Prime Destination
It's been three years or more since my most sought-after and extremely intriguing holiday. Adventure-packed, oodles of family moments, and more goodies than I could possibly fathom. There was hardly any planning involved; let's say, this holiday was meant to be! It was like, I was given a wand to swish about; a moment in which to live my dream! The paraphernalia—a choice of buttons with my favorite holiday hangouts etched on. And what do I choose? South Africa!
![]()
No, no, it wasn't some kind of poll thingy; it was a decision made while pondering over a close, close cousin's email. Said, it'd be great if we could make it to their place at Joburg. My family of four sat around and wondered, "Why not give it a chance?" Obviously, like all families, or perhaps, I should emphasize on the fact—"most families"—there sure was a lot of head-banging, hair-yanking sessions; but then, the good part was that we had finally arrived at a unanimous decision. Phew! Sounds almost impossible, doesn't it? But that's just the way families are. They brainstorm in the hopes of arriving at a decision; however, almost always, the "decision" happens to be the exact thing that is omitted—we usually end up agreeing to disagree.
Coming back to the point, at the moment, I wasn't quite sure if the choice I made was for the beter or worse. But, hey, what the heck! There's no way one can tell, but to take the plunge. Afteral, the proof of the pudding is in eating it. And I sure am glad I ate this one.
Johannesburg, popularly known as "Joburg" it was. A decision had been made. The flight route was from Delhi. India's capital, yes; but it didn't quite reflect in the way they treat passengers and tourists around there. They lacked in basic human relation ethics, and moreso, the cleanliness quotient hit a ground zero. Pathetic. The stench lingering in the restrooms escalated in the waiting area of the main airport, the coffee joints, had everything save for the very thing they stand for. I mean, I could just ramble on, but it isn't gonna change what it was. Thankfully, our journey was to "Africa", not Delhi. Phew! We had brighter days ahead afteral.
If you're wondering about"Ethihad"—it was our flight partner to Joburg. Gosh! She was an awesome piece of art! I did a time-travel, back to my childhood. The flight appeared more like something out of a fairytale. She looked as majestic as the waiting area in the immigration section—lined with glass windows, and wall-to-wall carpeting, an escalator sort of element. It always made me wonder, how is that the arrival and the chunk of the airport was so downright crummy? There are tourists that keep boomeranging in and out of the city for cryin' out loud! And then again, why only the tourists; don't we deserve to be pampered as well? Heck yes! It's amazing how countries abroad maintain a spic-and-span culture.
I guess one could say "you reap what you sow".
Our journey to Joburg was via Dubai. Oh my! It was quite something! I do admit that at that point we just couldn't wait to get to our final destination; but then, the halt at Dubai was worth every second. We arrived at the Dubai airport, roughly around 1:00 a.m. and had to nose around for about an hour, perhaps even longer; I don't quite recall too well. The place was buzzing with people from a very varied strata or society; some looked like lost sheep, and then there were the more adventurous kinds who made pit stops at almost all the counters selling a variety of paraphernalia. One of us was checking out something in particular, and he happened to get a mini suitcase, which had this extremely cute little wheels. Really cool! For that moment, the Dubai airport felt like a playground; there were many out there wheeling their baggage in and out often. Well, why would I stay out, huh? So that's exactly what I did, rolling the baggage from one counter to the next, ogling at the many interesting bling collectibles out there beaming from the display shelves.
Hunger pangs at 1:00 a.m. was killing us; it's kinda odd at that moment, considering we had been gorging since the time we boarded the flight. One had barely digested their supper, and you have this really sweet hostess beaming at you with one of her best smiles, holding a tray heaped with munchies, saying "Good morning, Ma'am. How would you like your tea?"
At the moment, I felt like Gretel back from the "Hansel and Gretel" fairytale—fattening up, just so the ugly witch could chop me into fine pieces, right in time for her evening meal! You can't blame me for thinking so!
Anyhow, my stomach was so bloated with foodies, gas, and bundles of joy already, that I couldn't risk an intake of more goodies! Thank you very much! However, boredom took its tool; the only interesting thing, silly as it may sound, was to take the food-plunge and get the palate working. Breakfast was gorged upon, bite by bite, which appeared to be the most interesting deed to be done at the time.
Moments later, the Captain's voice boomed from the intercom, assuring the eagerly waiting passengers of flight Ethiraj that we would be shortly landing in Johannesburg. Our most awaited destination had finally arrived. Ecstatic as we were, it was the last few minutes pre-arrival that felt the longest hours! The only dialogue happening between the four of us (Dad, Mom, li'l sis) was "Are we there yet?" After a fruitful lumsome hours of flying, we would be at our destination; it all just seemed like a dream; a dream that I would love to live 20 times over!
No, no, it wasn't some kind of poll thingy; it was a decision made while pondering over a close, close cousin's email. Said, it'd be great if we could make it to their place at Joburg. My family of four sat around and wondered, "Why not give it a chance?" Obviously, like all families, or perhaps, I should emphasize on the fact—"most families"—there sure was a lot of head-banging, hair-yanking sessions; but then, the good part was that we had finally arrived at a unanimous decision. Phew! Sounds almost impossible, doesn't it? But that's just the way families are. They brainstorm in the hopes of arriving at a decision; however, almost always, the "decision" happens to be the exact thing that is omitted—we usually end up agreeing to disagree.
Coming back to the point, at the moment, I wasn't quite sure if the choice I made was for the beter or worse. But, hey, what the heck! There's no way one can tell, but to take the plunge. Afteral, the proof of the pudding is in eating it. And I sure am glad I ate this one.
Johannesburg, popularly known as "Joburg" it was. A decision had been made. The flight route was from Delhi. India's capital, yes; but it didn't quite reflect in the way they treat passengers and tourists around there. They lacked in basic human relation ethics, and moreso, the cleanliness quotient hit a ground zero. Pathetic. The stench lingering in the restrooms escalated in the waiting area of the main airport, the coffee joints, had everything save for the very thing they stand for. I mean, I could just ramble on, but it isn't gonna change what it was. Thankfully, our journey was to "Africa", not Delhi. Phew! We had brighter days ahead afteral.
I guess one could say "you reap what you sow".
Our journey to Joburg was via Dubai. Oh my! It was quite something! I do admit that at that point we just couldn't wait to get to our final destination; but then, the halt at Dubai was worth every second. We arrived at the Dubai airport, roughly around 1:00 a.m. and had to nose around for about an hour, perhaps even longer; I don't quite recall too well. The place was buzzing with people from a very varied strata or society; some looked like lost sheep, and then there were the more adventurous kinds who made pit stops at almost all the counters selling a variety of paraphernalia. One of us was checking out something in particular, and he happened to get a mini suitcase, which had this extremely cute little wheels. Really cool! For that moment, the Dubai airport felt like a playground; there were many out there wheeling their baggage in and out often. Well, why would I stay out, huh? So that's exactly what I did, rolling the baggage from one counter to the next, ogling at the many interesting bling collectibles out there beaming from the display shelves.
Hunger pangs at 1:00 a.m. was killing us; it's kinda odd at that moment, considering we had been gorging since the time we boarded the flight. One had barely digested their supper, and you have this really sweet hostess beaming at you with one of her best smiles, holding a tray heaped with munchies, saying "Good morning, Ma'am. How would you like your tea?"
At the moment, I felt like Gretel back from the "Hansel and Gretel" fairytale—fattening up, just so the ugly witch could chop me into fine pieces, right in time for her evening meal! You can't blame me for thinking so!
Anyhow, my stomach was so bloated with foodies, gas, and bundles of joy already, that I couldn't risk an intake of more goodies! Thank you very much! However, boredom took its tool; the only interesting thing, silly as it may sound, was to take the food-plunge and get the palate working. Breakfast was gorged upon, bite by bite, which appeared to be the most interesting deed to be done at the time.
Moments later, the Captain's voice boomed from the intercom, assuring the eagerly waiting passengers of flight Ethiraj that we would be shortly landing in Johannesburg. Our most awaited destination had finally arrived. Ecstatic as we were, it was the last few minutes pre-arrival that felt the longest hours! The only dialogue happening between the four of us (Dad, Mom, li'l sis) was "Are we there yet?" After a fruitful lumsome hours of flying, we would be at our destination; it all just seemed like a dream; a dream that I would love to live 20 times over!
Comments
Post a Comment