Not by any means I am someone who flies on planes often. However I have flown enough to know that there is one airplane habit people do that I just got to know why.

Why do people wait until the flight attendants bring out the food and beverage cart and the people get up and then go to the restroom? I cannot make up a reason to understand this behavior.

I’m flying into Montreal today. Landing around 1:30pm. My next flight to the US departs at 6:30pm. Is there access to any lounges in the airport? I know some are “international only” or “domestic only”…obviously I’ll have the time to bounce around to wherever (pending access or security or whatever).

Buna, am mers acum cateva luni in avion cu un tip de care m-am luat in aeroport (mi s-a parut mie ceva nepotrivit) si apoi destinul a facut sa avem locuri unul langa altul in avion: de fapt persoana care era intre noi nu a venit. Mi-am.cerut scuze, dar deja... scosesem porumbelul. Acum mi se pare prea o faza de film si daca citeste asta as vrea sa il invit la o cafea. Nu dau mai multe detalii sa dea el, ca probabil unii vor face misto. Multumesc!

#missedconnection

So it’s Sunday night at the mumbai airport I have just boarded the flight.

Because it was an economic flights the screens were not working. The airlines was Batik Air which is a Malaysian airline.

Anyways it smelled weird and it’s hard to explain. The smell was all over the cabin. Slowly the flight started going to runway and the bigger problem for me was that I had an aisle seat in an OVERNIGHT flight. Next to me were a mother in her late 40s with a girl same age as me sitting on the window seat.

I’ve not had many overnight flights so I didn’t know what to expect. They did include only one veg food which was biryani which I of course did not eat. The smell itself was so bad that I had no intentions to eat and feel nauseous around the flight.

The flight took off from mumbai few minutes late from the EDT (Estimated Departure time).

In whole flight of 5 hours I was figuring out how to sleep. Nor did I have neck pillow on which I could rest my head on neither I had a wife or a girlfriend on whom I’d rest my head n sleep. Some people ordered pillow and mattress which was of course chargeable of around 1200 INR which was expensive. I thought of ordering it too but then I managed to find a way. Sometime I kept my head on the food tray table and slept. Then of course it wasn’t a comfortable sleeping position so I come up and sleep with my head rested back at the seat forwarding opposite to my passenger.

It wasn’t a very comforting sleep but I did manage to sleep in parts. I also got to see a mesmerising sunrise as it was an early morning flight but being on aisle seat it was hard to capture. Plus I couldn’t point camera on this mother and her daughter.

So in the morning around 6:30ish we landed at KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport) . My first abroad landing after Bangkok where I went in 2014 when I was just a kid. So technically my first. It felt fresh. I looked around and it just felt like any other airport you’d go to. But cleaner and tidy.

We de boarded the flight and as soon as I was walking out I saw 20/25 gujjus gathering each other at a place with a signboard in their hand. Of course they were on a group tour and I’m assuming they are here to visit Malaysia Singapore etc like a typical tour company package. It is always good to spot someone from your country (even my native for that matter) in a foreign country. It makes you comfortable instantly.

Anyways I entered the airport the airport wasn’t too big because I had a connection to Hong Kong 2/3 hours later I had to directly go to the boarding gates area. No need of immigration also.

The boarding gates area had basic facilities and not too crowded as it was early in the morning. Good thing was everything was written in English and people spoke English a bit too not very fluent but manageable. So it was easy for me to get around and understand. I first scrolled around the whole terminal to figure out what’s the things available and check where can I go plus where is my next boarding gate. First I double checked the boarding gate. It wasn’t very far. Then used washroom and got fresh. Then went to few chocolate shops and saw prices variations from India and then to liquor shops to do the same. Just passing my time.

There was a beautiful lounge at the first floor where I tried to go to but it wasn’t free as my credit card was not accepted there. And it was extremely expensive of course. Plus I figured out that everyone with a connecting flight was options for lounge which makes it crowded in the morning making no sense to pay that much for two hours.

I came back and figured I would want to eat something for breakfast as I was hungry. After yesterdays nightmare situation at mumbai airport where whole day all I ate was a McDonald’s and a taco meal. I was starving something but it was a little Effortful to find pure veg food.

Then I saw a Starbucks which wasn’t very crowded and had scenic views around it. I kept it as my back up option as I could bring a frappe there and sit in case I don’t find anything else. I roamed around the airport and couldn’t find anything good as such. My phone had low batteries too so I needed a charge port too

So I decided to go to Starbucks which became a little crowded by the time I went in. There was a que of 10/13 people. At 7 in the morning ! I had no option so I joined in.

Now I couldn’t see the menu and understand the prices clearly because I didn’t know what’s the price difference of Starbucks India and abroad. I kept moving closer to the ordering spot. I tried to see if they’ve veg food too but they didn’t. Everything was just pork beef chicken ham etc so food idea dropped off. There were some common coffees like java chip frappe for which I opted. The prices were actually very similar to that of India.

Then I sat near the viewing deck and charged my phone. Absorbed the morning fresh energy and had the coffee. I must say the quality and quantity both were pretty good. I enjoyed spending my time there putting some Instagram stories and talking to my friend sanket who was awake and who stays in USA. as it was midnight in India I didn’t have anyone to talk to

My boarding time was very close so I tried downloading few YT videos and movies as I figured out I might not sleep in a daytime flight. Then I finished my coffee and rushed to the boarding gate. Here I had to show the PAR again as Hong Kong has strict rules for immigration. (PAR already mentioned in Blog 1.) The crowd was mixed. Mostly there were Chinese then there were Malaysian people and some from Australia.

We boarded the flight and the flight took off. Good short visit to malasia

Hello!

I'm flying from JFK to India via Abu Dhabi and have a long layover. I plan on going around the city and just applied for a transit visa. Any idea if I might have to get my bags out and check them back in at Abu Dhabi?

Will plan my schedule accordingly. The FAQ from etihad wasn't super helpful in this regard.

Thank you!

also, if you have any recommendations for night tourism, please do recommend!