This post has actually been written in series while I completed my journey until…. well read on to know more……

Part1:
Oh it’s over…. Or it seems so. After those innumerable hassles and problems, I can’t help but wonder as to what’s left and for how long? Even being quite prudent and foresighted as far as travel is concerned, I haven’t been able to forestall the misadventures following me the last few days. As soon as I thought of everything to be piccobello, I was proved wrong with circumstances and reasons I seemed to have no control over.

It all started just after my vacation was over. Instead of letting me travel to Yemen, for which I had the visa and ticket, my boss asked me to go to Brazil. Although I haven’t been to both these countries, for some pretty obvious reasons I was excited to go to Brazil. Now the first hurdle as always was procuring a visa, which I had been told, is indeed a pain-in-the-neck as far as Brazil is concerned. But since I had to get one, I went to the embassy with all the requisite documents only to find that the embassy was closed because it was somehow a holiday in Brazil. This fact made me realize that if your expectations from your dream job are lot of holidays and less work, try your hand at the embassy of one of the third world countries – you enjoy holidays of both the countries. Nevertheless, next day I managed to submit my application without any problem. I was told that I can check the status (whatever that means) the next day, a Friday. Next day they told that they didn’t even have a cursory look at my application. That leaves me to check the status on Monday (Sat and sun were obviously closed). On Monday they told that on Tuesday I will either get a visa or not, to which I asked that guy what then he meant with ‘checking the status’ when my knowledge of visa’s status is the same as yesterday – Zilch. He didn’t respond. At this juncture I did what I could have at most done – swore while coming out of the building. On Tuesday – already my fifth trip to the embassy as 8, Aurangzeb Road – my efforts finally bore the fruit and I got the visa. Happily I informed my company to issue a ticket to Sao Paolo. Immediately I got a perfect itinerary if seen from a European perspective. But we Indians should read between the lines. My itinerary was Delhi-Frankfurt-Munich-SaoPaolo. For any layman it would look flawless and it indeed is, only if you have a valid Schengen/German visa because both Frankfurt and Munich are in Germany. I asked them to reissue the ticket which they obliged by issuing another ticket with Air France as: Delhi-Paris-SaoPaolo. I felt relieved and happy too for its only once in a while that I get to travel Business Class.

On my departure day, I arrived at the airport barely an hour before the departure (I was basking in having a business class ticket). Nothing wrong but I was in for the surprise of a lifetime. They told me that I need a transit visa of France or a valid USA/Canada/UK visa if I want to travel through Paris (I fail to understand to this very day why and how a valid USA/Canada/UK visa will let me transit a Schengen country with the end destination in South America!!!) I was shocked because even after telling them that my onward flight is from the same building and same terminal in Paris, they didn’t yield their position. They offered to try boarding me on another airline, which I thought was also not a bad idea. But I think it was a day of surprises. Both British Airways and Lufthansa wanted transit visa of their respective countries. I can’t say about the former but Lufthansa…. Hey you need not tell me…. I have traveled twice to Chile via Frankfurt and Sao Paolo in the last ten months….. Sir you must have had valid US or UK visa… nope…. Well we are sorry sir; we can’t issue a boarding card to you…. Is this a new rule because else I have committed a crime of transiting through a country without a transit visa when, in fact, I should have had one…..? Sir we can’t say much about that but this rule has always been in place!!!!!! I was dumbfounded. After cursing and yelling for quite some time I had to finally return back home ruminating over the possible course of action left for me: getting a transit visa of France OR of Germany OR try altogether another itinerary. The following morning after catching some forty winks, I checked the internet for the first two possibilities and guess what; I need at least two to three working days to procure them. What $%$#%, I wonder what benefit is it for anyone except that we have to shell some extra bucks to get them and without that life could become hell if you are not aware of it. Now that left me trying the third possibility. After numerous attempts, I finally got something: Delhi-Bombay-Johannesburg-SaoPaolo. But checking the internet revealed that I need transit visa of South Africa too. I don’t know if it was my sixth sense or my clairvoyance that I called my travel agent and the South African embassy to check it. They confirmed that transit visa has been scrapped for Indians from July2006 but the website has not been updated hitherto. Seeing light at the end of the tunnel (it would later turn out to be that of an incoming train – albeit for a split second), I asked my company to issue the ticket. Getting the ticket I took a flight to Mumbai, which instead of landing at 2000 hours, was an hour late. By the time I reached the international terminal it was already 2200 hours: still enough time for my onward flights. As soon as I reached the South African airlines (SAA) with my e-tix (PTA), the bald guy rebuffed me saying that they do not accept e-ticket. I said “not again”. Although I was furious, I maintained my cool and approached his senior and explained everything. He went away only to come back almost half an hour later saying that they are not finding my reservation on the second leg of my journey and that the ticket is in Spanish which he can’t read and therefore I have to go back. I said that firstly it’s not Spanish but German. Secondly, why did it take him so long to understand that it’s in a language other than what he can ever comprehend and lastly, what difference does it make if it’s Spanish or German as far as it’s printed in standard format. I even offered to help him with translation etc but without hearing my arguments, he again went into oblivion only to come back after another half-hour and half-heartedly said that they are issuing me the paper ticket but can give boarding card for the first leg of my journey only. The other boarding card will be issued in Johannesburg. I said its fine with me and went away cursing South African airlines this time around. Thankfully I had only one piece of hand-baggage otherwise there would have been another chaos. Mumbai police don’t allow more than one hand baggage no matter what the travel class is.
Now I am sitting at the departure gate waiting to embark without any more surprises. And yes, you know what, I can publish this post right now too because our Mumbai airport is now wi-fi enabled but unfortunately one has to shell 50 bucks for half an hour, which is somewhat too dear to me!!!!


Part2:
True to what I wished at the Mumbai airport, my journey until Sao Paolo (I am again sitting at the airport waiting for my flight to Florianopolis to depart at exactly four hours from now) was smooth. Although the flight from Mumbai was almost an hour late, it didn’t make any difference to me. I got all the formalities – boarding pass etc – and boarded the SaoPaolo bound flight.

The in-flight service of South African airlines, I must say, was pretty good. In contrast to the appalling demeanor of the officials at Mumbai, their in-flight service and punctuality was commendable. The plane landed exactly at the scheduled arrival time and it didn’t take much time to get my baggage. Immediately I went through the customs on my way to the domestic terminal. At this juncture I digress a bit to tell you that I was told that the custom officials are a ruthless lot in Brazil, which I, incidentally failed to comprehend. They were actually normal custom people I am aware of who do there duty sincerely without causing problems for no reason at all (I am not talking of Indian, USA, or Saudi custom officials).


Part3:
My flight from SaoPaolo was one hour late for the simple reason that there was a high demand-supply gap at the check-in – too many people to be catered to through very few counters. The GOL officials were also quite uninterested in expediting the matter. Nonetheless I was happy to have finally made it to Florianopolis. I then took a taxi to my hotel. The Taxi driver, much to my astonishment, charged exactly 34 Reals – the amount I was told at the airport to be appropriate – and nothing more. After checking-in I quickly went to bed for next morning at 8O’Clock I was to be picked up by our client.

Next day after having a wholesome and quite satisfying breakfast, I got onto my client’s car and proceeded towards Lages – westward of Florianopolis. After about 4 hours I finally made it to my destination.

Now when I look back, it amuses me that I have completed such a long journey. Let’s calculate the total time I was ‘on the move’ to reach Florianopolis from Delhi (Since I went to Lages the next morning so I will leave that out from this calculation): I left my house at 1630 hours and I was in Florianopolis hotel at 2300 hours. Taking time difference of around 8,5 hours (I am not sure), it comes to approx. 39 hours!!!!!!! Still somewhat less than I had while traveling to Chile – not once but twice. Beat it!!!

PS: it’s for me to be reminded of two things while traveling
1. Never ever put your important stuff – Passport etc – in the seat pocket in front of you. This is because once I had forgotten my onward ticket and boarding card while traveling to Italy even though I never thought I will forget to remove it while disembarking
2. Always keep an eye on your personal belongings while security check is being carried out. It so happened in this very trip that one girl in front of me tried to sneak my mobile phone while I was getting frisked by the security personnel. In fact she was so quick that I hardly noticed it. After rebuking she pretended to be doing so inadvertently, which I am certainly not buying.

It has been quite some time since my last post and quite naturally a lot has happened during this period. Just to give an idea it was all about marriages. Altogether my own brother, one first cousin and two second cousin indemnified their lives with their better halves for good. I won’t be bothering to give a detailed account of the incidents that changed their lives for the simple reason that I am too lazy to pen down things most people are quite aware of. It, therefore, suffices to say that everything went smoothly and as planned. It’s just that my vacation was – as always – too short!!