My journey started on the 16th of May, in the city of Durgapur, India, which is my home town. Having financial restrictions, I had chosen flights with the cheapest fares to go till Santiago, Chile, where I was supposed to join the Neurociencias lab at Universidad de los Andes.
It had been my goal to leave the country to do research for a long time. But even when I said my goodbyes to my family, my mother, father, brother and everyone else who had come to drop me off at the airport, I didn’t feel much. I crossed the checking at the airport, there was still not much of a feeling, it was just like going somewhere else. But when we lined up to board the flight, it hit me. I was finally going! It had been such a struggle setting everything up for this. I had waited 7 months to get my visa, almost losing hope to ever be able to go to this lab and accept my dream job. I had financial hardships and had done a fundraiser to crowdfund my journey. It was all coming together at this moment. I got on the flight and in a few minutes it flew.
I sat there thinking that this is the first of my many flights that I have to take to reach my destination, Santiago, the capital of Chile. Santiago is 17,538 km from my hometown Durgapur. Literally on the other side of the world. The total duration of my journey was supposed to be 64 hours, starting then. I was happy that I had got the window seat on this flight and was looking outside the window. Around mid-journey, I saw flashes below the flight, in the sky. It was thunder, from the clouds below. It was magnificent! It was something I was seeing for the first time. The clouds had thunder spread all over them, and something so powerful, and majestic could do nothing to us as we were flying over them.
I reached Madras airport at 11pm. I was supposed to take a flight from there early in the morning to reach Delhi. As I sat at the Madras airport and munched on the dinner, my mother had packed, I reminisced that this will probably be the last meal made by her that I can taste for a long time. I had to kill time, my next flight was at 6 am to Delhi. I roamed around in the airport, and found some people were sleeping on the chairs. I also tried, but could hardly sleep. I don’t know if it was just because of the excitement that I am finally leaving the country, or maybe that I am the only person in my family to achieve such a feat, or maybe the anxiety of what might lie ahead of my first international travel. Anyway, I couldn’t sleep and was anxiously waiting for the morning. It was 4:30 on the clock, I got up, got out of the departures and got in through arrivals to take my next flight. I knew my way around the Madras airport, I had taken a flight from there 3 years ago (the only second flight I had ever taken). I got on the flight and was kind of sad that I couldn't get a window seat. I was tired and soon went off to sleep at on the seat. We reached Delhi in the morning. I went out to the airport. It was 8:30 am. My next flight was from Delhi to Jeddah at 8 pm.
I had my luggage with me and I had two things on my agenda. 1. Collect my passport from my cousin’s hostel, where I had it delivered after visa stamping, and to repair the keyboard of my laptop. I calculated that I had enough time for those two tasks and took the metro and with the luggages went to my cousin’s place. I didn’t know about “cloakrooms” that apparently provide services like holding your luggage for you, and you can pay by the hour. I went off with 30 kg worth of luggage on my hand and shoulders to Nehru place in Delhi, to get my laptop repaired. As I was pulling such a heavy luggage everywhere, My hands had blisters by the time I reached the airport, but at least my work was done, and I was ready to go.
I went through with the check in, and the immigration, and with little time left to boarding, ran to my gate. I got on the flight and was happy that I had got the window seat! I quickly recharged my mobile with an international pack and was ready to leave the country finally. IT WAS HAPPENING. I was supposed to leave India’s borders in 2 hours and reach Jeddah 5 hours later. This was also the start of getting confused between time zones and calculating hard to understand the time back home. All that aside, the flight flew, and I leaned back on the seat, gulping down the view of Delhi from high up the sky. It is so beautiful to look at cities from the skies, at night, it looks like a well-formed circuit with all the roads lit up, and the differences in architecture all along the city painting a masterpiece with lights. We went high up, and I didn’t have much to do, so I rested.
We reached Jeddah in 5 hours, and I was again awestruck with the lights of this huge city at 11pm. It seemed lively! I got out of the airport and went on to search for a place to wait. I had to wait over 11 hours at the Jeddah airport for the next flight to Madrid. As I asked around, I was told to go catch the metro and go to terminal 1, and so I did. There I went through the customs and as I went into the terminal, I saw the most beautiful airport I have ever seen in my life! It was enchanting!
I found a seat, connected to the Wi-Fi and called my parents back home to inform them that I am safe, and they don’t need to worry. Then I found a comfortable place and went to sleep. I woke up in some time, I was hungry. I went to a shop at the airport and got some water and some croissants. At least my hunger was relieved. 11 hours is a long time, tried roaming around, watching people at the airport, and I even managed to find some people from Bangladesh who were flying to Rome, Italy. Anyway, after 11 long hours, I got on the flight and was happy that I had a window seat again! As the plane took to the runway, I couldn’t help but think that I had completed half my journey already! Another thing that made my happy was that the seats beside me were empty, and thus I slept like a log (quite literally). The flight was going over Cairo, Egypt. I thought I might be able to see pyramids, but sadly couldn’t. The views nonetheless were wonderful! As we flew over the Mediterranean, the colourful fields with the blue water and the clouds was something my phone couldn’t capture very well, but as I saw it with my own eyes, I was internally screaming! As the flight few further, I saw Spain from the sky. It is a beautiful country! The flight decreased its altitude preparing to land, and I could see the roads and the buildings, the hills, the trees and soaking the beauty of everything up.
I had my next flight at night. It was the last flight of the journey, however, it was at night, and I reached Madrid in the afternoon. I wouldn’t be lying if I said that I was thinking about visiting Santiago Bernabéu once, to see the kingdom of Real Madrid, arguably the greatest football club in the world. I convinced myself that I didn’t have so much time and then went on to the terminal 1 where I could take my flight and proceeded to check in my luggage, and then I roamed around in the airport, occasionally taking a stroll outside the airport. Got a cold tuna sandwich from the vending machines at the airport as it was cheaper than the other options like MacDonalds and Starbucks, and had it to kill my hunger pangs. The Adolfo Suárez Madrid Barajas Airport is also a really beautiful airport, but there what really blew my mind was the sunset sky at 9:30 pm local time.
I proceeded towards the boarding gate and as I went through the customs, I realized that people hardly speak English here, and I had to steer my way through with my broken Spanish. I went through the customs and looked for the way to my terminal. I figured that I have to take the underground metro to reach the terminal, and 3 flights of escalators later I was at the station. The train arrived, and I hopped on (although with the luggage I technically couldn’t hop). I reached the boarding gate and waited for the officials to give me the green signal to board the flight. In about 20 mins, I was able to board the flight and find my seat. It was 11:30 at Madrid right now, and I had already lost the track of time back home.
This was the last flight and to be honest I felt a little sad that this journey was going to end soon. I was also feeling excited in my stomach that I am going to join the lab I have dreaming for so long. Plus the excitement of living in a new country. The flight took off and in those economic class seats that hardly tilt, I tried to sleep. I couldn’t sleep more than an hour in the 13-hour-long flight. I don’t know if it was the excitement or just the straight seats. I when I gave up on getting sleep, I figured it’s probably better if I stay awake properly, and made a few trips to the pantry to get coffee. As we reached close to Chile, I could see the mountains through the window. The sun rising behind the mountains, it was a beautiful sight, one of the times I cursed my luck for not getting a window seat. Thankfully, I asked the woman sitting beside me if she could take a photo of the view with my phone, and she agreed.
The flight landed, and I got out, and after a few rounds of covid protocol checking and customs, I was out within 30 mins. I started to look for the taxi driver that my to-be boss had arranged. I saw a person holding a name placard, with the spelling of my name wrong, and I thought to myself, this must be it. Went over and, after some time, got into the taxi. The person started talking in Spanish, and I was trying my best to play along with my broken Spanish and taking a little help from Google Translate. The new city looked beautiful. Highly urbanized and with a tinge of protests here and there. Almost all the walls were covered in graffities, some ugly, some absolutely beautiful. At a first glance, Santiago was a city of colour, and the people looked busy.
I reached my accommodation and fast-forward to the next day, I reached the Universidad de los Andes. A university in the mountains, with one of the most beautiful campuses I have ever seen.
