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| At Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi, India |
Our tour was to start from the 5th of June from London. For this, we were allotted an 'Oman Airways' flight from New Delhi to Muscat (capital of Oman) on 5th morning at around 11 a. m. I made Vin's 'khichdi' in the morning before leaving and prayed to God it would pass through security 🙏 ( I had gone through a lot of posts online regarding what types / consistency of food that were allowed in-flight. We had breakfast and left.
We opted for Vineet's wheelchair to be bubble wrapped alongwith our baggage and transferred Vineet to a wheelchair provided by the airlines as we had had a bit of a harrowing experience during our flight from Mumbai to Kolkata after the Justin Beiber Concert in May this year. (You can read about it HERE
I was on top of the world when Vin's "khichdi" went through the security 😇😃😄 After a 2 hours flight we landed in Muscat Airport. We had a halting of about 2 hours and we raced to clear our immigration and we also had to feed Vin his lunch as it was past his time! Add to that the emergency of changing his diaper as well. 😞
BUT!!
when we landed, we were told we would have to wait for 10-15 minutes for a wheelchair to arrive. As we were short of time, we opted to carry Vineet from the airplane to the transfer bus. Only to find there was no wheelchair for us at the Airport gate!! I rushed in and asked the man at the gate where I could get a wheelchair and he pointed vaguely inside. There was hardly anyone inside and all our fellow passengers had proceeded towards the security counters which was quite some way off. I saw that Vineet's papa had been dropped off the bus with Vineet in his arms and panicked and proceeded to where I saw 2-3 airport lady workers to ask about the wheelchairs. Luckily by the grace of God, at that instant Papa was shown the wheelchair room by some officials who saw him struggling. What the heck? 😠😑😒. We didn't get any airport escort for Vin at Muscat airport on landing and I thought to myself, Wow, and they call India a third-world country 😒😐😑
So now we proceeded towards the security point but before queuing up, Vineet had his "khichdi" lunch. Now I was a happy mom 😊☺ We breezed through security and straight went for the washroom/toilet. We spotted the 'disabled'- toilet and YET Another obstacle!!
WE COULDN'T CLOSE SHUT THE DOOR AFTER WHEELING IN VINSY! 😧😯😖 The length of the toilet was too less to shut it back after wheeling in. In fact there was not much space to even push in the wheelchair unless it was folded. So now Papa had to scoop up vin, I had to fold the wheelchair and wheel it in, open it again and then Vin was seated again. We changed his diaper and wondered whether it would withstand the next 8 hour flight as it has a maximum holding capacity of around 7 hours according to Vin's water intake. We added another diaper folded into the first and hoped it would work.Keeping our fingers crossed, we proceeded towards the immigration and security again before the next flight which was also 'Oman Airways'.
Vin was taken first into the airport bus. Then from the bus we were led to the 'Hydraulic Lift Bus", where Vin was transferred into the aircraft directly but then again had to be carried by Papa to his seat which was quite some space from the aircraft door. Anyway, we were just relieved to be in the final stage of our long journey and soon we were served lunch. After around 4 hours of flying, Papa asked the steward for some hot water for Vin and some baby food. We got a small packet of cereal powder mix, but no hot water! 😠 They kept telling us we are looking into it, but it didn't come. So I mixed some cornflakes in normal water, let it soak for some time and then mashed it up for Vin. Then we all went in for a nap😴
We landed at Heathrow Airport at around 5 p. m. G. M. T. which was around 4. 30 hours behind I. S. T. There was a long wait in this airport battery car as the escort had to collect all the specially challenged from our flight into it,to be taken to the immigration counter.We were hungry again and also worried about Vin's diaper,and luckily our Tour Manager, who took charge of us and the group at the airport, settled us in our bus and took us straight to the Indian restaurant for dinner. There, our family was arranged to be seated on the ground floor while the rest of the group went up the stairs to the first floor. He made arrangements Vineet's hot milk and chapatis which I soaked as it was too thick to be had immediately.It was cold and windy with drizzling and we longed to be in the comforts of the Hotel soon which we did after dinner.By the time we had checked in, it was way past midnight !! (according to our Indian time watches and our bodies too!)
And it was HERE that we learnt the FIRST LESSON of our Trip -
First we wheeled in Vineet into our Hotel room, then we started putting in the luggage one by one, and since the room was not so big enough, the suitcases got lined in the doorway and mummy went out to get another suitcase and 'BAM'!The door shut close behind her with Vineet inside the room with the keys!! OH NOOOO!!!! He couldn't open the door as his way was blocked and neither could we! As we panicked, Papa said he would go down and get the staff to open with the duplicate keys.As we were waiting for him to return, after 4-5 minutes, the door opened with a click from inside and Vin's face emerged and we asked how the hell did you do it??!! Vin said - I became Michael Jackson zombies from Thriller!! and grinned 😁😅 We went in and saw the suitcases lying by the sides. Awww.. I have a strong boy there 💪💪Papa came up (without anyone) and asked what happenend and we told him. From then on we decided that Papa would keep both the room keys with him and Vin should never be alone in the room ever.
Hmmmmm. Aye Sir 😌😊☺
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