Greetings all my readers,
It has been a long time since I wrote anything in my blog. I just got lost in the day to day activities of my life. I did not realise I have not written my blog for more than 2 years already. Time flies. Those who still read my blog randomly thanks to all of you.
Today is another post about random things in life. When I say life, it is a big word to explain in a small blog. We have many occasions, incidents, moments happening in every aspects of life. Often we tend to remember the ones which are either bad ones or good ones or the ones where we experience or learn something in life.
It seems like yesterday when me and my older sister went to visit our younger sister in Calgary, Canada. Memories are still fresh in my mind although 9 - 10 months have already passed by in the blink of eye. I miss her. Sisters are the best thing ever. My older sister lives in London so never felt the need to miss her but now she has gone for short visit to Canada and they are together there, I miss both of them and wish I could be there. Suddenly, I went to flashback where we went for a trip to Banff and Jasper National Park, Alberta. It was a sisters' reunion after 3 years.
We started our trip from Gatwick Airport, which I hated from the beginning cause it is so far in comparison to Heathrow Airport. Since it was prime time for flights, we tried to buy the cheaper ones in a budget airline. Later on, me and my sister regretted flying from it cause it really ruined our long flight experience. No proper food (cold and no option), no blankets, no ear plugs, nothing like when we used to fly from Qatar Airways to Nepal. Then we had a transit in Toronto, Canada. I seriously missed the planning and well managed Heathrow airport there. Somehow, after long queue we managed to go through the immigration just to face another problem. We flew from international airport and Calgary was a domestic flight. Guess what? We had to check out, claim our baggage and check in for domestic flight to Calgary again. Oh lord. The woman in the counter says,'' Can you put your luggage in the weighing machine.'' There is no such thing as 'PLEASE'. And then just as I was doing it she again says,''Can you hurry up we got other passengers too''. I was annoyed this time and told her ,''Yes ma'am I do have a flight to catch too.'' Then we had to queue up for another security check. I honestly thought that we were gonna miss our next flight cause it was so slow and everyone were not bothered at all. To add to problems, they stopped us because we bought a bottle of black label scotch whisky from duty free which was not properly sealed by this sales assistant in Gatwick Airport. That took another half an hour although we had proper sales receipt in there. Finally, thank god we reached the aircraft. Yeah and forgot to mention that the flight was delayed already and landing at Toronto was a bumpy ride. The scene from the aircraft window was nothing much then ocean and clouds.
Now came the second part of our flight to Calgary; Toronto to Calgary, Alberta. To be honest, both me and my elder sister were tired by then and it was sleeping time in London already. Again, same old cold food and some snacks. God knows how much I missed home made rice and curry. This time atleast the view was good. I saw more land this time but very big ocean like lakes. The flight was just more than 4 hours, so excitement to see our little sister was getting high. Through the clouds I saw more and more land. We flew in morning from Gatwick and it was still daytime in Calgary, amazing earth. As we were nearing landing, weather got out of control. I could see thunderstorms and dark clouds. I guess we were flying in the sky for more than half an hour to get the landing permission. Again, it was a bumpy ride to land. From sky-view, Calgary looked really big city which was in blocks. We passed through security and all and then came time to collect our luggage. Since the airport was going through some renovation, we had to find our luggage elsewhere. I tried to turn back from one point and a big siren went off, that was a no-return point. We walked and walked and walked but the baggage claim hall is nowhere to be found. We walked until we came out where our sister was waiting along with her hubby and brother. So, excited to see her and we forgot about the luggage thing. To my surprise, we saw the baggage claim hall, haha. I never saw any baggage claim hall in a place where everyone has access to. We received our luggages and headed to her home which was not too far. And that concluded our flight to Calgary. Overall experience, we survived the budget flight and the long journey.
My personal experience, if it is a long flight, save a little more and spend a little more on good airline. We knew what we opted for and did not expect much but to go through it was not really a good experience. I can manage budget flight for short distance like going to Europe or within the UK, but distance which covered 3564 miles, you would definitely go for a bit better option. Becareful what you buy in duty free, make sure you keep the receipt and it is sealed properly. Well if you do opt for budget flight then things to keep in mind are:
* Do not expect five star treatment (although they were nice crew in our flight)
* Keep your favourite snacks, chocolate bar or fruits in your handbag (nothing big)
* Have your own flight goodie bag (pair of socks, eye masks, neck support, ear plug)
* I always buy a bottle of water from duty free cause I drink more water.
* Have your own music for example ipod or fully charge your phone for music.
This time my elder sister took a direct flight to Calgary via British Airways and I haven't heard any complain from her. Thank you all for being patience and reading my blog.
It has been a long time since I wrote anything in my blog. I just got lost in the day to day activities of my life. I did not realise I have not written my blog for more than 2 years already. Time flies. Those who still read my blog randomly thanks to all of you.
Today is another post about random things in life. When I say life, it is a big word to explain in a small blog. We have many occasions, incidents, moments happening in every aspects of life. Often we tend to remember the ones which are either bad ones or good ones or the ones where we experience or learn something in life.
It seems like yesterday when me and my older sister went to visit our younger sister in Calgary, Canada. Memories are still fresh in my mind although 9 - 10 months have already passed by in the blink of eye. I miss her. Sisters are the best thing ever. My older sister lives in London so never felt the need to miss her but now she has gone for short visit to Canada and they are together there, I miss both of them and wish I could be there. Suddenly, I went to flashback where we went for a trip to Banff and Jasper National Park, Alberta. It was a sisters' reunion after 3 years.
We started our trip from Gatwick Airport, which I hated from the beginning cause it is so far in comparison to Heathrow Airport. Since it was prime time for flights, we tried to buy the cheaper ones in a budget airline. Later on, me and my sister regretted flying from it cause it really ruined our long flight experience. No proper food (cold and no option), no blankets, no ear plugs, nothing like when we used to fly from Qatar Airways to Nepal. Then we had a transit in Toronto, Canada. I seriously missed the planning and well managed Heathrow airport there. Somehow, after long queue we managed to go through the immigration just to face another problem. We flew from international airport and Calgary was a domestic flight. Guess what? We had to check out, claim our baggage and check in for domestic flight to Calgary again. Oh lord. The woman in the counter says,'' Can you put your luggage in the weighing machine.'' There is no such thing as 'PLEASE'. And then just as I was doing it she again says,''Can you hurry up we got other passengers too''. I was annoyed this time and told her ,''Yes ma'am I do have a flight to catch too.'' Then we had to queue up for another security check. I honestly thought that we were gonna miss our next flight cause it was so slow and everyone were not bothered at all. To add to problems, they stopped us because we bought a bottle of black label scotch whisky from duty free which was not properly sealed by this sales assistant in Gatwick Airport. That took another half an hour although we had proper sales receipt in there. Finally, thank god we reached the aircraft. Yeah and forgot to mention that the flight was delayed already and landing at Toronto was a bumpy ride. The scene from the aircraft window was nothing much then ocean and clouds.
Now came the second part of our flight to Calgary; Toronto to Calgary, Alberta. To be honest, both me and my elder sister were tired by then and it was sleeping time in London already. Again, same old cold food and some snacks. God knows how much I missed home made rice and curry. This time atleast the view was good. I saw more land this time but very big ocean like lakes. The flight was just more than 4 hours, so excitement to see our little sister was getting high. Through the clouds I saw more and more land. We flew in morning from Gatwick and it was still daytime in Calgary, amazing earth. As we were nearing landing, weather got out of control. I could see thunderstorms and dark clouds. I guess we were flying in the sky for more than half an hour to get the landing permission. Again, it was a bumpy ride to land. From sky-view, Calgary looked really big city which was in blocks. We passed through security and all and then came time to collect our luggage. Since the airport was going through some renovation, we had to find our luggage elsewhere. I tried to turn back from one point and a big siren went off, that was a no-return point. We walked and walked and walked but the baggage claim hall is nowhere to be found. We walked until we came out where our sister was waiting along with her hubby and brother. So, excited to see her and we forgot about the luggage thing. To my surprise, we saw the baggage claim hall, haha. I never saw any baggage claim hall in a place where everyone has access to. We received our luggages and headed to her home which was not too far. And that concluded our flight to Calgary. Overall experience, we survived the budget flight and the long journey.
My personal experience, if it is a long flight, save a little more and spend a little more on good airline. We knew what we opted for and did not expect much but to go through it was not really a good experience. I can manage budget flight for short distance like going to Europe or within the UK, but distance which covered 3564 miles, you would definitely go for a bit better option. Becareful what you buy in duty free, make sure you keep the receipt and it is sealed properly. Well if you do opt for budget flight then things to keep in mind are:
* Do not expect five star treatment (although they were nice crew in our flight)
* Keep your favourite snacks, chocolate bar or fruits in your handbag (nothing big)
* Have your own flight goodie bag (pair of socks, eye masks, neck support, ear plug)
* I always buy a bottle of water from duty free cause I drink more water.
* Have your own music for example ipod or fully charge your phone for music.
This time my elder sister took a direct flight to Calgary via British Airways and I haven't heard any complain from her. Thank you all for being patience and reading my blog.
