Going ‘Home’…?

I got to Bangalore International Airport too early and I had to wait outside the terminal for more than one hour before I was allowed inside to check-in. There is barely a pavement separating the terminal from the chaotic car park that is also the road, the pick-up area, drop-off area the taxi stand and everything else. I sat down on a curb with my luggage, like other passengers, lost in chaos. Honking cars swarmed around like panicking bees whose nest is under attack. It was this aspect of India that I was definitely ready to leave behind.

Just over a month ago I left India from Bangalore. I was heading for Sydney via Singapore. I used frequent flyer points to get (almost free) seats. I had a confirmed seat to Singapore, but the next flight out of Singapore to Sydney with seat availability was 2,5 weeks later, leaving me stranded in that part of the world for 2,5 weeks…

Airlines do not like people who go with the flow, they prefer to pin you down in their system and make it hard and costly to change a reservation. But I came armed with a determination to get the first connecting flight out of Singapore. I did not know how… but that detail I left up to… well… what turned out to be an angel in the disguise of a fellow passenger with access to business class lounges.

The only thing to do once you checked was to watch television or people. I preferred the latter. Everybody seemed to be absorbed in their own waiting game, uninterested in fellow passengers, except one woman. The second time I saw her we both rolled our eyes out of boredom. I walked over for a chat, you know, the usual, where are you from, where are you going and why are you traveling. She was heading for Sydney as well, on the same flights… was an orphan, and therefore intrigued by my mission to make a documentary about an orphan. She had written books with titles such as Serendipity Road… do I need to say more?

As I told her that I was unsure when I would make it to Sydney on the same flight she said that she would be happy to help. With a platinum frequent flyer membership she would invite me into a business class lounge and try to get my unchangeable reservation changed. You get better service there in general than at a transfer desk that deal with “ordinary” passengers like myself.

The plane flew us through the night, shortened by time difference, we landed at 6 a.m. of the Chinese New Year. Jet lagged and sleep deprived my guardian angel and I went to the business class lounge in Singapore. The staff member at the desk was sleep deprived and possibly hung over too. She was not a happy camper and in no mood to help me change my unchangeable reservation. “You will have to wait 2,5 weeks or buy a new (very expensive) ticket”, she said. “There are no seats left anyway, the plane is overbooked with 11 passengers.

This did not sound very hopeful, but there was also a First Class lounge that opened some time later. The airline representative there had to totally different attitude was willing to help and immediately made a call. “ Leave your boarding pass, baggage tags and passport with me” she said. “I will see what I can do. You go and have breakfast in the lounge”. Well that sounded hopeful. Walking into a first class lounge after Bangalore airport was like walking into heaven. The fresh and safe food, internet access and a hot shower (all for free) were such a treat!

Before check-in was finished the airline representative came back with a boarding pass for me. My luggage would be taken care of. I don’t know how she pulled that off, but I did not care, I was just over the moon. I was on my way to Sydney, Australia, the place where I hoped to start a new life

With both feet on the ground, new challenges were waiting for me… I needed to find a place to live, a way to make money, all that with time left to work on my film. I had no idea what would happen, what it would be like to be back on the southern hemisphere, if and how I would integrate back into a western life style without falling back into the old patterns that I was so desperate to change at the start of my journey, the motivation for going on this pilgrimage…