Platform7

I didn't really think a lot when I booked tickets on the KURTC Low Floor bus. I was in Kozhikode for a function, and had to return to my home town in the afternoon. I directly headed to the Kerala Urban Transport Corporation (KURTC) website to look for services after noon. There was only one - a bus leaving Kozhikode at 1510hrs towards Nedumbassery airport. I was quite shocked when I opened the seat layout for this bus - the only left side window seat left was on the last row. A whole lot of seats on the right side were empty - but then, the sun would be on the right. With no choices left, I book the last row window seat on the left side. I got my mobile ticket (SMS) immediately.

March 20, 2016:
It was terribly hot. I was sweating as if I was standing in a rain. I had already downed a couple of fruit juices, and one round of the famous Aval Paal - an innovative milk based recipe with banana, poha(rice flakes), sugar and roasted skinless peanuts - which is a speciality of Kozhikode…

The need to travel back to Bangalore at the last moment had left me shuffled. I was fully disturbed and confused. I wanted to spend April 14, which happens to be Vishu, a day we celebrate as our New Year, with my parents at home. It was almost impossible to find tickets for Vishu eve (April 13th). I tried getting tickets to Trivandrum - which was available. I just tried my luck if redemption tickets were available on Air India - and my luck was very good! The last redemption ticket was available at the point - I grabbed it quickly. Air India was running a promotion on redemptions during weekdays, and that helped me save some miles as well.

April 14, 2016:
A day that I'd have celebrated with pomp at home - I was all alone in Bangalore. I hadn't slept at all the last two nights, and the effect of that was heavy on me. I somehow managed to get off the bed and get ready. The taxi I had booked hadn't arrived yet. The taxi came about 15minutes past the reserved time - and it tur…

This was an award ticket booked less than 12 hours before the scheduled departure time. A last minute trip from Cochin to Bangalore had to be done via Trivandrum due to lack of direct tickets at affordable prices. The original routing was:
12APR AI048 COK TRV 2200 2250 Y A321
13APR 9W824 TRV BLR 0610 0715 Y B738

[Read about the COK TRV Flight here]

April 13, 2016:
The alarm shouted out aloud at 0330hrs - I had hardly slept the previous night (I had hit the bed only past midnight). I was somewhat disoriented when I woke up. As soon as I woke-up, I looked at the availability of cabs in the area, and found that they were available quite easily. I booked one as soon as I was good to go. It took sometime to check-out of the hotel. My cab came in by around 0430 - and the 6kms ride to the airport took hardly 10 minutes. I was at the crowded Terminal-2 at Trivandrum by 0440hrs - with about an hour and a half to go for departure of my flight. This flight of Jet Airways departs from the internat…

April 12, 2016:
It was a fine evening. I was returning from the nearby city of Kochi to my hometown. Sometime on the way, a call from office lands on my phone. The ever familiar sound on the other end, asked me to report at office the very next day. The time was already around 1650hrs. I had originally planned to be at home for a long 10 days, but ended up having to return to work on the 6th day! Now this call came late in the evening, on a peak day. I poured over OTAs soon after reaching home - buses were not a possibility due to timings of buses that had free seats. With the recent cuts from Jet Airways, there were no flights either - there were two flights still open for bookings - and both selling at over 10K! I just then remembered the red-eye flight of IndiGo ex-TRV. This one had tickets that weren't too expensive - but I had another problem. There was hardly sufficient time to go home, change and head to office - and too much time if I were to head to office straight.

I loo…

March 07, 2016:

The elevator travelled two floors very quick, and dropped me on the second floor, which is the departures hall. [Read Part-1 here] I landed right next to the SpiceJet counters. I did not have to go to the SpiceJet counter again - just walked past and headed to another round of security check. I cleared security by 0901hrs and just kept wandering around the terminal for sometime. For some reason, there seemed to be a lot of delays - the gates resembled a government bus station. All seats were filled, and a lot of people were squatting on the floor. I just walked around for some more time, and then decided to head to my gate - #G14 on the ground floor. While walking towards the gate, a flashing word on the FIDS attracted my attention - that was the word "Delayed". And, the flight was mine! It showed that my flight (SG3263) was rescheduled to 1040hrs - a 40 minute delay.
I had a lot of time to spend now! I found out an empty seat a little away from the gate and …

My usual pass time.. hunting for tickets to go home (where else!)..This time, however, the trip was absolutely not planned. I had an inclination to go home, but return tickets weren't available and I kept dilly-dallying on my decision. All it took was an email - a brochure of a seminar happening at a town near my hometown - and my teacher was organizing it! I was surely inclined to make it to the seminar, and did the required paperwork quickly. Getting tickets was the next problem. I looked at a variety of options. Since the program starts in the morning, and I had to get home, change and drive down to the venue, I had to be home really early. It dawned to be me later that I was looking for tickets for a day before Ugadi, the Karnataka New Year - and beginning of a long weekend for techie's Bangalore! I understood it would be futile to look for tickets in the evening, and began looking for tickets in the morning. I finally found the cheapest flight to be a SpiceJet one stop f…