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-   -   “Jana Tha Japan, Pahoonch Gaye Cheen” – My Life On A Cruise Ship (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travelogues/89887-jana-tha-japan-pahoonch-gaye-cheen-my-life-cruise-ship-3.html)

Technically the airport staff cannot transit your luggage unless you have a boarding pass. But you already had a boarding pass issued with out a visa check!! Wow! Reciepe for adventure!!!

Oh sounds bad, hope everyone was fine. Last chapter of this topic coming up.

The next incident "arrested in Spain" that I will narrate will magnify the fact that how important it is that if you have to get stuck, better get stuck in a place where we can speak the same language. But still hoping you would soon write about it.

Thanks.

Good observation about the timmings. I never noticed it myself.

Thanks Sudev

I hope its not. All these incidents are more about what all you can fall into trouble with whilst traveling.

lol..I really did not have a valid visa, so there was no point in blasting anyone.

Yeah you are right. Without a Visa for the final destination, If I would not have been allowed to fly out of Areciffe, it would have been the best.

Jaana Tha Japan Pahoonch Gaye Cheen- Last Part


There was nothing to be packed in the room. The bill at the hotel was to be settled by the company, I just had to sign it. Thank God I had not incurred any extra charges or it could have turned into an embarrassing situation. I was very happy to be finally leaving the hotel, where I had to keep myself captive for full 2 days. But one thing saddened me was that I could not leave any tips for the hotel staff. If I did that, probably I would have to walk to the airport, And under no circumstances I was going to miss this flight.

This was the first time I saw the route to the Airport. My mind was not preoccupied this time and I could appreciate the beautiful buildings and the marvelous architecture that Madrid boasts about. I reached the airport and quickly collected my tickets from the airline counter and proceeded to the check-in counter.

I was flying Lufthansa and had to go via Germany. Check –in was a breeze as this time I did not need any Visas. I was flying to India.

Yes, the company had decided that the best solution to all of the problems was to send me home to India as this was the only place it seems would have accepted me at the moment. Also I could do my courses in India and join back the ship when I am done with it.

However happy or sad you are whilst you are in a foreign country, reaching your own country you tend to forget all of that. Even if you are penniless you still feel that you are the King when you back on your home soil. Same was my situation on reaching Delhi airport, it was a different feeling all together, I was on familiar turf, I could converse to people and most importantly my pocket wasn’t empty either. I could use my debit card now.

Finally I reached my home town Jaipur. My parents were not expecting me for the next 5 months. They were shocked to see me at the door ringing the bell. I told them the story and the first thing my Mom said was “JAANA THA JAPAN PAHOONCH GAYE CHEEN”

I had a good 25 days all expense paid holiday at home. In those 25 days I went to Powai, Mumbai and did my courses. When I joined the ship they were gracious enough to refund me all the money I had spent during all this, including the taxi fares!!!

End of part one.

Now waiting for you to get arrested. :D


Post quickly saar!!

Wow! That is some experience best to be reading than experiencing. I know more is yet to come.

With the risk of being repetitive let me tell you - you have excellent narrative skills. Made me - and am sure everyone else would agree - see it as if I am watching a thriller movie. :thumbs up to you; not many people have this.

Now let me stop. Waiting for your arrest in Spain. :D

Deky

Excellent narration. Tell me something frankly and am not preaching anything here, I promise. During those tough times, what gave you the strength to hang on? Did you pray, think about near and dear ones etc., etc.,

Reading your narrative about your stay in the luxurious hotel, penniless..... it reminds me of kamal hassan in Pushpaka Viman!!! My south indian members would remember this classic thought your circumstances were different.

Did you feel that way (and please be frank)?

Subs

Note from the Team-BHP Support Team : Please use the "edit" button if posting within 20 minutes of the first post, instead of creating another back-to-back post.

Khoj saar. Peace. Look at Subs signature as well. Guess his comment wasn't directed that way.
On hindsight, I did come across a Hindi movie thread and a regional movie thread. Many members asked for a separate Tamil/ Mallu movie thread or something like that. But I wondered, why not have just one Indian movie thread?

So there's always been some reason or other for having terminologies like North /East /West /South etc. But don't thing subs meant that way. Let peace prevail please.

@subs. More than the statement you came with, please do have refrain from Back to back posts sir. Mods look down upon back to back posts which add no value to the forum and yours truly MX6 got an infraction for the same.

@deky. I'm not eager to hear about you getting arrested in spain or even worse mexico. I'm more eager to hear about what led to your detention and how you managed to be free. I was once asked to deboard from a bus in Amsterdam (eurolines) and was threatened with an arrest too! My passport was asked for and they wanted to ensure that I didn't load drugs in the bus :D
It's not a pleasant feeling and I was damn irritated and came back heavily on the authority! They apologised to me. That might unfold in another travelogue too!

Hey deky, excellent narration there mate! Here are my 5*. We are eagerly waiting for the 'arrested in spain' saga to unfold. I know you might not have many snaps but in case you do can you post some of the high seas?

Edit: didnt want to reply but couldnt help agreeing with MS. Khoj, easy buddy. I dont think subs intended to say that in a regional-istic sense. Not many are aware that Pushpak was released in different languages (actually language usage was minimal but yes it was there).

Voted 5 stars for this excellent read. T-BHP is blessed with some great writing skills apart from the engine vingine gyaan. Good going deky!

Am actually surprised how your agent issued a wrong Visa and allowed you to travel. UK was strictly not planning to join EU back then and I guess its the same stand even now.

Hooked on through this thread. It's really fun to read such threads where people have gone though some very unique adventures.

Woah! You seem to have gone through so many adventures. Please do pen it down (or rather type it) as soon as possible :)

Thank you for all the stars and thank you for all the comments. Next episode coming up soon.

Hi, I think there are 2 parts to your question. I think the first part where you have said tough times, praying, thinking of near and dear ones etc etc relates to the ship sinking episode. Do you want to know if I prayed and all during that time? Well I dont think I did, because initially I never thought the ship will sink and in later stages the ship sank so fast that I didnt have any time to do any thinking as that time the priority was to abandon the ship as quickly as possible. Yes, I did thank The Almighty later for saving my life and since them I have been thanking him every night before going to sleep.

The second part where you compare my situation with Kamal Hasan's in the movie Pushpak, well I think they were two different cirumstances. Infact the movie that reminds me most of my situation is "Terminal" starring Tom Hanks.
And BTW I loved Pushpak movie. I still make a point to watch it when it comes on the tele. Its hilarious.

Lol.. cant help but laugh. We were almost in a similar situation. Stay tuned for more. And once again, please pen down all this. Apart from these being a great read, you never know when your memory fails you.

Thank You. And I am sorry I do not have any snaps of the incidents I am narrating here. But yeah later when I finish narrating, if you guys are interested I can post some videos.

Thanks for the rating. Yeah I agree, and even if he messed up the crew purser should have checked.

Thanks

Hey Deky, Great narration. Waiting for more stories now!

I have traveled to several countries and had my doubts and tensions, but nothing like yours.

Had to wait in Moscow Domodedovo airport immigration for few hours even after having a Visa stamped from the Russian Embassy. Luckily I had the company phone and could communicate my situation with my host and my office rep. For all my questions, there was only one answer from the immigration guys - "Please wait". As I was traveling on a tourist visa, I had to show them my credit cards, foreign exchange and hotel booking to let me through.

Part 1

Finishing your contract and going home on leave is always a big event on a ship. Depending upon the length of your contract, one can spend from 3 months to 10 months at a stretch working on the vessel. And unlike the Deck side, in the hotel side of the cruise liner there are no shift timings. One starts working in the morning and continues to work till late in the night everyday and that too without any weekly offs. Obviously one does get shore leave to visit the various places, do some site seeing, do shopping, eat out etc etc. But still working and living in the closed environment of the ship plus doing the same job daily over and over again each hour every day can get a bit monotonous and frustrating. Hence holidays are always a happy moment and one starts to prepare for them weeks in advance.

It was the same for me. I had completed my contract of 6 months and was all set for my holiday. All my bags were packed, small gifts and souvenirs for family and friends were nicely packed and I was headed to the airport in Menorca (Spain). Menorca is part of the Spanish Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. Not many tourists come here as they prefer staying over at Menorca’s bigger cousin Mallorca for the beaches and also prefer going to Ibiza for the party atmosphere. Only those who are on cruises come here, as the sail through the port of Menorca is breath taking.

I had settled myself in the plane was waiting eagerly to take off. I was supposed to switch flights at Heathrow, London for India hence this would have been a short flight. The flight was more or less empty and they were waiting for some last minute check-ins to board the plane. That’s when I heard them announce my name on the planes PA system, first in Spanish and then In English. The announcement requested me to proceed to the planes entry gate. I did so and there I was greeted by a few smartly dressed police officers. After checking my passport they signaled me to follow them down the ladder off the plane. By now I was already confused as to what was happening. And to make the matters worst the cops did not speak a word of English and I could not understand what the hell they were talking amongst themselves as I did not know a word of Spanish. I had no choice but to follow them down.

Once on the tarmac I started to follow one of the police officers who was leading the way and there was another one behind me. The one behind me quietly held my hand and without any indication slid on handcuffs on them. This is when I really panicked. The 9/11 incident was fresh on everyone’s mind and no airport in the world was taking any chances. I was thinking that they might have mistaken me for a terrorist and now they were frisking me away for questioning or something.

With my hand cuffed they led me into a room where I was joined by 4-5 other police officers. I could see my big Samsonite suitcase right in front of me on the table. So now they had offloaded my luggage too, this could be getting bad I thought. The only good thing about the whole situation was that all the 6-7 cops in the room were pretty collected, relaxed and sedate, no one seem to speak to anyone in a very concerned voice, in fact they were all poised and calm. This calmness in the air also helped me relax a bit.

I was thoroughly searched from head to toe in the room. Various test swabs were taken from all parts of my body including my clothes and shoes most probably to check for remains of explosives. Then they hand gestured me asking if the suitcase there belonged to me and I answered in the affirmative.

After that, what they showed me on the computer monitor, seeing that my jaw dropped. They had just showed me what an X-Ray image, which most probably was an image of my luggage.

I cursed my self, how could I ever have forgotten that I had that in my luggage. This obviously stood out like a sore thumb in the X-ray!!!

What? A toy gun?

Huh? Sometimes, the 20 character rule can get very pesky.

More More More.... :D

On a serious note: OMG what the hell was that? I was in Spain just last month and I can relate to what you mean by the police officers there. The guy who checked my visa when I was exiting the plane just took two seconds and didn't even open my passport properly and then said 'have a nice trip' and went off.
So yeah the police there is obviously more friendly than what we are used to in our country.

Hope that everything was ok in the end for you!

Excellent narration and some spine tingling incidents to speak of Deky. Glued to your thread and rated it 5 star. Wish there were more stars though.clap:

What did you have in your suitcase? Your service revolver or a knife with a blade longer than 4 inches or some steriod or some hazardous toy?