24/02/2014. And that’s it my five years and
2 months journey in UK has finished. What a journey it has been since January
2009. Worked and studied with some amazing people. Did not get the chance to
say goodbye properly but I just want you to know that, you are part of my life
and I will never forget you. Keep well and keep in touch.
 |
| Taken at Heathrow just before the final security check. |
It was a two part flight with two different
airlines. First one was from London Heathrow to Istanbul with Turkish Airlines
and the second one with Aeroflot from Istanbul to Sochi. Was really excited.
Thanks to my friend Kawsar who was with me to say goodbye at the airport and surprisingly
I was not sad. I had over 8 KG extra luggages but managed to send it without
paying. Thanks to the power of smile.
And the journey began. Seriously I was
feeling nervous about my upcoming journey. A journey to unknown. My plane took
off from Heathrow at 16.10 (UK Standard time) and landed Istanbul at 22.00
(Istanbul local time). I had always been a good feeling about Istanbul and the
people of Turkey until that day. No offence to my Turkish friends but I did not
get a good hospitality from Istanbul Airport. I understand it was in the
midnight and people were tired but smiling does not cost much.
 |
| At Istanbul Airport 24/02/2014 |
As I had to use two different airlines for
my journey to Sochi, so I had to check in twice (one in Heathrow and other one
is at Istanbul). I went to the Turkish Airlines counter to change the
destination of my main luggage I felt like employees are there not to help
customers but to spend time. They were talking to each other, checking
facebook, talking over the phone etc. Anyway luckily I had enough time to sort
that out as my second flight to Russia was at 1.05 AM.
Everything sorted and I was getting closer
to be part of another history. It was announced that the boarding to flight SU
5339 will start from 12.15. We were waiting at the gate and nobody from the
airline was there till 12.45. Then one man and a woman arrived at the desk. They
did not say anything and no one was asking why the boarding has not started
yet. I asked them at around 1.00 about the status of our flight and they
replied that the plane has just arrived and it needs to refuel. Ops!!! Not a
good start and definitely not a good first impression about Russia. Then they
changed the gate and we had to walk over 15 minutes. I was really tired.
At around 1.45 the boarding started and we
entered the plane. It was quick and the flight took off at 2.05 (One hour delay
but no apology from the plane crews). We were scheduled to land at Sochi
Internal Airport at 05.00 (Sochi local time) but because of the delay we were
late for 15 minutes. Thanks to the Russian pilots. We landed at 05.15 Sochi
local time. Arrived at the immigration in less than 10 minutes (I was really
surprised). Went to the immigration and surprised.
Stay tuned to find out what happened with
me in Russia………
<
To be continued >
No comments:
Post a Comment