Through out the years, i traveled a lot. I traveled via countless airlines and routs and to a number or countries too. These travels really showed me the true nature of people when put under extreme pressure, they could either snap at you or just change in to a totally different creature – the incredible hulk – where they can just destroy everything including other people. In this part of my blog i will try to write down my experiences with traveling, and i will be as frank as possible.
Confused Log Date, 1.1.0
Well, i will start with my latest adventure.
As usual, every Eid – our major religious celebration – we go to Jeddah – thats the second city in Saudi arabia – we had a lovely time. The day before we return back to Riyadh – thats the capital – it RAINED. It was just rain, regular rain for 4 hours, thats it, thats all it took for the upcoming catastrophe.
Anyway, the next day, which was our departure date, the flight was at 8.45 pm on Saudia Airlines. As good travelers we were – my mother and I – at the airport at exactly 7 pm. And all hell broke loose, the airport was in chaos, people were screaming everywhere. I went to the first class counter, which was actually six counters in a first class section area. Me being this really organized person, I stood in a line, where only one man stood in front of me. This man was from the Philipines, while he stood there three of his friends just found him, they tapped him, said all their hi’s and hello’s and hugs, he told them give me your tickets and passports i am already the first in the line. WHAT ?? EXCUSE ME ?? WHAT AM I IN FRONT OF YOU ?? A BIG LUMP OF MEAT ??? you just ignore me, bypass me, fly over me, me TAHANI, the big tahani, i am not a pittete person who you might just not see me. Well anyway i smiled and let it pass by, its OK these are his friends after all. So, I stood and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and…..hay, something is wrong…i saw another line where only one man was standing, I went to stand behind him and he was talking loudly to the airlines man, so quietly and POLITELY I asked him what was going on ? how come the lines were not moving ? and he hit me with BOMBSHELL ” Well mam, you know it rained, and all the water went into the computer systems and since we have NO BACK UP, we lost all flight and passenger data”, and I was like “Excuse me?? WHAT are we going to do??” and with his silliest smile he said “wait and we will do it manually, dont WORRY mam”. OK, he says all passenger and flight data were lost and not to worry ?? hummm….. ok, lets not worry. An hour later, and two fights later – i fought with two me who had a tendency to just leave the whole god-damn airport and stand so close to me, that i could feel him – the airline parson calles for me and my flight SV 1072, how happy i felt, although something nagged at me when I got a hand written boarding pass, which the cleaning boy wrote, not the airline man, and similarly, a hand written bag-tag too. What could that mean, will I ever see my bag again, but what can i do, i said goodbye to my bag and said a little prayer for it to reach me safely on the other side.
I went in to the lounge area in the airport beyond the baggage area. I was looking for the first class loungee, and i found it. What was weird about it, that the man responsible for it, was standing outside the door, usually he has a nice desk and chair inside, so i said Hi, and gave him my boarding pass, and asked him if the flight is delayed, since it’s already passed the boarding time? well he gave me a smile so sweet and sad, and sad ” well i think all flights are delayed, since the SYSTEM IS DOWN since yesterday due to the RAIN, and they still did not get it up again, sorry” and that sweet/sad smile again, OK no problem as long as it’s for flights not one, so its a general problem. And i went in….. and the loung was beyond full, people were sitting on the floor, THE FIRST CLASS LOUNGE, hay, what was going on, i asked MR. sweet/sad smile, and again with his pathetic smile now, he answered, “well mam, no flights took off since noon?? you know the RAIN, you can sit in the luggage area at the entrance of the lounge, between the bags “, WHAT ???? and i thought i was first class, what could have happened to me if it was economy ?? God only knows. Well i sat next to another girl, whos’ head and fingers were permanently attached to her BB – Blackberry- so i sat next to her, lodged between the bags, 30 minutes later, she disconnected her head from her BB, and said Hi, which flight are you on?? i told her “SV 1072, which is at 8.45 pm to Riyadh, how about you?”, another sweet/sad smile ” well my flight is SV 1044, to Riyadh too, which was scheduled to take off at 2.15 pm, but it was delayed because of the RAIN, until god knows when” and her head and fingers got reconnected to her BB once again. The culprit once again, the one and only “the RAIN”.
At around 9.30 pm i decided to go out to where the gates are and see what was going around, and oh my god, everything was crazy, people were like everywhere, literary everywhere, i could not walk without stepping on someone. So i went back to the first class lounge, and i saw the lounge person and asked him what was going on and until when will our flight be delayed? , and another of these smiles – they were getting on my nerve now – and he answered ” now we are boarding go to gates from 1 to 4 and find your flight”, ok, that sounds weird, so i went to the gates and another shock, people were like over each other, it was beyond the word crowded, this does not look right. I saw the Mr.Pathetic smile, and i asked him what was going one, and oh my god, the shock i got from his answer ” well mam, because of the RAIN, and the systems crashing, and no back up, Riyadh’s six flights – yah six flights per day – were all cancelled, and we got two big 747 planes, which each carries 400 passengers, and its first come first serve basis, we have around 800 passengers stranded and we will try to fill the planes and if some more passengers are left we will try to arrange for another plane, so go fight your way through the 800 and so passengers and reach the plane or you will be stranded possibly until tomorrow morning, have and nice flight and i hope you chose saudia again” and another pathetic smile. WHAT ??? SAY AGAIN ?? EXCUSE ME ?? I stood there staring at 800 un-organized, exhausted, angry, people trying to pass through four, yah four gates in as short time as possible. I was like ” which planet am i on ??, where did i step in to ?? did someone switch the light off for a second and turn it on in a different place ?? where should i go ?? or more realistically, where do i start ?? and yah one more thing “Damn this stupid RAIN”.
TO BE CONTINUED……..
