Travelling to India
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| Aunty Sharon and I leaving Christchurch for Auckland |
We arrived in Auckland just after 2pm and took a bus to the international airport. The airport was quiet but I was surprised to see so many people on our plane. At the airport the Emirates staff were unfortunately not so helpful. There was a form that I was supposed to have filled in online. Instead I had printed off the PDF version and filled it in four times for both my Aunty Sharon and myself as I was told we would need four copies. The next hour was an interesting experience as I had to fill out the form on my laptop and find documents in my emails and scan copies with my phone of things that we had in our official documents. To say it was stressful would be a huge understatement. I was close to tears until after 45 minutes one Emirates man (who was more helpful than the rest) said, "Don't worry, you will be getting on the plane today." Thank goodness for that!! I eventually got the forms filled in and received a confirmation email.
We boarded our plane and set off for Kuala Lumpur just after 6pm. We sat next to a nice man from Pakistan who had been working in New Zealand since 2020. He was travelling home to see his wife and 11 year old daughter and bring them back to New Zealand. He hadn't seen his family for over 2 years.
When my Aunty Sharon and I stood up to go to the bathroom we chose the furtherest toilet in order to have more time standing as it is a 9+ hour flight. On one of our trips to the bathroom two ladies about my age stopped us to chat. I hadn't noticed but, apart from the couple sitting behind us, these ladies and my aunty and I were the only other European people on board the plane. One of the ladies asked us if we were doing something in Dubai as that was where our plane was eventually headed. My aunty looked at me and smiled. I explained to them that we were going to India to bring home my daughter that I had adopted. The ladies were so surprised and excited. They wanted to know that whole story. Luckily they were sitting next to an exit door so we had room to chat. They repeatedly exclaimed, " Oh I never expected you to say that. Congratulations." It was very encouraging as nerves were running high.
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| Waiting on the plane in KL |
Sleeping on the plane was difficult but out of almost 10 hours in the air I managed to get 3 hours sleep. There were other passengers who had a whole set of 4 seats to themselves. I was very jealous considering we had paid the same amount for our seats! Our Pakistani friend went and slept in a spare set of chairs which gave Sharon and I some more space. When we got to Kuala Lumpa we had to stay in the plane. We were there for just over an hour, refuelling and taking on more passengers. Our flight was now full.
Due to the time we left NZ we were flying in the dark for most of our journey so as soon as we left KL I fell asleep again. Another 7+ hours in the air and another 2-3 hours sleep which was much appreciated as the flight was quite bumpy with the seatbelt light on for at least half of the flight. I am not the best flier so it was better to be asleep or slightly unconscious.
When we arrived in Dubai we were offered a ride from one of the airport vehicles which was a blessing as our next gate was a long way away as people who have been to Dubai airport would understand. We arrived at our gate 4 hours before our plane left but it was great just to rest, charge my phone and catch up with some people back home. Sharon went to have a look at the shops while I rested. A lady of Indian culture who was about my age started talking to me and asked why I was going to Delhi (the number of European people was now just us!) I told her my story and she was also very excited. She told me that her and her husband had been talking about adopting a child but didn't know anything about the process or how to go about it. She was living in Auckland and her husband was a kiwi. I explained some of the process and she told me more about her life. It was once again an amazing connection. As we boarded the plane she said to me that she was going to start the process and that our conversation had encouraged her to do this sooner rather than later. I passed on my email address and I left feeling joy that another child would be becoming part of a family.
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| At Dubai Airport |
On our flight to Delhi we sat next to John who was from Bangladesh but had been working in The Philippines. He was on his way to Delhi to get a visa to be able to travel to Taiwan to see his wife and daughter. He had to travel to Delhi to get the visa as Bangladesh did not have a Taiwan embassy. He would then fly to Bangladesh and on to Taiwan. John had never met his daughter who was now 19 months old. I was once again struck by how covid had affected people's lives. Many books could be written about the experiences of people through the pandemic. I think someone should start a 'Humans of Covid' Facebook page sharing stories from around the world of how lives have been affected by the pandemic.
We arrived in Delhi and had no troubles going through immigration which was a relief. I had been concerned as I though I would need to show the form that I had stressfully filled out in Auckland and I didn't have access to the internet to find it on my email. It wasn't until we got to collecting our baggage that I realised no one had even asked for it. All that stress for nothing!! Although immigration was fast, waiting for our luggage took almost an hour.
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| Tuna, Aunty Sharon and I outside Delhi Airport |
We finally emerged from the airport to find our guide Tuna (his nickname) and Lalit (our driver) waiting for us. These two men were amazing and absolutely made our trip a wonderful relatively stress-free experience.
We drove to our hotel, arriving just after 6pm. The traffic wasn't as busy as I had expected and there weren't as many people as I had expected. The driving was crazy but I had experienced similar in other parts of the world so I trusted Lalit and left my worrying to what might happen over the next few days. We settled into the hotel and were asleep just after 7. We woke at 1:40 the next morning to leave for the airport at 2 in order to catch a flight at 5am to Nagpur in Maharastra. That part of the story is for another blog.
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