Twelve Hours Of Loneliness In Dubai

Hello friends, hope you all are doing fine. Today I want to share with you all an experience that I had about a couple of years ago. This is something really interesting for me as this was the first time I ever experienced a full twelve hours of loneliness in my whole life. I study in the Tbilisi State Medical University which is located in Tbilisi the capital of Republic of Georgia. Every year during my summer vacation I used to go to my hometown which is a city called Chennai, the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu. After the vacation the journey from my home to Tbilisi starts.

It was two years before and I was in my home in India. It has been almost one and half months since my vacation has begun and it is about to end soon. As my university will be beginning its classes shortly I had to make the necessary arrangements to reach back Tbilisi. After an intense search for a flight ticket I finally booked my flight ticket to Tbilisi on September 23. It was not a direct flight to Tbilisi but a long transit of 12 hours in the United Arabian Emirates. My flight route was from Chennai internation airport to Dubai International Airport followed by a 12hour transit. After this transit the next journey began from Dubai to Tbilisi. The two flights were not the same as I had Fly Emirates from Chennai to Dubai and Air Zena or Georgian Airways from Dubai to Tbilisi.

I had a week more for my vacation to get over. As time was nearing by I had to do a lot of packing things and arrange all the necessary materials required for another year of life in Tbilisi. The shopping process began, my mom and me had some tough time purchasing things needed for the travel. Such a purchase will definitely drive you crazy. The purchasing process continued till the day before my flight date. Finally the purchasing process came to an end and now began te next difficult task which is nothing but packing. You may ask what is the difficulty in packing clothes? but you must understand that the difficulty is not packing but packing it within the allotted limit. No one wants to stand in a cue and pay fine for some excess baggage. Apart from the money that you will have to pay at the airport, it is actually an unnecessary tension. If you are able to arrange the maximum load in a minimum way then definitely you are a master at packing. I think that my mom is a master of packing. She just packed everything without leaving a safety pin into the trolley I had. No one goes to the airport before weighing their bag at home.

The night before flight I was sleepless. I don't know why but normally people do not get sleep before the day they are about to do something interesting. The next morning I was the first one to wake up because I was sleepless. I went into the bathroom to have a nice shower. Following the shower I got ready and my mom prepared a plate of delicious Indian breakfast for me. As I took the plate in my hand I was able to feel that this was the last day of eating at home and from the next hour I must wait for another whole year to taste mom's food.! No one can change it as I had job to do in Tbilisi so I made up my mind and started eating the breakfast that my mom prepared. Early morning my dad took the packed luggage to a nearby grocery store to estimate its weight. It was almost 5kilograms higher than the allotted value. Therefore mom and me had to make some immediate changes in packing. I took some books from the main baggage and transferred it to the hand baggage. This was followed by some sentiments. My mom, dad and brother said everything they wanted to say before I leave them for a year.

The car arrived and we all boarded it. It took almost 30 minutes for the car to reach the airport. The flight was at 10'O clock in the morning and in Chennai the sun was shining very bright. As I got out at the ariport there was an amazing thing that occured which I could never forget. I got out and pulled the trolley where I had my baggages. As I was arranging the baggaes a car suddenly came from nowhere and stopped at the entrance of the airport. From the car, the famous actor, Tamil, got out and the whole crowd went and encircled him. There were numerous people who were waiting for his autograph and some even wanted to take photographs with him. It was my first time seeing an actor in real. I was just gazing at the things that happened. Suddenly I heard my name called and it was my mom. She was shouting my name from the entrance and I was in another dream world!

Smiling at myself I pulled my trolley into the airport where I had to stand in a long qeue to do the check-in process. I was a bit nervous about the baggage as I thought it may exceed the weight allowance. There was some Tamil cultural event that is about to take place in Dubai and all leading actors, actress, comedians of Tamil film industry was at the airport. They came to the check in counter of the same flight which I was about to travel in. Even inside the airport they were so popular. I could see people asking for photographs with them and autographs.

The qeue from the check in was very long and it was almost late for my flight. Exactly 45 minutes before departure I completed my check in process. The baggage exceeded just 2 kilograms but the attendant who weighed my baggage didn't take this into regard. I got my boarding passes in my hand and I went to meet my mom who was standing for me in the visitors area. I saw her, asked her to take good care of her health and then I waved bye to my mom, dad and brother. The next process was to clear the immigration at the chennai airport. I was not able to believe my eyes. The qeue was so long there were six rows of qeue and I was almost at the last. Few minutes later some more people came and stood before me. Here again the actors were standing in the line to complete the immigration process. Finally after 15minutes the line slowly cleared and I was up next to the counter. When my turn came, I went to the counter showed all the necessary documents and the immigration form. The lady who was sitting in the counter verified it and she let me pass.

Then I was walking upstairs with my handbaggage. I called my mom's phone and said that I cleared immigration. Then moving upstairs there was another big qeue for security checking. The qeue was long and I didn't have enough time to stand on the line. Therefore I asked the people who stood in front of me. Understanding my situation they let me to complete the security check process. It was here a major problem occured. I was having all the masalas in my handbaggage and everyone know that it is prohibited to carry such items in hand baggage. Even I knew that! but the last minute tension drew me crazy and I was standing at the security check with the masalas. I called my mom and said what happened,! she told me to leave the handbaggage there as it was only masalas and board the flight. The officers who were saying about this were from the north and they didn't know English nor Tamil. I was completely clueless. This is where God did some miracles to me, A superior officer who was a Tamil came there. Seeing the problem going on he asked me whats wrong? and I explained him the whole situation. The superior officer opened the bag and took out all the masalas. He asked me "don't you know that you can't carry these items" in Tamil. I said that I got confused in the last minute. He smiled at me and he took some masala packs such as chili powder, pepper powder, chilli flakes and he returned back the others to me. He said not to repeat the mistake again and he also insisted me that if in case I recieve the main baggage in Dubai to shift the masalas to main baggage. I thanked him a lot and I rushed to the gate where the boarding has already started.

Showing my boarding pass at the gate I was able to pass through the gate where I got the first glimpse of the aircraft I'm about to travel. As I entered the flight an airhostess wished me a good day and showed me the way. Unfortunately I didn't have a window seat for this flight. The plane was incredibly beautiful. The business class seats were extraordinary. It was that moment when I thought how the airbus A-380 owned by Emirates would be. The interior of the plane was perfect and comfortable enough for an international journey. The plane started to begin the take-of after I got settled down. I took out my mobile phone in a hurry and called my mom saying that I was ready to take off! She wished me a happy journey and the safety instructions in the plane began. Finally after all the confusions and problems I settled down in my flight to Dubai.

The plane was artistically decorated. I liked the business class cabins of the flight very much. Once I reached my seat I could see a pack of headphones and blanket just like all other aircrafts. The headphone packet consisted of a stickers that stated three different statements. The first one was "Do not disturb", followed by "Wake me up for lunch" and the third "keep the lunch but do not disturb". These three stickers are for the passengers who wish to take rest during the flight. If you pick any sticker before you sleep and stick it near your headrest such that the sticker is visible to the airhostess they will do whatever is mentioned in the sticker. That is a good idea rather than waking the people in flights those who don't want to wake up or the passengers who are hungry but want to take rest have to wait with their eyes open till the food arrive. These three simple stickers can explain the need for all these people.

The plane started to move in the airport. The airhostess started to serve a lime juice pack to every passenger and they made a request to all the passengers to drink the juice before take off. This helped in preventing the passengers from getting nausea during the flight. There was a menu card placed in every table giving two different options for breakfast. In my menu there was upma & Sambhar which is a traditional Indian dish and the other was French toast with Omelet. The plane made its way to the runaway and within minutes the plane was in air. A journey of three and half hours to Dubai has started.

Just like any other international flight there was a monitor with multiple options to do. There were movies, songs, games, tv shows, flight info and so on. I started to explore them and after sometime i was bored therefore I started to watch a movie. There was no one sitting next to me in the aircraft. Next to the window it was sitted a man with my father's age. He started to develop a conversation with me starting with the my name followed by what I was doing and so on. The conversation lasted for a while after which the airhostess came offering everyone a hot wet towel. This was followed by the breakfast. The airhostess was gradually delivering food to every passenger and she almost came near me. I made my table ready and waited her. She came and asked me the dish I prefered to have. I asked her for the French toast and Omelet. She served me the desired menu and I asked for an Orange juice as a drink to suppress any kind of vomiting sensation when there is sudden turbulence during the flight. I opened up my food packet where a delicious French Toast and Omelet was there. I started tasting them and it was really delicious. Followed by the breakfast was the dessert that was lying beside my plate. The desert was so delicious the best I have ever tasted in a flight. After this good breakfast I was feeling really sleepy therefore I pushed back my flight seat and started to take a short nap. Since I didn't sleep the previous night I felt fast asleep within seconds of closing my eyes but before I pasted the sticker "Wake me for lunch" near my head rest. When the airhostess woke me up for lunch I couldn't even open my eyes. I was that much sleepy. The airhostess placed the food in my table and after trembling a bit I woke up. I went to the rest room refreshed myself a bit and came to have the lunch that was served. It was traditional Indian rice with chicken and yet again another delicious dessert. I started to unpack the food and began to eat them slowly. The lunch was tasty and just like the breakfast the dessert was even more tastier! After eating the lunch I was served with a cup of hot tea. I usually don't take milk along with tea during journey's as it may cause nausea. As I was having my cup of tea there was an announcement made which stated that a duty free shopping is available within the flight and if in case you need anything contact the airhostess. In another five minutes a show case exhibiting several duty free items was taken around the plane.

By this time we reached Dubai. I was able to see the deserty terrain through the windows. Once the aircraft reached Dubai it began to fly slow close to the ground. I'm not really sure if it really flew close to the ground or it was just me who felt so. The aircraft made a big "u" turn in the sky and started flying parallel to a road where city buses, cars and other automobiles were moving and in no time the aircraft entered into the airport territory. Within seconds the aircraft's wheels touched the ground and finally the flight landed safely. After few minutes of moving to the specific area the aircraft came to a complete stop. The passengers began to get up from their places starting to move towards the door. I stood up and took all my hand baggages from the overhead cabin. The flight was not standing in the gate and therefore we had to get down through stairs and board an airport bus to take us to the specific terminal. As I moved out from my place towards the flight door I took a glance again at the business class cabin. It was having a real classy look. The seats were covered by a wooden coupe. It had seat mounted controls for adjusting different things. There was a study lamp, a monitor and all other features found in a classic first business class cabin.

As I took my first step out of the plane into the stairs I felt the real heat of Dubai. The hot wind was totally unbearable. Everyone rushed into the airconditioned airport buses. I was able to see Indians everywhere in the airport starting from the bus driver who drove the airport bus I was sitting in. The bus made its way slowly along a specified route. The airport bus almost travelled for 15minutes inside the airport to drop at us a terminal. We were able to see for ourselves the massive area enclosed by the Dubai International Airport. Finally the bus reached the transfer desk where I got down and once I went in through the door a staffguided me to the top floor where I was about to undergo a security check again.

In Dubai I was scared even more. I thought some problem might arise because of the masala load in my hand luggage. The line moved so quickly and I was standing next for the security check. My hand luggage passed throught the x-ray machine and the officials didn't ask me anything. I thanked God a thousand times for making me pass it without any trouble. I took all my luggages in a trolley and settled in a place. I wanted to keep the belt purse and all other stuffs in my bag as I had to remove it everytime I want to go through a security check. I then had twelve hours of transit time and therefore I was a bit relaxed.

I knew that I won't have anything to do for such a long time. I said for myself that "Twelve Hours Of Loneliness Is About To Start". First I went to a information desk to enquire about Georgian Airways. The officials there pointed me in one direction. In there I asked the officer who was standing there if the baggages will be transferred automatically or I had to collect the bag and again check in to the other flight as both flights were different. The officer there said that the luggages would be transffered directly to the flight. After making sure that there is no problem with the luggage I was free to do whatever I felt like for twelve hours. I was not ready to sleep. I decided to take a trip around all three terminals in the Dubai International Airport. At that time I was standing in Terminal II so I thought to go back to Terminal I and start from the beginning.

The airport is such a big one. You need at least 30 minutes just to walk from one terminal to the other. I reached terminal where I met a new person. He was a staff at the airport and he was from India. As I said before there were many people from India who were working in the airport. He was talking about his city, why he came to dubai and what was he doing almost everything. After few minutes he left the place as he had work. From the Terminal I i was able to see out where I could see some buildings. There was a sea food restaurant in there. Outside the restaurant was a big fish tank with two massive Lobsters. The lobsters were so thick that I can't describe about them. Upon order they will cook and give the lobster for you to eat.

Right next to this restaurant was a park like set up full of greeneries. There were many plants decorating the park with a small fountain like thing that added upto the beauty. There were escalators on each side of the path to make walking easier. With such a technology the distance between the two terminals will not matter at all. I continued my walk through terminal one where I came across the first duty free store in Dubai International Airport. The store was big which had almost everything in it. Starting from female cosmetics to Marlboro's and Scotch. I was walking through every little rack in the duty free exploring all the new items that I saw on my way. The terminal I also had a small electronic section which had I phones for a much cheaper rate than outside. It also had a magnificent wide angled camera lens. After exploring for such a long time in the duty free these two were my only wishlist items. I left this duty free and continued walking on my way towards Terminal II.

The terminal I was quite small compared to the other two. There is a complete termminal which I'm not sure if it is entirley allotted to Fly Emirates. The terminal one was over and I was in my way to the next terminal. Here was even a bigger duty free. I went inside and started to explore things. There were so many cosmetics, perfumes, shades, chocolates, ciggarrates, alcohols etc. They were all rich and royal. I bought some chocolates just for my sake and came out of the duty free. In the central path was a watch store which had a huge collection of some expensive watches. Watches from the popular world brands such as citizen, tag - heuer, Armani and every branded watch was displayed in this shop. On the other side of the shop was a Jewel section. This section had some finely crafted arabic jewel which were shining so brightly. On the opposite side of this shop was another duty free where it was totally devoted to electrical and electronic items. This was my favourite section in the entire airport. Here I had a look at all the newly arrived electronic gadgets. At that time the most popular one was a band like device which is worn around the eyes and connected to an i-phone. This will make the user see movies right in front of his eyes. As I came out of the duty free shop I encountered another Indian who was from the same region which I come from. He began speaking to me and we both were having a good chat afte he had to leave because of the work.

It was almost 1pm in Dubai and I started feeling hungry. I asked one of the Indians who was working there for a good place to eat. They said there was no suitable restaurant for Indian taste within the airport. They asked me to visit the McDonalds found within the airport and they even showed me the way. Following their guidance I went into the area where McDonalds was located. The place was magnificent because tables and chairs were laid facing the take off of the planes. Sitting here you could see most of the aircrafts landing and take off. Moreover they provided a good free wi-fi connection than the one available in airport for free. I went to the billing section and ordered for a hamburger, a chicken burger, fries and a chocolate milkshake. The bill came somewhere around $10. I took my meal and found a perfect spot near the glass windows. From here I was gazing at the runway and I was having my meal. I didn't have any kind of hurry as I had more than 10 hours to while away. My next flight was at 11.55pm. I saw some rare kind of airlines flying in the skys of Dubai. The most important of them is the Pakistan International Airlines which I had never seen before. The aircraft was painted in the same colours of the flag. The body was white with the rudders painted green containing the crescent. Like this I was analyzing every new airline that I saw. After sometime the job was boring therefore I opened my laptop bag and took out the laptop. Connected it to a free wifi connection that was available and I started to browse the internet. This helped me in whiling away some of the time. Then in the afternoon I reached a point where I thought I couldn't sit idle anymore. Therefore I packed all my belongings dropped them in a trolley and moved out of McDonalds.

I was walking along the pathway and I was in a place where it had the appearance of a real desert. There were dates trees standing on both sides of the palk which were so real and in between them were chairs for the passengers to sit. The scenery was bordered by escalators found on both sides. This entire set up with the sand colored carpet gave a classical desert look to the place. The cars that I saw in Dubai Duty Free were simply the best. They displayed a number of luxury cars such as Jaguar, Porsche, BMW which was said to be a lucky draw for the duty free purchasers. There was also a brand new Ducati standing in a ramp in the Dubai duty free. All these bikes and cars were so wonderful that I was gazong at them for hours. I was talking to strangers just to while away the time I had. The twelve hours of time in Dubai was driving me crazy at the very last moment. Till night 8pm I was able to manage by visiting shops, exploring new things, sitting in Mcdonalds and so on but after I didn't really have anything to do.

¡I was thinking again and again what to do! When I looked at the display screens in the airport my flight name and number was displayed. I felt really happy because I've got something to do finally. I went to an enquiry center to ask about the check in area for the flight and they pointed me to a counter that was located on the second floor. I was the first one to reach there and after 30minutes the counter was opened. I went near the counter and showed the necessary documents and the boarding passes. He checked the documents and issued me a boarding pass to the flight. I was lucky enough because the person didn't ask any fine for additional baggage but some of the people who went behind me payed around $100 as a fine for carrying excess baggage. After getting the boarding pass I again came down and was waiting on a chair gazing at the screen to display the gate number for my flight. After an hour the gate number flashed in the screen and I was the first one to reach the gate first but it was closed. Therefore I again had to sit idle for few minutes. The gate opened and everybody was asked to sit in a row of seats found near the gate.

Here came another problem, most of the foreign students in Georgia doesn't have a visa they have a temporary resident card. At present the card is well equipped with a chip but before two years the card that was issued will be only printed in Georgian language. This made it difficult for the airport officials to check the validity of the visa. The officials thought of a different plan. They invited a person from the airport who knew the language. The officials collected all the resident cards and gave it to that person to check if the card is still valid. After this process which actually consumed a lot of time the passengers were allowed to board the next flight.

It was my first time travelling in Air zena. It was a really small plane and the hand luggages which we bought in our hands was said as main baggage by the flight officials. Having no other go they had to manage all the baggages inside the plane. There were too many baggages such that some of the excess baggages were kept in the area allotted for cabin crew. The flight journey is estimated for three and half hours. The aircraft had no music, no monitors, no games absolutely nothing. There was just one magazine in the front seat pocket. The flight was so congested that it was hard even to breathe.

After sometime food was served on board and it was not at all good to eat. The three and half hour journey was a ride in the hell. Finally the aircraft landed safely on the Tbilisi soil. Every passenger was really thankful to God for making the flight land safely. The plane we travelled was so small that it didn't need a gate or a big staircase. A stair case that had only five or six steps was quite enough for us to get to the land. From there an airport bus carried us to the arrival terminal. First we had to pass through a passport control area where they checked for the passport and visa. After that the officers took a photograph and let us in to the country. We had to wait for sometime on the first floor for our baggages to arrive and when it arrived we collected them and arranged them in a trolley. Pushed it out from the airport into the streets where I hired a cab to reach back to my home in Tbilisi. A long journey from India to Tbilisi is accomplished. All that was still remaining is to collect the baggages, hire a cab and take all the baggages to home. Fall on the bed and collapse for sometime to regain all the energy that I lost during my travel.

A day that started with tension, followed by a long travel with a half day of loneliness and at the end a terrible journey all occured in a single day of my life. Every year I visit Tbilisi through a new route and every year I face some problems. They appear as problems only the first time. When I sit in the future and think about the past problems they always appear funny to me. Even this long journey from Chennai to Tbilisi is one such journey which has given me a lot to remember. Thank you for reading it patiently. Till I write my next article keep smiling and cheers :) :) Please feel free to post any comments or suggestions below..!