25th january / 2pm Goa-Dabolim-Airport: after a 45-minute-ride from Panjim to the airport, the driver dropped me a the terminal for domestic flights. He seemed to drive extra carefully and not as risky as the other road users did. I wanted to take some pictures out of the car as my last roll wasn't full yet...yeah you're right there are still some people - call them dinosaurs - not owning a digital camera, knowing how to adjust focus and exposure...

road to the airport

The terminal was packed with people. There were no signs telling you where to check in, where the gates are etc. But there were enough people telling you exactly that!

My baggage was checked through to Berlin, my final destination (my route was Goa-Bombay-Brussels-Berlin). So I just had to carry my saxes. After another security check - it seems you don't have any chance to get through anywhere without a boarding pass in India - I was informed that my one-hour-flight to Bombay was delayed for two hours.  No problem, I got six hours at the Bombay-Airport. And after showing my boarding-pass, I got some refreshments...well not bad...

...to all of you accusing me of political incorrectness: I know it's Mumbai and not Bombay. But ALL Indians I met said Bombay and I just got some strange looks saying Mumbai. So for me it's Bombay....don't you also say Bollywood and not Mollywood :-)

9pm arrival in Bombay: what's the gate for my flight to Brussels at 1:45 am? No signs...I already know that! So I was asking some friendly guy from the airline. Answer: wait until 10pm. Alright. So I got myself a last cup of indian coffee and sat down on a goods carrier (there were no chairs anywhere). At 10pm I was told where to go. What was that at the gate? Upholstered deckchairs!!!! First I thought it was a fata morgana. But I couldn't really sleep. Every now and then there was somebody coming shouting which flight is now being boarded....remember...no signs!

26th january / 2 am: I'm in the aircraft...seat at the window! Here we go!  First eat than sleep...that was my plan! But I couldn't really find any sleep. So I had the chance to look out of the window and see which regions we were passing: Iran, Turkey, the Black Sea (it's really black:-) ), Constanta / Romania, Hungary, Austria and...Regensburg / Germany!

8:15 am: arrival in Brussels. Wow, it's warm in here (there's no AC cooling the building to 17 degree celsius!)...and it's so quiet in here...one gets the impression of being dumb. But they charge € 2.- for one banana! In Goa I paid less than 5 cent for one!

After two hours I got on the second to last leg of my journey: Brussels Airlines to Berlin / Tempelhof. Again....seat at the window! superb! 

10 am: arrival in Berlin, baggage claim, customs:

-Good morning, sir. Where do you come from?

-Brussels

-And before that?

-Bombay

-Ah! What did you find there or buy or where forced to buy?

-I found nothing and bought very few things and noone forced me to buy anything.

-Thank you. Have a nice journey home.

-You're welcome.

I seem to be a very trusting person :-)

 

1:05 pm last leg: Berlin-Leipzig by train.

2:05 pm really last leg: Taxi-ride from Leipzig / train-station -  my home

2:20 pm done! I'm home!