20+ segments in 20 days - a tiring trip's report

Following on from the post on his itinerary, Vinay wrote about his trip. While this is not entirely India-oriented (which is the principal theme of this blog), it's great to share some experiences for the benefit of readers. So here's Vinay's trip report (more like a journal), in his own words. Makes rather interesting reading, I must say!

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Day 1 : 30th May, 2013 – MAA – CCJ/ SPICEJET/ BOMBARDIER DASH8 Q400/ 313 miles

Head off to Calicut on my maiden flight into this airport. Pretty excited as it’s an airfield I’ve never flown into (and 1 more to add to my lists). And it’s rated as one of the more trickier airfields to land into based on its precarious position atop a plateau of sorts. We were booked on one of SG’s Bombardier’s and the approach into CCJ was certainly interesting. We could see the tops of rows upon rows of coconut trees that are resplendent with Kerala’s topography and then suddenly that view gave away to red soil that was now much closer to us all of sudden and then a few seconds later he put her down on CCJ’s tarmac. The remaining few hours went past in a blur as we raced towards the gig (the original reason why we were there in the first place).

DAY 2: 31st May, 2013 – CCJ – GOI/ INDIAN RAILWAYS/ 325 miles

It is 2 am in the morning, and the only occupants on the platform at the Calicut railway station were a mongrel that gave us a dazed looked, and me and a mate of mine who were headed up to GOI to catch up with our families that were already there. We were literally the only passengers scheduled to board the train that morning. The train pulled in on time and we got into a 1st A/C compartment. Bushed that we were from the previous day, we passed out pretty fast and a few hours later the night gave away to a bright day.

Ride to Goa

We were in Goa and in about 10 minutes or so the train came to a halt at Margaon station. We were greeted with the most unusual transportation sight. There was this mile long freight train, but strangely each freight carriage had a lorry loaded onto it. It was quite strange to see a mile long freight train carrying as it’s load probably 30 odd trucks, all in turn laden with some cargo of sorts, complete with driver and cleaner, looking all quite at ease as they were being shunted around for a change.

Day 2/3/4: 31st May – 2nd June – GOI/

The following 2 nights and 3 days were spent cruising around the famed state that had eluded me for 33 odd years for some reason. Won’t go much into detail here as it was more of taking in the place and seeing the sights during the time spent here.

Day 4: 2nd June, 2013 – GOI – MAA/ 9W/ Boeing 737-800/ 456 miles

Fairly uneventful early evening flight back home

Day 5: 3rd June, 2013 – MAA- BLR/ 9W/ Boeing 737-800/ 167 miles

Due to certain tragic developments, I found myself back in the airport the following night and headed out to BLR to connect onwards to an International Flight, with my final destination being DTW.

Day 6: 4th June, 2013 –BLR – CDG/ AF/ AIRBUS A330/ 4866 miles

Long flight to Paris in Y. The flight was pretty full. Got to chat with this good natured purser who was handling our section of the cabin a few hours out of Paris; spoke bout travel, aircrafts, exotic destinations and India. Quite liked CDG airport. It was a bit tricky, but had a nice vibe to it. Was great to be there after all that one had heard bout this airport.

Day 6: 4th June, 2013 – CDG – DTW/ DL/ AIRBUS A330/ 3962 miles

Mild fatigue was beginning to kick on this leg as it had been over 12 hours since I had left home the previous evening and I was only half way there. We landed in the evening and were greeted by lovely weather in DTW. It was good to be back in DTW, but sadly under different circumstances compared to my previous trip. Had pre-booked into the Marriott airport hotel (courtesy a very thoughtful gift from my brother) and quickly checked in there and settled in for what was going to be a quick 1 night stop in DTW.

Day 7/8/9: 5TH - 7th June, 2013 – DTW – ATL – BOS/ SW/ BOEING 717/ 1540 miles

Was eager to do this leg as it was on a Boeing 717, a type which has all disappeared from Asia. 

Seats were comfortable, service was good and the cabin was surprisingly quiet courtesy the engines being mounted at the rear of the aircraft on the fuselage & not on the wings as most modern day jets have it. Made a brief stop in ATL. Spend the next 2 nights in BOS taking in a bit of the place and catching up with some folks in the region.

Day 9: 7th May, 2013 – BOS – CDG/ DL/ BOEING 757/ 3448 miles

Another first as an aircraft type. Interesting variant as well cause the 757 is a twin-engine, narrow body, but ETOPS rated and hence in simpler terms rated to fly over long stretches of water (like the Atlantic Ocean). This 757 was not the most comfortable aircraft to accommodate my 6’ plus frame. Interestingly also the crew rest area was jus one section of seats. It was the last row if I remember in one of the economy sections which the crew would cordon off with a little curtain when in use during their rest breaks.

Day 10: 8TH May, 2013- CDG – BOM/ AF/ AIRBUS A330/ 4351 miles

Transited a few hours once again in CDG, a nice cup of coffee, a little sandwich and some sunlight streaming in thru CDG all made for a pleasant morning stop and a short while later we were boarding once again for the next leg. This flight went thru peacefully and we touched down in rainy BOM roughly 9 hours later, a little before midnight.

Day 11: 9th May, 2013 – BOM – MAA/9W/ BOEING 737-800/ 642 miles

Cleared immigration & customs and made my way to the domestic side of the airport and checked in once again for the next flight. Fatigue had definitely kicked in for good measure. Had a quick cup of coffee and got talking there to a fellow passenger who had actually flown in with me from CDG. We ended up chatting for well over half an hour until it was time for me to head out. Its one of those strange things in life; you’ve been in the same aircraft for almost 10 hours on probably different sides of the plane, but never spoke and one could have certainly used the company of these long hauls. Something to break the monotony of watching endless movies on the IFE and here you are, the flight now having landed and this journey has almost ended & now you get talking…!!!

Last leg on my journey back home. Was a light flight and with it’s vague red eye timing, was perfectly suited to folks connecting inbound from international flights. Touched down at daybreak in Chennai, bringing an end to my whirlwind 6 day run to the US.

Managed a few hours of shut eye, and then had to report to a venue in the city for a gig I had committed to some time back. Wrapped that up round 10 pm that night and quickly headed back home as some sleep was definitely required.

Day 12: 10th May, 2013 – MAA – BOM/ 9W/ BOEING 737-800/ 642 miles

Had a one day stop of sorts at Chennai, with very limited time to rest leave alone combat the jet lag. Caught a packed flight up to BOM, as we had a transit here to catch another flight on out to Goa to position ourselves for a gig there. It was still raining. To me it looked real nice to see the tarmac getting lashed with rain and aircrafts with landing lights on in the middle day of the day, fighting crosswinds and the constants downpour to touch down one by one in BOM. Certainly must have been dreadful for ground crews working during the monsoon season on the west coast.

Day 12: 10th May, 2013 – BOM - GOI/ 6E/ AIRBUS A320/ 263 miles

It started out as an uneventful flight, but things got choppy pretty soon. We started our descent but never quite descended fully. It was a dark grey outside, with the monsoons obviously in full swing as our pilot made an unsuccesfull attempt to land..

Day 12: 10th May, 2013 – GOI - BOM/ 6E/ AIRBUS A320/ 263 miles

He aborted, pulled back up and circled GOI’s airspace for a bit hoping for some good weather to land in, but no such luck was granted to him that morning. He turned back to BOM and landed back there.. The passengers were getting increasingly restless as true to unforeseen situations, the first thing that breaks down is communication down the ranks. With the girls in blue being clueless on what was happening, the passengers only got more restless. Somewhere amidst this fracas the captain exited leaving only the co-pilot in the cockpit. We spoke for a bit chatting bout the usual topics, before our conversations were cut short by a harassed looking crew remanding me back to my seat. We waited on ground for the next 3 hours as the aircraft ran out of food and the crew ran out of hours

Day 12: 10th May, 2013 – BOM - GOI/ 6E/ AIRBUS A320/ 263 miles

Out went the old ones and a short while later a new bunch arrived with wigs, attitudes and all else in place, and an hour later we took of and this time around the chap in the left seat managed to navigate them gray skies with aplomb and put the 320 down @ GOI, a good 4.5 hours behind time.

This effectively left us with about 1.5 hours to go before show time with not one cable laid or 1 instrument checked..!! The show nevertheless ran thru as it normally does for the most part and nearing midnight we retired back to our luxurious dig for the night which was the Grand Hyatt.

Day 13: 11th May, 2013 – GOI - MAA/ AI/ AIRBUS A320/ 456 miles

Alas, all we had was 4 odd hours of actual time in the room & we were back in the airport at 6 am. It was still raining and we boarded one of AI’s old birds that had flown in from KWI, and which had been kitted out in an all ‘Y’, all cattle carrier configuration.. This is a daily that flies KWI – GOI – MAA, mostly carrying back Indian workers from the gulf country all headed back home. From rain soaked Goa, we touched down in Summer drenched MAA, an hour and half later.

Day14/15: 12th – 13th May, 2013 – MAA

Spent at home. Had a gig one of the evenings and that apart the rest of the day went more in catching up on work, phone calls and other general stuff.

Day 16: 14th May, 2013 – MAA – DXB/EK/ AIRBUS A330/ 1823 miles

Smooth red-eye flight up to DXB to connect onwards to Africa.

Day 16: 14th May, 2013 –DXB - DAR/EK/ BOEING 777/ 2462 miles

Transited for a few hours in DXB and then caught our 777 to fly south to Tanzania. Was interesting to see how the composition of passengers changed so drastically on this leg, compared to the previous one. We touched down later that evening in DAR. There was another Qatar 320 also on the tarmac. Interesting how the middle eastern carriers probably with their vantage global physical position and money power have effectively covered a lot of major cities in the African continent, offering connectivity that’s quite unparalleled. Lack of a larger Pan African aviation policy & road map for aviation development have resulted in most African carriers having very limited global & National reach.

Day 19: 17th May, 2013 – DAR – ZNZ – DAR/ Coastal Aviaiton/Cessna Caravan/ 90 miles

Had hoped for a long while to visit Zanzibar and it was finally happening. We booked a day run, as in take an early flight in the morning to the island, spend the day there and catch the last ride back to DAR in the evening. Since we already had accommodation in DAR, figured this would work out best. A handful of operators ply this route right through the day all operating Cessna Grand Caravans for the most part.

(For a brief bit, a company flew the legendary classic DC-3 on this route, but sadly had to shut shop.)

These flights are operated only by a single pilot and for the onward leg, the pilot was kind enough to let a fellow passenger sit in the co-pilots seat. There is no divider/ door between the cockpit and the rest of the plane and hence even from the rows behind you get a clear view of the cockpit.

The short noisy flight was accompanied by splendid views of the Indian Ocean. About 20 mins later we touched down and strangely noticed the plane veering heavily towards the left, as the pilot struggled to keep it on the center line..he finally cut all engine power and the plane veered more to the left and finally limped to a halt bang smack on the active runway. He got down quickly & inspected and found out we had blown the rear left tyre on landing, hence the aircraft was veering to the left.

As he radioed the tower to update them on this development, we heard a sound slowly emanating from behind us quickly getting louder and about 20 seconds later, an ATR flew precariously low over us (still stranded on the tarmac) and it touched down a few 100 feet in front us. 

A few mins later a few vehicles were sent to take the stranded passengers to the terminal.

My travel companion, another lady and myself were the only ones left as the vehicles were full and so we got into the airport ambulance and so sitting on a stretcher in the ambulance we made our way to the terminal.

What we know as a ‘Share Autos” back home are used as Ground Support vehicles at DAR airport.
You’re a 1000 kms from home and still you see bit and pieces of pieces of what is quintessentially
life in India surfacing in the strangest of places.

We squared up a taxi to take us around the island for the day and then drop us off at the airport again in the evening. He drove us to this pristine beach that suddenly sprung upon us on the dusty village road that we were on.

A blue that’s only seen in the pages of Conde Nast and the likes, the seas here were truly magnificent. Local fisherman were offering dolphin sighting trips out at sea. We signed up for one and as promised they managed to find a school of dolphins within 15 mins of putting out to sea.

They playfully raced around our little boat as our old Yamaha outboard struggled to keep up amidst the tide that was slowly picking up.

We motored on a for a bit more and then took a dip in the waters and swam around for a bit. From the boat the waters looks fairly calm, but on diving in, it was a completely different story and I felt a strong current steadily dragging me away from the boat…this cut short my swim time and a short while later was back on the boat as we made our way back to the island.

Post the dip, we picked up some cold local lager from this shack...

and headed off again.

We had decided to do lunch at Stone town which is the main part of the island and also a UNESCO heritage spot. Zanzibar’s other claim to fame is that Freddie Mercury, late front man of the legendary British rock band ‘Queen’ was born here and spent some time here. Strangely the taxi guy was driving through town and we stumbled upon this place and decided to break there for lunch. It was a smallish bar & restaurant set right by the beach, with the harbour being within clear view as well. It was past 3 and so lunch was winding down at the restaurant. Service was a little sketchy, but the views & vibe to the place more than made up for any other short comings…

A little sightseeing later and we made our way back to the airport. It was only 4 of us in all on the flight back. The pilot turned out to be a cranky chap and so he didn’t allow anyone to sit up front in the cockpit. 25 mins later we touched down in DAR. Most of the other Cessna’s that call this route as home had all come in for the day and were all parked up.

Day 20: 18th May 2013 – DAR – DXB/ EK/ BOEING 777/ 2462 miles, and               18th May 2013 – DXB – MAA/ EK/ BOEING 777/ 1823 miles 

Quiet flight back home and also brining to and end what certainly, has personally qualified for me as an interesting last 20 odd days.
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Some background to the above travelogue of sorts:

• This 20 day session wasn’t planned as one block, but rather fell in place as separate trips which in an uncanny way ultimately packed itself within that 20 day period.
• The flights to the US & back, I flew pretty much alone
• All other journeys were made traveling with a motely bunch of musicians that make up a band and so delays didn’t seem all that long courtesy the company one had, which brought along non – stop commentary on most issues under the sun and loud bouts of snoring once the drinks & meal cart was carefully stowed away….!!!