It all began when I got my passport from the university management on the 11th of June; until that very moment going home for this vacation was nothing more than a desperate dream for us. Gracian, my flatmate, took matters into hand and booked tickets to go home for the five of us, me and my flatmates, through an agent it Dhaka who is an acquaintance of his dads. Despite my dads early suggestion of taking a flight from Chittagong to Sri Lanka, I agreed to Gracians plan of flying from Dhaka to Bangkok and then to Sri Lanka which happens to be less costly. Just when we were about to confirm our tickets, Ahsan, a friend of mine, called and asked if his group can join ours. We contacted the agent in Dhaka and were relieved when he said there were more tickets available to fly on the 15th of June. And so our group of five expanded to that of sixteen.
The next pressing issue was travelling to Dhaka from Chittagong. Sixteen is quite a number and train tickets to Dhaka should be booked at least ten days before departure. Time was against us and we had to seek other means and do so fast. Thanks to the corrupt Bangladeshi railway officials, a senior agreed to arrange 16 tickets for us through the black market. We had to pay that day itself and hence I heeded that request for travelling by bus would be far less comfortable and unreliable.
Just as everything seemed perfect, the agent from Dhaka called with awful news; seats for all sixteen of us will not be confirmed until 9.30 the previous morning. There was also the issue of paying the agent in Dhaka from Chittagong. We had to transfer money of 16 students from Sri Lanka to Chittagong and from Chittagong to Dhaka and do so as soon as possible. I felt like my timing had never been worse for there were two days of public holidays in Sri Lanka followed by a Friday, a holiday in Bangladesh, carrying out the transaction seemed impossible. However the agent agreed to figure out some way for us to make the payment from Sri Lanka itself.
I was immediately put into a spot of bother for I had bought train tickets for everyone paying double the amount since it was from the black market. I called the senior, Irshad nana to see if there is anything we could do about the tickets in case the flight was cancelled. Irshad nana suggested another idea which seemed like a life line at that time. He said a friend of his could arrange tickets to fly through Malaysia for the same rate and on the same day so that our train tickets would not be a waste. We had to spend an extra 100 BDT to change the train tickets from 15th morning to 15th night. At this point, that seemed to be the best option for all of us, I discussed the issue with Gracian, Javid and Ahsan and decided to switch our plan. We had both the options open though, either fly through Bangkok by Gracian's agent or through Malaysia. So we asked Irshad nana to book us the tickets.
After a sleepless night, Irshad nana called me with good news that the tickets had been confirmed and asked all our parents to transfer the money to his brothers account in the morning of previous day. Since its his brother who was handling the cash, we agreed and asked our parents to carryout the transaction. On the same day, Gracian's agent called saying that the tickets for our plan A were available. We went with Irshad nana's plan since we had already paid him the money and even if we hadn't, paying the other agent would take some extra work. It seemed easier to stick to our new plan and so we did. We informed the rest of the sixteen the new travel route and promised that our flight details will arrive soon.
I spent that night at Javid's place, awaiting the new tickets. Yet another sleepless night for we had a bad feeling about the whole thing and there was no sign of the e tickets. Irshad nana was doing his best but it proved to be not enough. We waited the whole night, felt anxiety and pressure like I had never felt before for it was the money of sixteen parents who trust us. We received a call from Irshad nana in the morning of 14th June, he asked us to meet him at his place to discuss about something. Javid, Ahsan and I rushed to meet him, one look at his face and we knew what he had to say. Something had gone wrong and we would not be flying through Malaysia. He asked us to give him some time to find an alternate way and gave his word that he would return our money on that day itself if we want. I honestly can not put to words what we felt that very moment. We asked him to keep trying and that we would too.
Meanwhile, the rest of the sixteen kept pressuring us, asking for the flight details. We chose to hold the truth to prevent panic. Only a few of us knew what truly was going on. Each of us had to answer our parents for the money has already been transferred and we were held responsible. We had to turn to Gracian's agent again. Gracian reluctantly contacted him for a second time and he confirmed the possibility of a route and asked us to confirm the passenger list as soon as possible. We had just sent him the list when Irshad nana called with a possible route through Bangkok on the same day which would deem our train tickets useful once again. We decided to trust Irshad nana despite all the odds and finally the gamble paid off. Javid, Ahsan and I along with Irshad nana went to meet an agent in Chittagong. Irshad nana had our cash in BDT, we paid the agent for our tickets from Chittagong to Bangkok. We were to fly through Regent airways, a local Bangladeshi airlines. We had booked tickets from Bangkok to Colombo via another agent in Sri Lanka, it was all very complicated. By the night of 14th July, we had all our tickets in hand and it truly appeared nothing could go wrong, we thought it was all well settled; little did we know that the worst was yet to come.
We arranged a van to take the girls and our luggage to the station. Leaving the house at 9 PM on the 15th, the guys took "threewheels" to the station. Javid, Ronald and I took were in one. We had an early start to the sufferings as our driver dropped us off at the wrong station. Being new to Chittagong and having a schedule to follow, we had to undergo some trouble and panic finding the right station. Since the tickets were not completely legit, we had to sit in different compartments. A couple of friends helped us get settled in the train, it truly helped a lot and the train started moving sharp at 11 PM.
The train journey was smooth and soothing until it got to an unusual halt at Comilla. We were told that the train had suffered an engine failure and they were uncertain of the time required to fix it. Although we had six hours between of ETA in Dhaka and the flight to Bangkok, we were all tensed about the delay. It took them three whole hours to get the train running. Despite the delay, we were relieved when the compartment started rocking again. We entered the Dhaka international airport a couple of hours before our schedule.
We had a short breakfast and boarded in quickly. The flight was scheduled to leave Dhaka at 12 noon. We were seated, awaiting the signal for us to get into the flight. Time started rolling, and I developed a really bad feeling. At about 1 PM we were informed that there had been a delay in the flight due to engine failure and it will be leaving at 11 PM on the same night. That would make us miss our flight to Colombo from Bangkok. Regent airways took no responsibility what so ever since it was a small time budget airlines. It all felt too real, like there was no way out, all of our parents' money down the drain. But Irshad nana took charge, made some calls in search of a new way out.
After a couple of hopeless hours, Irshad nana had found a solution. He booked us the next flight from Bangkok to Sri Lanka and it would cost us a little penalty charge. Despite the fact that we would have to spend half a day rotting in the airport, we all were relieved that we managed a way out, Alhamdulillah. I kept my dad updated, we all informed our parents. Time moved awfully slow in the boarding lounge of Dhaka international airways. The free wifi was the only silver lining lol. We finally got into the flight at 10.30 PM and I fell asleep immediately. I was in Thailand when I woke up, we all were dead tired.
We walked into the gorgeous Swarnabhumi Airport, Thailand. More trouble awaited us when we went to clear our baggage. Since we booked through different agents, we had to clear our baggage on our owns and the officials held us and asked us to get visa. More panic and tension was added to our already heavy heads. But we talked to the help desk and they arranged us to meet some Sri Lankan airlines staff. Their service was remarkably good. They made arrangements for the baggage transfer and that issue was solved without much effort. We spent six hours in transit, I slept through most of it and woke up with fever. We boarded our final flight and a three hour flight took us home.
The feeling of landing in Sri Lanka was exquisite. A strong sense of belonging, it is impossible to put to words. My mom, dad and little sister received me at the airport, I would go through ten times as much trouble for that reunion. Nevertheless, I do not regret a single decision I made. It was one hell of a ride from day one.
We arranged a van to take the girls and our luggage to the station. Leaving the house at 9 PM on the 15th, the guys took "threewheels" to the station. Javid, Ronald and I took were in one. We had an early start to the sufferings as our driver dropped us off at the wrong station. Being new to Chittagong and having a schedule to follow, we had to undergo some trouble and panic finding the right station. Since the tickets were not completely legit, we had to sit in different compartments. A couple of friends helped us get settled in the train, it truly helped a lot and the train started moving sharp at 11 PM.
The train journey was smooth and soothing until it got to an unusual halt at Comilla. We were told that the train had suffered an engine failure and they were uncertain of the time required to fix it. Although we had six hours between of ETA in Dhaka and the flight to Bangkok, we were all tensed about the delay. It took them three whole hours to get the train running. Despite the delay, we were relieved when the compartment started rocking again. We entered the Dhaka international airport a couple of hours before our schedule.
We had a short breakfast and boarded in quickly. The flight was scheduled to leave Dhaka at 12 noon. We were seated, awaiting the signal for us to get into the flight. Time started rolling, and I developed a really bad feeling. At about 1 PM we were informed that there had been a delay in the flight due to engine failure and it will be leaving at 11 PM on the same night. That would make us miss our flight to Colombo from Bangkok. Regent airways took no responsibility what so ever since it was a small time budget airlines. It all felt too real, like there was no way out, all of our parents' money down the drain. But Irshad nana took charge, made some calls in search of a new way out.
After a couple of hopeless hours, Irshad nana had found a solution. He booked us the next flight from Bangkok to Sri Lanka and it would cost us a little penalty charge. Despite the fact that we would have to spend half a day rotting in the airport, we all were relieved that we managed a way out, Alhamdulillah. I kept my dad updated, we all informed our parents. Time moved awfully slow in the boarding lounge of Dhaka international airways. The free wifi was the only silver lining lol. We finally got into the flight at 10.30 PM and I fell asleep immediately. I was in Thailand when I woke up, we all were dead tired.
We walked into the gorgeous Swarnabhumi Airport, Thailand. More trouble awaited us when we went to clear our baggage. Since we booked through different agents, we had to clear our baggage on our owns and the officials held us and asked us to get visa. More panic and tension was added to our already heavy heads. But we talked to the help desk and they arranged us to meet some Sri Lankan airlines staff. Their service was remarkably good. They made arrangements for the baggage transfer and that issue was solved without much effort. We spent six hours in transit, I slept through most of it and woke up with fever. We boarded our final flight and a three hour flight took us home.
The feeling of landing in Sri Lanka was exquisite. A strong sense of belonging, it is impossible to put to words. My mom, dad and little sister received me at the airport, I would go through ten times as much trouble for that reunion. Nevertheless, I do not regret a single decision I made. It was one hell of a ride from day one.
