|
|
|
|
 |
 |
  
|
Before
leaving home... I peered inside the trunk
of my car again so see if I had mistakenly missed the jack hidden in some
corner. The spare tyre, rods and other equipment to change the tyre were
placed on the road but there was no jack. This was an abandoned road. Instead
of being a smooth surface there were sharp rocks protruding from the road. It
had been left incomplete like most of the roads near the India-Pakistan
border.
On four wheels We were stranded in
the middle of nowhere. To our left was an embankment beyond which were the
plains of Punjab. The only sign of human activity was a small village on the
right, a few kilometers from here. Young boys riding their herds of buffalos
stared at us and smiled mischievously as they passed by. It was as if they
derived pleasure out of our struggle. I peered inside the trunk
of my car again so see if I had mistakenly missed the jack hidden in some
corner. The spare tyre, rods and other equipment to change the tyre were
placed on the road but there was no jack. This was an abandoned road. Instead
of being a smooth surface there were sharp rocks protruding from the road. It
had been left incomplete like most of the roads near the India-Pakistan
border. After two hours of wait
under the summer sky we were rescued by a group of jeeps that was passing
through to deliver milk to the nearby village. Ever since that day I have
made it a point to check everything before I embark on any journey. The first
and the foremost important t I make sure that I always
carry my notebook with me. Travel writing is not just about getting to a
particular place and writing about it but it thrives on the experience of the
journey itself. I usually tend to go in to my traveling zone as soon as I get
into my car, making notes at every stop, recording all the conversations,
emotions and observations. I also hardly travel alone.
I am usually accompanied by a group of like-minded people so the coordination
with these four-five people begins a couple of days in advance even if the
journey is short. We discuss spots where we all gather and then travel on one
car. Finally I make sure that
the car is prepared for the journey. This involves checking for fuel, water
in radiator, tyre pressure, spare tyre and other tyre tools to change the
tyre — and of course the jack.
Get set
go Almost all my
international travel trips are planned in a haphazard manner. I am hardly
ever sure whether the journey is going to take place or not. The confusion
usually is due to extraordinary delay in visa issuance, callous attitude of
trip organisers or some emergency in the family. I abhor this uncertainty
about my travels. So, it’s obvious the last
day before my departure is hectic; it’s a race against time. I start
packing only when the travel becomes certain. This last-moment activity makes
life tough for me. I feel over-worked and have to finish all the pending
tasks asap! It would not be an
overstatement if I say I hate packing. This tedious exercise becomes
troublesome when I find out that I do not fit in the trouser or dress shirt I
had bought hardly a year ago. I get furious. The anger becomes uncontrollable
when my family members enjoy seeing me wrestle into an overstretched T-shirt
and pretend I am still in shape. Therefore, a last day
shopping trip to buy a rare set of “loose-fitting” Western clothes is
inevitable. The other things on the
shopping list are travel-friendly electricity adapters, batteries, safety
razors, tweezers, medicines, which I never take till I return, toothbrush,
paste etc. The dollar-rupee disparity
is my biggest concern when I go shopping for these goods. I remember it took
me weeks to come over the shock when I bought an adapter for $20 in the US.
It cost me Rs 30 in Pakistan. I’m sure I’m not the
only one who wants to avoid security checks at airports. Though I can’t
bypass these, I somehow succeed in minimising the hassles. Purposefully clad
in shalwar kameez and chappal, I rush through the checks while others spend
ages to remove and wear belts, socks, shoes and items like wrist watches. The other irritants during
the travel are uncomfortable seats, tiny meal portions, irritating companions
interested in knowing about your journey, as well as telling you how
frequently they travel and so on.
Blood
ties! First things first,
never — and I mean never — rely on relatives for accommodation when
travelling. Shamelessly hoping to make
my trip to London economical, I kept the cousin, first cousin mind you, in
the loop regarding my plans. I even sent him itineraries. ‘Mere hotay hue
kahin aur kyon’ still rings in my ears. Spoke to him, like we always did,
for hours a couple of days before leaving and felt lucky for finding a home
there. That is until I got there. Babies are merciless when
they are hungry and sleepy. Hungry baby is the last thing you want when
waiting for a familiar face at the airport. And wait we did. After nearly an
hour, we gave up. Got ourselves a room for the rest of the trip and never
looked back at the cousin, neither did he. Whoever said blood is
thicker than water had never travelled I think. I have never been stung by a
stranger. The time before this trip I
was left at the airport by my cousin’s husband at Dallas International
Airport because he was late for a meeting, with friends. My first
international travel and I was on my own. If I was as poetic as Joyce, I
could write another Araby. However, I wasn’t alone
— excess luggage and a brutal 102 fever befriended me. No wonder I hate
talking to strangers on planes. I say, go where there is no
kin. I learnt my lesson the hard way. The next time I so much as think of
packing my bags, a hotel reservation is the first on my list.
Paranoia
in air No, I wasn’t
going to take my old toothbrush, even though it hadn’t reached its three
month expiration date yet. I was travelling abroad and suffering from its
accompanying ‘brand new’ syndrome. So I bought a shiny blue toothbrush,
popped it into a clear plastic bag, and placed it on a table in my room. Five minute before leaving,
I went over the checklist I had made on my phone, hoping I had remembered
every small but necessary item such as safety pins and Q-tips. All done, I swung the cover
of the suitcase — oh wait, I had no lock! A couple of hours and
thousands of miles in the air later, I realised that the toothbrush was still
sitting on the same table, untouched. It would remain brand new for slightly
longer than I had bargained for. This unforeseen hygiene crisis set my heart
thumping until I had checked and assured myself that the amenities bag
provided to me had one too. One emergency solved, my
mind found another subject to agonise over, transitioning effortlessly from
the minute to the large-scale. What if my luggage got lost?! Whenever
acquaintances had recounted tales of lost baggage, I had tuned them out. The
possibility had only become real for me when a friend faced the crisis during
a school trip. All that time, I internally praised her for not being in
constant tears as I would have been if I had to survive on borrowed items! Leaning back into the seat,
I sighed. Even the songs I had transferred to my phone the night before were
unable to steer my thoughts into lighter channels. It was easy to wonder why
I had paid so much for a trip that would begin with the dreaded packing and
would be followed by paranoia. ….All said and done though, I guess I should
be grateful that my worries were less pressing than that of the ‘Home
Alone’ parents!
A smart
way to move I have never been a
competent traveller. But there was a watershed moment for me when I woke up
in a flight to discover I had landed in India instead of Colombo. Panicked, I
stayed on the plane hoping no one would discover this egregious violation of
flight security; I was relieved to find that my ticket had a stopover in
India. Since then I have been
doing a little better. What’s changed? Buying a
few essential travel items. Those long wallets with a lanyard to keep the
passport, the boarding pass, photo ID etc within reach. The Velcro keeps it
safely in place. I have lost boarding passes
several times, and in labyrinthine airports it can be a hassle shuffling
between places to get a new one while not missing the flight. On longer flights I really
find it useful to wear shoes with no metals in them, track pants and carry a
shoulder bag. The clothing aspect does away with the semi disrobing through
security. The shoulder bag carries all the essential items for the flight
itself, like an mp3 player and tablet. I discovered a very cheap
organiser called ‘Grid It’, which minimises the space used and ensures
you won’t be without essential plugs and cables. Also, I bought a portable
battery which plugs into pretty much anything, ensuring the slowly decimating
battery bars stand upright for longer. Probably one of the best
investments I know of for a disposable item on arriving at your destination
is a prepaid SIM. You need the phone pretty much immediately and roaming
charges being what they are the new temporary carrier will do you a world of
good. The website Trip Advisor is
invaluable, crowd sourced reviews are great. You can find what you could see
within your price range. Despite my personal
improvement in the whole travel process, I am still not very competent at
booking flights. Thank God for travel agents.
Always
pack on time Despite having been
a checklist man for the better part of my life, it has not helped when it
comes to travelling. Travel woes have hit me in bizarre forms. Even if socks
have been checked twice while packing, there has been the shock of
discovering — at a formal seminar — that I was wearing different colours
on each foot. We all check the airline
ticket before leaving the house, but I have once mistakenly torn a valid
ticket to shreds while trying to de-junk the briefcase of previously used
tickets and coupons at the last minute. Surprisingly, I was allowed to board
the flight on presenting the shreds! PIA flights to Pakistan’s
Northern Areas are always on ‘chance’ and seldom has anyone slept in
peace a night before. It is another matter though, that on more than one
occasion I have bumped into a captain who knew me and arranged for a jump
seat. Hotel bookings in remote
areas always need a cross check before departing on a holiday. This last June
it was unnerving when I was told that the manager I had talked to had been
fired, there was no reservation, and that I had better look for another place
to stay in Skardu. Only an Army Mess saved the holiday. The dread of being found in
possession of some contraband item almost turned real recently, when a
swagger stick presented by an Army Unit was found to have been embellished
with a spent bullet casing at its tip. The Airport Security Force staff was
sensible enough to let me go, with an advice to thoroughly check every item
including gifts, while packing the luggage. In a nutshell: A day before
travelling is packing day if you are to keep such travel jitters at bay!
Packing-unpacking
woes I love travelling
but I hate packing for leisure or business! Packing means remembering to take
too many ‘just in case’ essentials — an extra pair of spectacles, Vicks
and pain killers, photocopies of documents — passports, visa, hotel
bookings, etc. And it always follows
unpacking for I hate living in a suitcase. But in today’s times
because you are catching connecting flights as well as missing them, you are
never sure your luggage will arrive at your destination at the same time as
you. So the ‘just in case’,
items that I usually lug include a toothbrush, hairbrush, my kohl, a
lipstick, a T-shirt, and cardigan (light or heavy depending on my
destination) and a clean pair of undies. Along with the above stuff
are the gadget paraphernalia. Even if the travel is for pleasure, cutting the
cord on devices is virtually impossible for me. I confess I cannot travel
tech-free. If I was asked to just take
one thing, I’d probably opt for my laptop. I would feel quite out of the
loop without staying connected to the world through the internet. I need to
know the world is not falling apart and that the family back home is fine.
And while this may not be well taken, I concede, I like to work a little on
my holiday! Then comes unpacking, which
of course is less time consuming except for the toilet bag that needs to be
emptied out properly. If you have not applied
your mind to it while packing, you will find, much to your distress, that you
left the hair conditioner on your dresser back home. And while you can make
do with hotel shampoos, the conditioner has to be your own brand! Which means a bad hair day
the following morning!
A system
of checks Going on a
vacation, for the most part, is always the stuff of legend. Apart from the customary
pre-travelling butterflies hovering around inside the stomach during the two
days of pre-departure planning and then moving to main procedure of packing
is quite an ordeal for me. A needle keeps pricking my
mind if I do not give proper pattern to the checklists. They start from
trivial stuff like having my sunglasses to chief ones being medical insurance
and travel documents — visas and passports. Health documentation,
tickets, trip cancellation insurance, hotel reservations, traveller’s
cheques and of course credit cards form the most essential part of the
checklist. Once the aforementioned is listed and checked, the real Herculean
task needs to be gotten through with. This is the organisation of medications
and valuables and the verification of the documents as soon as they arrive. I completely stand fixed
about the issue of maintaining tags in the inside as well as the outside of
the luggage which at times has earned me my mother’s severe castigation.
She (rightly so I might admit) questioned the purpose of having tags in the
inside when they are already present on the outside. Likewise, reconfirming
international flights with the airline 72 hours prior to departure is a must.
These have always been my top-most priority. I feel my pre-travelling
procedures are incomplete without these checks.
|
|
hing
is my wallet which needs to have some money for petrol and miscellaneous
costs, along with an ATM card in case we run short on supply. 
