Steem4nigeria Accelerator Contest Week 91: My worst Traveling Experience

The worst travel experience of my life happened during the time of Corona. We were in Canberra and wanted to go back to Delhi, as my contract had ended. But as there were no airlines operating due to Corona travel restrictions,. Our booking from Singapore Airlines cancelled our tickets because of government restrictions on flights.

 

 
Then we booked our tickets on Etihad Airlines from another agency, but no confirmation came from the airlines. Later it was found out that the ticketing agency had defaulted due to too many cancellations, and it stopped responding and rather gave an application asking for declaration of defaulter.

Finally, we got an online booking from Etihad Airways, but there were two problems with that flight: firstly, we had to wait for 16 hours at Jeddah airport, and secondly, the total time of that flight was going to be 34 hours. But there was no other option; apart from this, they were charging double the normal fare because one seat in the middle had to be kept empty.

We also tried Indian Airlines, but it showed our turn would be months later. Another agency also cancelled our booked tickets and refunded the money with great difficulty. So this time our money was saved from going down the drain.

This proved to be the longest distance journey of our life, but the troubles were not over yet. From Canberra we reached Sydney airport by car. Before that, we had to do COVID tests in Canberra because tests older than 48 hours were not valid, and it took 36 hours to get the report.

Anyway, we reached Jeddah at 5 am local time in a 15-hour direct flight from Sydney, and after reaching Jeddah, we were directed to the sleeping room. There were few passengers, but the noise was unbearable, so we came out and sat. We had to sit here for about 16 hours. The airlines issued us lunch cards and gave us limited-time internet data.

We sat there for almost 8 hours, then we had lunch at 2:30 pm, and then we roamed around and spent our time until 8. A lady airport officer who was from South Africa helped us a lot because Jeddah airport is big. She came to us frequently and updated us about our connecting flight.

After some time we came to know that our connecting flight at 9 pm was cancelled, and we had to wait for 2 more hours, as we were shifted to the flight at 11 pm. So our wait at the airport was now 18 hours. And the interesting thing was that we were flying from over India itself about 15 hours ago.

 
No problem, we had already guessed this. Anyway, with great difficulty, it was 10:30 pm, and check-in started, and finally the boarding. After boarding, we were made to sit on the 3-seat row, so we sat, leaving the center seat vacant.

But after some time another lady came and said, "You are sitting on my seat."

I said that only two people are allowed to sit here. Then that woman started screaming and called the air hostess.

I told the air hostess, "Something is wrong here. I have given double fare, and only two passengers are allowed on this three seater."

The air hostess said in a pleading tone, "Sir, after a long time we are getting full; please adjust."

Actually, they had put the passengers of two flights in one.

Then that woman refused to sit on the seat next to my wife because they had given Covid suits to every woman at the time of check-in, but they did not have enough suits to give to every woman, so that woman did not get one, and she thought that maybe such suits were being given only to suspected passengers suffering from COVID.

I had taken a few photos of the aircraft as I wanted to make an official complaint, but later I gave up the idea.

Finally, the flight took off at around 12 at night, and they started serving food at 1 at night, and by the time the food was over, it was 2.30 in the morning. At around 4 in the morning we were approaching Delhi, then I remembered that yesterday at around the same time we were flying over India.

But the trouble was not over yet. Despite having the latest COVID tests, we had to take the test again in Delhi spending about 1 hour and $30. I feel that it was just a formality because the result was on my phone after 4 days, so it had nothing to do with our exit.

Well, that journey was over. I think it took a toll on both of us, especially my wife, who was wearing a COVID suit, which is made of plastic, and fainted after stepping out of the airport due to the heat. I took it off with great difficulty and threw it in the bin, booked a taxi, and we reached home.

Now tell me, who would want to have such an experience again?

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@ruthjoe
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