The One Where I Take The Flight

And so, here I am, in a new place, a new home, but fortunately with the same old family, and a few old friends. Its been nearly a month since I finally managed to take my flight to Melbourne, after all the hiccups, and so far, its been nice, or rather its all fine now. Let me chronicle the events from where I left it last, and you can find out yourself what a roller coaster ride it has been, just getting till here.

My tickets were rescheduled, for the 16th, which meant the BB had a week to recover, which he did not, had a relapse, and he was still on his course of antibitotics when I finally flew out of Bombay. I had no idea how I would single-handedly administer the medicines to him, during the travel time of close to 24 hours. All was well, when he had a tiny meal at the airport, and then some salad in-flight. I had to change my flight at Hong Kong, and the flight landed there an hour earlier than scheduled, and I was just wondering what I would do with an extra hour at hand. (Taking here the opportunity to say, people, do fly Kingfisher whenever you get the opportunity, you will love it. The glam interiors, the great service, the huge leg-space. It is ready to compete with the best names in international travel services. Mr. Mallya I just need to say this, great job!) The extra hour was put to great use, when the BB threw up all over himself and my back, (yes I was carrying him in a carrier on my back). I had extra set of clothes for the BB, which I cleaned him up and changed him into, me, well I had a denim jacket on, which was immediately taken off, and away I went in my sheer cotton top, in temperature of below ten degrees. Fortunately the panic button remained switched off, and I managed to take care of it all, it was only the GP, who was snapped off, when he called me at that point. After taking a train to the next terminal, I managed to check into the connecting flight. The HK international airport fortunately offered trolleys at most places even for hand baggage, and that was a super duper relief for me, since I did have loads at hand, besides a not so well BB. I managed to get the BB juice from the Starbucks there, where they refused to take any currency but the HK dollar or USD, fortunately I had a few scraps of USD, and hence procured a bottle. Thank God for the smart GP, who ensured that I carried some USD with me. What would I do without that man I tell you.

A rather meek BB, looking out, waiting for our connecting flight. The sea is visible from the airport here.

Got onto the next flight, gladly, and I think the BB and I snored through most of it, and I woke up with just a couple of hours left for us to land. The BB was just tiered after having been flying for the better part of 24 hours. On a side note, I did not like the Qantas air hostess who made faces, when the BB was taking his time to get off the flight, dragging the case I had carried in hand baggage.( We were the last to leave the plane, because I did not want others to get stuck behind me.) You are supposed to be a hostess woman, and being sweet and kind to kids is a part of what you are paid for, forget about common human courtesy. Once off the flight, the BB decided enough was enough, and promptly threw a tantrum, and I had absolutely no idea, what to do. He just refused to move ahead. I think that lasted for a good twenty minutes, which meant all my fellow passengers were half way home, by the time I even reached the immigration counter. Managed to pick up my luggage, and found that one of it had not arrived, filled out the required papers for its retrieval, and finally moved out through the customs.

When I exited from the airport door, I had about a hundred pair of eyes trained on me, if not more. That made me so uncomfortable, that I did not even look for the GP, but just kept walking, averting all the eyes on me. There were loads of people waiting for their loved ones, and I was a solitary exit from the airport after a really long interval of time I believe. Finally met the GP, hugged him, and handed over the BB, I was too drained for any more expression of emotions. The honest fact is I have never missed the GP, as much as I had this last one month, with an ill BB, the incredibly long journey, and for no, just having him around.

The next day was not too good either, the BB went back to throwing up, and we had to locate a doctor and take him there, the very first day we got here. The antibiotics were given up on, but fortunately there was no relapse of the fever, and over the next couple of days he recovered from everything. And after all this ordeal, all he is left with is some skin and bones. His skeletal look when he arrived, completely shocked the GP, who had left him less than a month back. He is attempting to feed the BB every fattening thing available on the face of this earth ever since. Illnesses are really hard on kids, but the good news is, they bounce back faster than we ever can. And hence I am just happy that he is not ill anymore.