen (about which I had never heard before he was deputed there) in Germany. The first couple of months we did everything to justify our decision of living apart to our families and friends, but each day it started becoming more and more difficult to stay away from each other. We got married in August 2010, he left for Germany in September and I left for the UK in October, and by December we were going slightly mad for not being able to be with each other.
So we decided that for the Christmas vacations I would visit him in Germany. At that time I was this scared little person who would not even board a bus in her own University city because she was not sure where the bus would take her. I know, it is lame, but this is the truth. My husband used to accompany me virtually through google earth whenever I had to take a bus journey within or outside my city.
In November 2010, I got my schengen visa stamped without any glitches and delays, and I was pretty psyched about travelling to Germany in December. A little background on my life, the no-glitches/delays thing never happens to me without any reason. I always have a rule, if my ride is smooth until a certain point in time, I know I am going to be pushed into a ditch or a well the next moment. Okay so continuing my travel saga, I was supposed to board a flight from Birmingham to Dusseldorf on a Saturday mid-morning. I had my tickets, my visa and all my bags where packed according to the 25 kgs of luggage allowance.
I started from Leicester to Birmingham on one of the local trains. I had never traveled on these trains before. So I didnt even know how to open the doors when your station had arrived. So obviously I missed my station, I know this is lame too, but I had a lot of luggage and by the time I dragged myself and my luggage to the door the train had already left Birmingham to Coventry. So now I was in total panic and to make matters worse it had started snowing continuously, and at that time I had no idea what that snowstorm was turning into. So I got down at Coventry all wide eyed and teary eyed... Thankfully had the sense to board another train back to Birmingham. Somehow scrambled my way to the airport in one piece. Checked-in and got my boarding pass and settled down at the lounge waiting for my turn to be called to board the flight. That's when my ordeal started. The first time I glanced outside the airport's waiting lounge, I couldn't see any air crafts as it was snowing so heavily, all I could see was the white snow, which was fascinating to me being an Indian girl brought up nowhere near snow. Suddenly all the displays in the airport started showing that all the outgoing flights had been delayed by half an hour which gradually increased to one hour then to two hours and then all the displays flashed that all the flights had been cancelled. Even at that time I had no clue that I was stuck in the worst blizzard of its kind in Europe in that decade. I again dragged my luggage down to the check-in counters, in my desperation to get to Germany, I was ready to board any flight at any time out of UK, I was even ready to stay at the airport until that time. I had only £100 in cash with me and as luck would have it, my card got blocked for god knows what reason, my phone got completely discharged and I was stuck heaving and dragging my very heavy luggage around the airport which had become a battle ground. As a student you don't have much money at your disposal. I had no eaten the whole day because of all the anxiety and anticipation of travelling alone and now my empty stomach had started making questionable noises. By 3 p.m. it was dark outside and I still had no clue where I was going to stay the night. Somehow I used my head, got my cell phone somewhat charged, booked myself a bus ticket back to Leicester and set out to find a bus that would take me home. Now the funny part was I was oblivious to the fact that the whole of UK was under gridlock because of the blizzard which meant that no buses or trains were leaving from any of the stations. I boarded a bus, which had a kind bus-driver lady, who dropped me at the Birmingham bus station from where I hoped to get a bus back home. But no buses were leaving from the station at that time. I tried to flag a taxi to take me to the Birmingham train station, a kind lady offered me a lift and dropped me just outside the station in her taxi. I again dragged my very heavy luggage up to the station through all the snow between my survicle and sciatica pain... I got to the station from where I booked a ticket to Leicester. When I reached the platform I saw all the passengers lined up, sitting on their luggage or on any dry surface they could find, waiting for the train authorities to put in a train to Leicester, because as luck may have it, all the trains had been pulled off tracks due to heavy snow and low visibility. So I sat there too, and completely gave up my hope of reaching the safety of my dorm room. It must have been half an hour since I was sitting there, a train pulled up on our platform. It was not supposed to go anywhere and was going to be parked there for the rest of the night. All the passengers waiting to go to Leicester jumped into this train in desperation and hope that they would let this one go. When the authorities came to remove us from the train, all of us defied them and said that if they don't let the train go we would just sit inside it as it is at least warmer than the platform. Finally they obliged and said they would let this one go. Oh I can't explain the sense of relief I felt when the train moved from Birmingham. Within an hour I was back in Leicester and in my dorm room. I had bought a Subway sandwich that I devoured and slept like a baby that night.
Before I left for Birmingham the previous day I had emptied all of my food rations, rice, lentils, vegetables, fruits as I was not hoping to come back for the next 20 days. So when I got up the next day, which was a Sunday, I didn't even have milk in the fridge to prepare some tea. I was famished and set out to hunt for an open shop or market nearby. Of course everything was closed, between it being a Sunday and the country being gridlocked and all. I was on the verge of collapsing when the kind uncle from the Pakistani shop down the road noticed my predicament and opened his shop for sometime. I grabbed whatever I could, cooked something and ate like an animal until I was full. During all this time, me and my husband were talking and we decided that he would book my ticket on Eurostar, the only train plying between the UK across the English Channel and Europe. I had to get to London to catch this said train. So the next day i.e., a Monday I set out to catch the train from London's St. Pancras station. Little did I know, a brand new ordeal was waiting to be unraveled for me in London.
The first year after our wedding, we spent apart in different countries, me on the Island of Britain, doing my Masters degree, and him working in a city called Aachen (about which I had never heard before he was deputed there) in Germany. The first couple of months we did everything to justify our decision of living apart to our families and friends, but each day it started becoming more and more difficult to stay away from each other. We got married in August 2010, he left for Germany in September and I left for the UK in October, and by December we were going slightly mad for not being able to be with each other.
So we decided that for the Christmas vacations I would visit him in Germany. At that time I was this scared little person who would not even board a bus in her own University city because she was not sure where the bus would take her. I know, it is lame, but this is the truth. My husband used to accompany me virtually through google earth whenever I had to take a bus journey within or outside my city.
In November 2010, I got my schengen visa stamped without any glitches and delays, and I was pretty psyched about travelling to Germany in December. A little background on my life, the no-glitches/delays thing never happens to me without any reason. I always have a rule, if my ride is smooth until a certain point in time, I know I am going to be pushed into a ditch or a well the next moment. Okay so continuing my travel saga, I was supposed to board a flight from Birmingham to Dusseldorf on a Saturday mid-morning. I had my tickets, my visa and all my bags where packed according to the 25 kgs of luggage allowance.
I started from Leicester to Birmingham on one of the local trains. I had never traveled on these trains before. So I didnt even know how to open the doors when your station had arrived. So obviously I missed my station, I know this is lame too, but I had a lot of luggage and by the time I dragged myself and my luggage to the door the train had already left Birmingham to Coventry. So now I was in total panic and to make matters worse it had started snowing continuously, and at that time I had no idea what that snowstorm was turning into. So I got down at Coventry all wide eyed and teary eyed... Thankfully had the sense to board another train back to Birmingham. Somehow scrambled my way to the airport in one piece. Checked-in and got my boarding pass and settled down at the lounge waiting for my turn to be called to board the flight. That's when my ordeal started. The first time I glanced outside the airport's waiting lounge, I couldn't see any air crafts as it was snowing so heavily, all I could see was the white snow, which was fascinating to me being an Indian girl brought up nowhere near snow. Suddenly all the displays in the airport started showing that all the outgoing flights had been delayed by half an hour which gradually increased to one hour then to two hours and then all the displays flashed that all the flights had been cancelled. Even at that time I had no clue that I was stuck in the worst blizzard of its kind in Europe in that decade. I again dragged my luggage down to the check-in counters, in my desperation to get to Germany, I was ready to board any flight at any time out of UK, I was even ready to stay at the airport until that time. I had only £100 in cash with me and as luck would have it, my card got blocked for god knows what reason, my phone got completely discharged and I was stuck heaving and dragging my very heavy luggage around the airport which had become a battle ground. As a student you don't have much money at your disposal. I had no eaten the whole day because of all the anxiety and anticipation of travelling alone and now my empty stomach had started making questionable noises. By 3 p.m. it was dark outside and I still had no clue where I was going to stay the night. Somehow I used my head, got my cell phone somewhat charged, booked myself a bus ticket back to Leicester and set out to find a bus that would take me home. Now the funny part was I was oblivious to the fact that the whole of UK was under gridlock because of the blizzard which meant that no buses or trains were leaving from any of the stations. I boarded a bus, which had a kind bus-driver lady, who dropped me at the Birmingham bus station from where I hoped to get a bus back home. But no buses were leaving from the station at that time. I tried to flag a taxi to take me to the Birmingham train station, a kind lady offered me a lift and dropped me just outside the station in her taxi. I again dragged my very heavy luggage up to the station through all the snow between my survicle and sciatica pain... I got to the station from where I booked a ticket to Leicester. When I reached the platform I saw all the passengers lined up, sitting on their luggage or on any dry surface they could find, waiting for the train authorities to put in a train to Leicester, because as luck may have it, all the trains had been pulled off tracks due to heavy snow and low visibility. So I sat there too, and completely gave up my hope of reaching the safety of my dorm room. It must have been half an hour since I was sitting there, a train pulled up on our platform. It was not supposed to go anywhere and was going to be parked there for the rest of the night. All the passengers waiting to go to Leicester jumped into this train in desperation and hope that they would let this one go. When the authorities came to remove us from the train, all of us defied them and said that if they don't let the train go we would just sit inside it as it is at least warmer than the platform. Finally they obliged and said they would let this one go. Oh I can't explain the sense of relief I felt when the train moved from Birmingham. Within an hour I was back in Leicester and in my dorm room. I had bought a Subway sandwich that I devoured and slept like a baby that night.
Before I left for Birmingham the previous day I had emptied all of my food rations, rice, lentils, vegetables, fruits as I was not hoping to come back for the next 20 days. So when I got up the next day, which was a Sunday, I didn't even have milk in the fridge to prepare some tea. I was famished and set out to hunt for an open shop or market nearby. Of course everything was closed, between it being a Sunday and the country being gridlocked and all. I was on the verge of collapsing when the kind uncle from the Pakistani shop down the road noticed my predicament and opened his shop for sometime. I grabbed whatever I could, cooked something and ate like an animal until I was full. During all this time, me and my husband were talking and we decided that he would book my ticket on Eurostar, the only train plying between the UK across the English Channel and Europe. I had to get to London to catch this said train. So the next day i.e., a Monday I set out to catch the train from London's St. Pancras station. Little did I know, a brand new ordeal was waiting to be unraveled for me in London.
No comments:
Post a Comment