February 2019
Sure, who doesn’t love visiting family, but what if it is 10,000 miles away?
With a hundred pounds of luggage, a thousand tears, a million wishes and a billion dreams, I left my home country in the fall of 2017 to pursue Masters in a beautiful place called “Aggieland”.
It had been 4 months since I saw my parents, sister and 4-year-old niece. But finally, it was that time of the year – “Christmas”. Striven to be “cost-effective”, having loans to pay off, I booked my itinerary in a lengthy, but cost-effective way (or at least I thought so). It went something like this (Actually, it didn’t).
15 Dec 2017
I fly early morning from Houston to Newark with a layover at Orlando in Spirit airlines. Then, I have over 5 hours until my flight to Dubai from JFK.
16 Dec 2017
I depart from JFK at 00:30 en route to Kiev (Ukrainian capital) in Ukraine International Airlines (UIA).
After about 9 hours, I reach at 16:25 local time with 3 hours to freshen up for my next flight to Dubai to see my girlfriend. I take the relatively shorter haul flight (5 hours) at 19:30 local time to Dubai.
17 Dec 2017
At about 02:30 local time, I reach Dubai, see my girlfriend and enjoy the next 7 days touring Dubai.
Next, I take the final flight to India and meet my beloved family. Live happily for a month…
Sounds easy, doesn’t it!
Well, here’s what actually happened (and it was funny, but painful, literally!!!).
15 dec 2017
I depart on time from Aggieland to Houston and traverse the first leg to Orlando as planned. With a few hours to spare, we learn that New York is sneezing ice! A couple hours delay, no problem! I was smart to keep 5 hours of gap. Hah!!!
We board the flight to Newark. But wait! That ain’t happening?
New York has gone rogue and all flights stand CANCELLED! We’re deplaned at Orlando!
Now that’s a pickle!
I call up UIA. With their departure delayed by 4 hours too, they offer me a morning flight as an alternative. Unsure of my departure, I request some time to discuss with Spirit. After all the math, we Atlantic city it is! The closest I can get. I call up Ukraine to confirm, but no answer!
Mother of God, I am flying to Atlantic city (AC), 3 hours from JFK and I don’t know if I am flying home?
I rush from AC in the middle of the night, take a cab, Greyhound, and another cab and get to JFK an hour before the delayed departure of UIA (Hurray!!!!); I board the flight.
You’re damn right; I MADE IT! (Singing “Don’t you worry, don’t you worry child…)
Hours later, I wake up only to realize we’re still in JFK and the sun is shining, Oh so proudly!
(And miles to gobefore I sleep while I’m passed out)
Extremely exhausted, I finally reach Ukraine half-a-day late and miss the Dubai flight (of course!).
The staff helps me with a ticket in the next flight to Dubai (with Turkish Airlines)!
After 12 hours of sleep deprivation, the Turks take me home where I am to take my last leg to Dubai.
God bless me, because I miss the connecting flight due to delay! AGAIN!
I text my girlfriend literally saying, “I don’t know if I’ll make it!” Trust me I didn’t know!
By God’s grace, I get a flight 7 hours later that night and see the Sun in Dubai next day, ALIVE!
Moral of the story: Shut up and take that direct flight, even if it’s a couple hundred dollars more!
- Sumit Hasrajani
- Sumit Hasrajani is a Graduate student at the Mays Business School
With a hundred pounds of luggage, a thousand tears, a million wishes and a billion dreams, I left my home country in the fall of 2017 to pursue Masters in a beautiful place called “Aggieland”.
It had been 4 months since I saw my parents, sister and 4-year-old niece. But finally, it was that time of the year – “Christmas”. Striven to be “cost-effective”, having loans to pay off, I booked my itinerary in a lengthy, but cost-effective way (or at least I thought so). It went something like this (Actually, it didn’t).
15 Dec 2017
I fly early morning from Houston to Newark with a layover at Orlando in Spirit airlines. Then, I have over 5 hours until my flight to Dubai from JFK.
16 Dec 2017
I depart from JFK at 00:30 en route to Kiev (Ukrainian capital) in Ukraine International Airlines (UIA).
After about 9 hours, I reach at 16:25 local time with 3 hours to freshen up for my next flight to Dubai to see my girlfriend. I take the relatively shorter haul flight (5 hours) at 19:30 local time to Dubai.
17 Dec 2017
At about 02:30 local time, I reach Dubai, see my girlfriend and enjoy the next 7 days touring Dubai.
Next, I take the final flight to India and meet my beloved family. Live happily for a month…
Sounds easy, doesn’t it!
Well, here’s what actually happened (and it was funny, but painful, literally!!!).
15 dec 2017
I depart on time from Aggieland to Houston and traverse the first leg to Orlando as planned. With a few hours to spare, we learn that New York is sneezing ice! A couple hours delay, no problem! I was smart to keep 5 hours of gap. Hah!!!
We board the flight to Newark. But wait! That ain’t happening?
New York has gone rogue and all flights stand CANCELLED! We’re deplaned at Orlando!
Now that’s a pickle!
I call up UIA. With their departure delayed by 4 hours too, they offer me a morning flight as an alternative. Unsure of my departure, I request some time to discuss with Spirit. After all the math, we Atlantic city it is! The closest I can get. I call up Ukraine to confirm, but no answer!
Mother of God, I am flying to Atlantic city (AC), 3 hours from JFK and I don’t know if I am flying home?
I rush from AC in the middle of the night, take a cab, Greyhound, and another cab and get to JFK an hour before the delayed departure of UIA (Hurray!!!!); I board the flight.
You’re damn right; I MADE IT! (Singing “Don’t you worry, don’t you worry child…)
Hours later, I wake up only to realize we’re still in JFK and the sun is shining, Oh so proudly!
(And miles to go
Extremely exhausted, I finally reach Ukraine half-a-day late and miss the Dubai flight (of course!).
The staff helps me with a ticket in the next flight to Dubai (with Turkish Airlines)!
After 12 hours of sleep deprivation, the Turks take me home where I am to take my last leg to Dubai.
God bless me, because I miss the connecting flight due to delay! AGAIN!
I text my girlfriend literally saying, “I don’t know if I’ll make it!” Trust me I didn’t know!
By God’s grace, I get a flight 7 hours later that night and see the Sun in Dubai next day, ALIVE!
Moral of the story: Shut up and take that direct flight, even if it’s a couple hundred dollars more!
- Sumit Hasrajani
- Sumit Hasrajani is a Graduate student at the Mays Business School