After the 1 hour drive to the airport, 5 hour wait, 1 hour Goa-Mumbai flight and the 10 hour transit, it is 2 am. I was exhausted. I board my flight and tell my brother to top-up my phone number with an international roaming pack. Everything seemed fine until the captain made an announcement in German. Having learnt the language, I did not understand a thing. But now it was clear to me that I was flying to another country!
In a dilemma of whether to utilize the in-flight entertainment system or watch Netflix on my phone, I chose neither and slept. I am not sure for how long I was knocked out for, but I woke up to the smell of mid night snacks. It was a top of the line handcrafted paneer roll i.e. typical airline food. It was okay and I was hungry so I ate it. I do not remember anything about the flight as mostly, I was asleep or waiting in queue for airline lavatory. I do remember that there could have been a medical emergency as all the flight attendants rushed to a seat 4–5 rows ahead of mine. We could have landed in a different country but gladly that person was safe.
It was 5 am Central European Summer Time or 8.30am Indian Time, my usual time to get up. We were flying over the Balkans and were served with ‘authentic’ airline Indian food. Soon, I saw a small glimpse of densely packed city from my middle row aisle seat and shortly enough it was the time to land.
Having deboarded, my plan was to collect my luggage. I quickly connected to the airport Wi-Fi and told my family that I landed. ‘Welcome to Germany’ messaged my brother. I followed the signs to the luggage collection belt and soon enough realized it was further away than I expected. While traversing through the complex airport, I had to complete my immigration. I was worried because the immigration officer decides whether I enter the country to not!
Hello! Your Passport please.
said the immigration officer as I frantically opened my file to remove all the possible documents. I gave him my passport and he asked for my RT-PCR test result. I gave him the document; he took a small glimpse and stamped my passport. ‘Ist das alles?’ (is that all?) I asked. He opened the electronic gate and gestured me to walk through it. It took me a solid 5 seconds to realize that it indeed was over. I had entered the Bundesrepublik Deutschland.
I double checked to make sure if he had really stamped my passport. Yes, he did stamp it! I called home and told them that I was not detained and had cleared immigration.
I move up to the luggage collection area. It took a ~20 mins for the luggage to magically appear on the belt. Not the usual as domestic flights back in India. I had 2x23kg bags plus 2 cabin luggage. Last time I checked, I was not a weight lifter so I wanted to get a luggage cart. They were €1 and only accessible via cashless methods only. My card did not work so I waited and saw an Indian family who were purchasing the carts. I quickly asked them if they can help me with the cart and I can pay them cash.
Armed with a trolley my aim was to find Sammeln Punkt at Ausgang B3 (Meeting point at Exit B3). En route, I saw a Bäckerei/Bakery with fresh sandwiches and breads. Not wanting to experiment with food, I bought a vegetarian sandwich. Little did I know this would not be my last encounter with a flavorful bread.
I was approaching the finish line. Now I had to wait for my shuttle bus scheduled for 13:00. Merely ~4 hours to kill.
