Okay, so all of us have, at one time or the other, booked on ‘cheap airlines’ and didn’t mind the stop overs and all that – just to save a few dollars! I belong in that category for sure – in fact so much so that I lookout for the cheapest options with the max number of stopovers. This has nothing to do with being a cheap-ass. I love strange airports – and for the lack of a better word, I call myself an “airport-explorer”.
So I booked a Rwanda Air flight to Nairobi from Dubai. After going over the mechanics of the flight, I figured that I would leave Dubai and fly to Mombassa (Kenya). After picking up passengers, fly to Kigali (Rwanda). Here I would change flights and board a new flight to Nairobi (Kenya) to arrive at my destination 10 hours after starting the journey. (FYI, a direct flight from DXB to Nairobi is just about 5 hours).
Anyway, since it was season of holidays, the flight was filled tourists, including few with intended destination Mombassa, but who had, for some unexplained reason bought a ticket to Nairobi. Okay, I bring this up for a reason. I will tell you why.
We landed at Mombassa on a cloudy afternoon. Few people got off and we readied to receive the new passengers. An hour later a very worried crew strutted around checking personal baggage on board. Left. Came back again. Asked to “hold” our personal baggage for inspection. Done. They left. They were back looking even more serious than ever.
The captain came on the line. Apologised.
So the rest of us on board were asked to step out of the plane to face the slight rain showers – not all of us could find shelter the the Rwandan Air wing! Few people dived in and out of the baggage hold, manually carried every piece of baggage out and deposited it on the tarmac. Uniformed airport crew came with metal detectors (read bomb detectors) and such like and ran it over every piece of baggage in vicinity, before asking us to identify our stuff and stand beside it. More officials bearing sinister looking machinery came while someone with a paper, ticked each baggage against the owner, thus eliminating the “unclaimed baggage”. We came back on board and took off. In all, it cost us about 3.5 hours.
In other words, my connecting flight from Kigali was long gone.
Back on board, we were told how three people had walked off the plane, while they had their tickets and boarding passes for Nairobi. I had a vague suspicion that a young girl seated near me was one of them, because I had noticed how she had been the last arrival on board in Dubai, how she slept on the entire flight till we landed at Mombassa and after a quick consultation with some friends, had upped and left. I had no way of knowing she was the one, of course! I found out 9 days later.
Meanwhile, in a very cramped airport at Kigali, we waited for the next flight to Nairobi – 4 hours later. Really, if I had thought I was going to spend that time exploring the kiosks and stalls at the airport, I was far from being reasonable. There was one large hall that was divided into a coffee shop called Bourbon, a toilet with its large windows open and anyone with determination could leave the airport through it, a small corner for souvenirs that included Rwandan Tea/coffee, a dozen locally made accessories and shawls. Yup! That was it. In the centre of that hall was the the scanners, which relied more on the competency of the officers than its own sensors to smell out the trouble makers and when you passed through that, you walked into the farthest corner of the hall with a dozen chairs and waited to board.
I am convinced that if you had a large square hall for a home, you could break it up into functional rooms and still have space for scanners. It works.
Four hours later we boarded a Bombardier Next Gen airline, which was by far the smallest one I had ever flown on an international route. When the captain announced that we would be flying at an altitude of 34000 ft, I hailed the crew and asked where the parachutes were located. Yeah, it was scary!
To cut a long story short, when I returned (exact same way I had arrived), who do I see? That same girl looking, a little more cocky than I remembered her (yeah, last one again) , took the seat behind me and narrated the entire story of her arrival to the woman beside her and in the one hour journey, all I got from the other woman was that she was headed to Entebbe from Kigali. Yeah, she was chatty, that senseless little one was!
Sitting out the waiting time for return to Dubai, I sought out that ‘other woman’ with the sole purpose of telling her how that vixen and her friends had cost us 4 hours of sitting straight backed at Kigali – and over tea, we discussed how important it was for travelers to know where they wanted to go!
Now is the best part. I know I am going to sound cruel, but let me enjoy this. We boarded the flight, we arrived in Dubai – and that vixen and her friends did not make it to the flight! Probably busy chatting away and missing the boarding announcement!
Although I swear one couldn’t miss the announcement in that small space. Come to think of it, we had left a little late too – yeah, probably waiting for the vixen.
WHAT I FIGURED –
Now I have come to the conclusion that if you fly on airlines that don’t take the straight route to your destination – be prepared for surprises.
Not all international airports are built like Singapore or Dubai or Heathrow
Remember to carry essentials in your personal baggage – that includes a hair brush, toilet paper, tooth brush and paste, a book, or anything that might keep you amused during unexpected and long layovers.
You might never arrive at your destination when you think – don’t fret.
There will always be travel – idiots on the flight with you. Keep away.
If you are going to get delayed /deplaned whatever – smile and take a pic. Someday it might bring back memories and laughter!!!
