[First part of the series of posts to follow.]
‘Planning every step of life will only make you
become completely lost.’ Khan.
I’ve a huge craving to travel. I always want to
be travelling, meeting new people, seeing new places, experiencing the
adrenaline of being lost and the joy of finding yourself. There was another big
feather that added to my journeys in 2012 was my first international trip, as
titled by my friends, my ‘Eurotrip’ ;)
My research paper got selected in the European
Satellite Telecommunications (ESTEL) Conference in Rome, Italy. It was the
second time of having an opportunity to get myself out there and meet my
dreams. This time I had enough experience how to deal with my college and get
the permission to get to the conference. Also, by God’s grace the invitation
came almost 6 months before the conference date and I had enough time in my
hands to plan everything. There was a lot to plan out, the travel dates, and
the places to visit, the college exams, finances, visa process, travel plans
and so many minute details. I have a habit of planning every detail of my
travel when I know from my experiences that it will never happen the way I have
planned. It has been good so far with no bad experiences and under God’s care
and the blessings and prayers of family and friends I know it never will go
wrong!
The big deal of the trip was returning back and
appearing for my semester exams in just 2 days time! Thankfully, the college
had made arrangements for my practical exams to be handled after I return.
*blessing* The entire staff was highly supportive. Things were tough from day
one, managing finances was tough and the biggest hurdle was the visa process! I
got my visa approved 12 hours before my flight departure and I just can’t explain
the nervousness as the embassy had rejected the visa twice in a period of 4
days. I was SCARED. The two days before the journey, I had to be in Mumbai for
the procedure and thanks to Mehul, who was highly supportive in the entire
process.
This needs to be mentioned. The kind of help
Mehul provided was simply beyond words. This
night, the last day of registration of the conference, I had to transfer €350 (28,000 INR) to be registered for the event, after which I would
have incurred €150 additional late fee. I was
online for 6 hours trying to do the payment and nothing worked! 3-4 cards, 2
bank accounts, all failed to transfer to the PayPal account of the organization.
I was hopeless and then I pinged Mehul on Facebook chat in desperation asking
for help. Without another word, he went ahead and voila! The payment was
successful! I still cannot thank him enough! Just not that, he helped in the
visa process, gave me a shelter before I left and also was there at 0100hrs to
see me off at the airport with Gaurav sir. This guy is the man behind the world’s
largest Batman community, Official Dark Knight Rises Community on Facebook.
Getting back, I was at the VFS collection center
to get my passport at 1400hrs on 27th September, and my flight was
15 hours later. Thinking of all possibilities, I waited there for a couple of
hours and was handed the package around 1600hrs. Even my visa agent was
surprised to see that I had been approved the visa within 24hours! I was filled
with joy! I sat on the marble seat just outside the center, overwhelmed,
calling all the people who were waiting to know the status. I was a huge
moment! The last hurdle was cleared. I was going to board that plane to the
city of love, Paris!
Next post - Coming Soon!
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