MYJOURNEY TO NEW CASTLE

MY JOURNEY TO NEW CASTLE, UK.

It was a red letter day in my life on May 10, 2016 as on that day my wife and myself embarked on a visit to New Castle,UK where our grand daughter had settled a few years back.We had not visited them these ten years.There was a sense of trepidation as we are both senior citizens having crossed seventy five years! Though we have crossed the seas twice to US, to visit  our son and his family, there was a lurking fear as it is our first visit to UK.Getting the British visa went off without hassels and we prepared ourselves with four big suit cases and the usual hand luggage! The difficulty arose because every time we weighed the suit cases it showed different weights! It was the same when other members of the family tried to fix the weights properly! In effect, we carried a large bag to send back items, if the weight was to be reduced for checking in. Promptly a Tavara was booked to pick us up by 2.30 am the previous night and the baggages were brought down with some difficulty downstairs. Our daughter and son in law and grandson came to the airport to see us off.  But the fear of a trouble free check in worried us a lot.

We went in on wheel chairs and presented ourselves before the counter for check in. My heart had already increased its rate of beating and I waited with bated breath to see the result as every suitcase was being weighed. Probably, the man at the counter was one with the milk of human kindness or he took kindly to our senior citezenship. He cleared all the suit cases and it was only then that we were greatly relieved! My daughter and others too were very happy that they didn't need to carry back the rejected articles! Photos were clicked and the immigration form was filled to be handed over to the person concerned. My daughter and others left us reluctantly directing us to be careful during travel and guard our health in UK which is notorious for its ever changing weather! The scenes at the airport were quite interesting and funny! A few were found hugging each other. Some parents were shedding tears at the departure of their beloved children to pastures new!  A few more romantic pairs were seen kissing and bidding farewell.  The airport personal were seen very busy and alert!

The persons in charge of wheel chairs are very smart and want to earn as much as possible from the travelers! Our baggage was put on two wheel chairs and he managed to draw them single handedl He took us through the labyrinthine corridors of the airport till we came to the gate from where we have to board the flight. We had to wait for an hour before we could board the flight.It was a British Airways ‘World Traveler' air craft and a huge one! It was heavy breakfast for us in the flight--idly, up ma,sambar, cake, bun and coffee! The flight personnel were gentle and courteous. A large number of Indians were on board.As lunch time approached a good fare was served with-- vegetable Biriani, brinjal curry, payasam, fruit chips and yoghurt! The flight zoomed through the clouds and touched more than 30000 feet! It was an exciting experience to see everything totally dwarfed and reduced to lilliputian stature! The air craft delightfully hovered over the gulf countries, Iran, the Black Sea, Poland and other European countries and touched the Heathrow airport at 11.45 am local time.

The flight was delayed for about half an hour and we had to take the domestic flight to New Castle. There was total confusion soon after we disembarked as there were a number of wheel chair passengers. It became difficult for us to secure wheel chairs and we were finally taken by a car through circuitous criscross routes to the gate to board the plane that was ready to start. We heaved a sigh of relief for arriving in time and settled ourselves comfortably. The airport's in America and the UK are very large. it is practically lmpossible for fist time visitors to go through the maze and come out successfully. That is one reason why most of the senior citizens prefer wheel chairs as that is the safest way to board and exit the airport easily! With in an hour the flight landed at New Castle airport to our relief and delight and expectations!  Our grand daughter’s husband was ready to receive us at the airport and we came out after collecting our baggage. We arrived at home to a very warm welcome by our grand daughter and great grand children! What a great pleasure it is to meet children and grandchildren  settled in foreign countries!