Finally the big day arrived. I felt uncharacteristically calm with little flutters of panic that had something to do with going through innumerable checks at the airport...and handling 3 huge bags. Surprisingly it was no big deal. My parents were dewy eyed and I was impatient to leave. And before I knew, I had passed through many many lines and desks and was waiting near the boarding gate to board my flight. There I was dutifully messaging both my father and ex-boyfriend-turned-best friend about my whereabouts. After about half an hour, there was a call for passengers to board the flight. Since my seat was right at the back I got to go first. I sat in the plane and again gave the status update to both my contacts outside the airport. Then I switched the phone off.
The plane started to roll slowly...took many turns and finally barelled forward and took off into the skies. I enjoyed watching Two and a Half Men on flight and eating food which was pretty edible. I arrived at London and started the wait for 6 hours to get my next flight to Calgary. I roamed around many shops in the meanwhile but didn't touch any food apprehensive of the names of the food items since they did not make it clear if it was veg or non-veg! And of course the pound value scared me off. The flight from London to Calgary got delayed since the aircraft had some mechanical problems. This took a while for me to come to know since the announcement was in a very strong British accent and absolutely incomprehensible to me. Finally, the kind lady who checked our boarding passes told me.
I was overjoyed to see I had a window seat in this flight. As we flew up, I got a glimpse of entire London. I saw the Thames river and the bridge built over it and also the London Eye or Big Eye whatever they call that big jhoola. I must say that London is as cramped as Mumbai. I had a good time watching the view of the clouds as we were flying above them. Total paisa vasool. :-D Then I made the mistake of deciding to watch a romantic movie and cried most of the time till dinner came. I was so full with food and exhausted, both mentally & physically that I fell into deep sleep when we were flying somewhere over Iceland, probably Reykjavik. When I woke up, my half eaten dinner had been cleared up by the air hostess and the pilot was circling over Calgary waiting for clearance to land. I glanced out of the window and it was dark. The city was lit up and it looked beautiful.
After landing, I went through Immigration (the officer was gorgeous !!!!!) and got my permit. Then cleared Declaration. Found my bags on the carousel and headed out to meet my professor. She was pleasantly surprised to see that I did not look like a zombie ready to drop into bed!
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