I personally find January to be a difficult month,

because usually, winter has long since worn out its welcome. At this point, I just want it to be over already. But I know that winter has not yet released Canada from its icy grip, so I start dreaming of going on a vacation somewhere tropical.

It is my opinion that the more I travel, the higher the odds are that at some point I will miss a connection (or two). I think it is just a matter of percentages. I believe this to be true for all travellers. When I travel internationally, I most commonly travel by air. As such, most of the times that I have nearly missed or missed a connection, it has in some way been related to a jet or an airplane.
This is going to be another post containing a few shorter stories following a common theme.

Sometimes those missed connections are weather-related, this is especially true for me because my home airport is in a cold climate where the planes easily ice up in winter. De-icing those planes takes more time, which sometimes causes cascading delays that affect other legs of the journey. Other times those delays may be the traveller’s fault entirely, or it could be something else that nobody could have foreseen. As frustrating as it is in the moment, once it’s behind us, it makes for a memorable story!

Here’s a collection of my nearly missed and missed connection stories so far.

 

 

 

Here is my first story,

which also happens to be my oldest one. Many years ago, way back when I was in my late teens and early twenties, my Father and I were friends with a pilot by the name of Dave. Every chance we got, we would join him flying in his airplane. He had a little 4-place Cessna 177RG Cardinal, the “RG” stands for “Retractable Gear.” Throughout the summer months of the year, flying clubs from different towns would host fly-in breakfasts. The joke amongst pilots was that these were the “$100 pilot’s breakfasts” – $95 for the fuel to fly there and $5 for the pancakes. Over the course of a few years, we flew to multiple breakfasts in British Columbia, our Westerly neighbouring province. But flying there meant flying over the Rocky Mountains, and that could only be done if the weather was favorable. Dave was only permitted to fly VFR, so we had to plan our trips carefully.
There are two types of regulations under which a pilot can operate an aircraft, “VFR” and “IFR.” Those stand for “Visual Flight Rules” and “Instrument Flight Rules.” In short, if the pilot is flying VFR, then he must be able to look out the window and navigate by sight. And he must stay a certain distance away from cloud formations. For a more in-depth explanation, check out this Wikipedia article. [Link to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_flight_rules]
I can remember one trip when we had to turn around and return home, because the weather had deteriorated such that there was just no way to visually fly farther onward.

 

 

Dave was an excellent pilot, and he always flew very safely. Unlike the big commercial jets that fly high above the mountains at 30,000 feet or higher, Dave flew much closer to the mountains. I loved that freedom he had. Sometimes if there were no clouds at all, he even flew a little lower in the valleys, navigating around peaks that were higher than we were flying. When he skillfully flew by those peaks, Dave made me feel like I could reach out and touch some of them! That feeling returns when I look at the pictures I took in those moments.
And when there were clouds obscuring the mountains from view, then Dave flew high enough to safely fly over all the peaks. On a couple of occasions, I saw and was able to photograph a glory. They are always so cool to see.

 

 

A “Glory” is a unique optical phenomenon, which occurs when sunlight interacts with tiny water droplets in clouds. Interesting fact: glories are different than rainbows. Click here to learn more about glories.

One of the breakfasts we flew to sticks in my mind, because the flight didn’t quite go as planned.
I am unsure what year it was, but the breakfast was in Kamloops, BC, about 1080 kilometers round-trip flight. I guess I had drank too much juice at breakfast, because on the way back I needed to use a bathroom very, very urgently. There was just no way that I would be able to hold it until we landed back at home, so Dave was forced to make an unscheduled landing at the closest airport. This happened to be at the town of Rocky Mountain House, AB. It was almost fully overcast as we came in for a landing. Once we had landed the weather further deteriorated and the clouds blew over completely. Before we were ready to take off again, it began to rain. And it kept raining and raining, for hours; it just did not let up. Because Dave needed to fly up into a clear sky, or at least just a partially cloudy sky, we were trapped there. At this time, some small airports had a courtesy car that was operated by the local flying club. It was meant to be a loaner that visiting pilots could use for a short duration to conduct business or get a meal in town. Fortunately, this flying club did have one. As the day wore on, we realized that we would not be able to fly back home. So we contacted the flying club and made arrangements to borrow their courtesy car for a longer period of time. After parking and securing the plane, we began driving home. Getting there took us about an hour and three quarters. Later that week, Dave drove the car back and flew his plane home. This was almost 20 years ago, and Dave has since stopped flying. But thank you, Dave, for all the great memories and fun flying!
I have classified this one as “Missed”.

 

 

 

Next, I am taking you to Europe.

In September of 2009, I travelled around Western Europe for just shy of a month with my friends Lance and Nick. In that short time, we visited 11 countries! To read more about that adventure, check out this post (link to come in the future, after it’s posted).

 

 

When we were in Italy, we chose to make Florence our base for a few nights while we travelled to see some nearby tourist attractions. This was partially because we found that the hotels were less expensive there. Additionally, we had rail passes so it was inexpensive and easy to ride the train to other cities. After visiting Pisa and Rome, we planned to depart for France the next morning. That particular train only ran once per day, so it was imperative that we were on it.
After doing a final sweep of the room to make sure we did not forget anything, we all donned our backpacks and began walking to the train station. When we were nearly there, Lance suddenly realized that he still had the key in his pocket. This was a huge problem, because the front desk had taken Lance’s Passport as a deposit for the key. We knew that this delay would leave us with very little extra time, because the trains ran on schedule and were rarely delayed. So Lance left his backpack with us and ran back to the hotel. I volunteered to carry his backpack in addition to mine, so I was heavily laden and walked slower. Nick kept pace with me, and we got to our platform before the train did. Then we sat and waited. Shortly after we arrived, our train pulled into the station and the doors opened. Nick and I intentionally waited on the platform and not inside the train, because if Lance did not show up in time, we did not want to be separated. Nick and I could do little else except anxiously wait near the open train doors and watch the time. When we saw Lance come running up the stairs to our platform, we hurriedly waved him over to us. Huffing and puffing, he breathlessly told us that he had run to the hotel and then all the way back to the train station. We each grabbed our bags and hastily stepped onto the train. No sooner had we boarded, then the doors closed just behind us with a whoosh, and we departed the station. We had made it, albeit barely!
I have classified this one as “Nearly Missed”.

 

 

 

While on our European trip,

we were pretty successful at seeing most of the things that we all wanted to see.
But near the end, while we were in central Germany, we realized that we had more things on our list to see than we had time remaining. So we decided to split up for a few days and cover more ground, but we agreed where and when we would meet up again.
None of us had unlocked cell phones or European phone plans, we only communicated via email. To complicate matters, we only had access to our emails when we went into an internet cafe and bought some time on one of their computers. This obviously caused delays in communication.
Throughout our trip, we mostly stayed in hostels. However, because we needed three beds, we found it was sometimes more economical to book a room in a hotel or “pension” (their term for a Bed & Breakfast).
Lance and Nick really wanted to go Northeast to Berlin and see Checkpoint Charlie, so they did. And I really wanted to go Northwest to spend some time in Holland, because I have some Dutch in my ancestry. So I booked an overnight train from Munich, then almost missed it. This was because Oktoberfest had started, so my connection to Munich was delayed due to drunks on the tracks. Fortunately, my overnight train was also delayed by some drunks, so I was able to catch it.
While riding the overnight train, I slept in the berth as we travelled to Amsterdam. After we arrived in the morning, I spent the day there. That evening, I travelled to Leiden, which was a beautiful city that was considerably smaller and quieter than Amsterdam.

 

 

Liking what I saw, I found a cozy pension in Leiden, and booked myself a room with a single bed. In doing so, I unknowingly got the last available room. I promptly emailed Lance and Nick to let them know that I was in Leiden, and that I planned to stay for a couple of nights. During the days, I explored the city and surrounding area on a bicycle that I had rented.
A day or two later, Nick and Lance got off the train in Leiden in the evening and had supper at a restaurant. Then they attempted to find a place to stay for the night. Their plan was to send me an email, and hopefully meet up with me the next day. They stopped at a few hostels, but were turned away because everyone was full. Then unbeknownst to both them and me, they came to the exact pension where I was staying, but were also turned away because there was no vacancy. Feeling like there was not much else they could do, Lance and Nick got back on the train. They ended up spending the night at an expensive hostel in Belgium. Once they arrived and found internet, they emailed me to let me know where they were, but they said nothing about having been to Leiden. A few days later, we met at our pre-arranged location, in Frankfurt, Germany. We had specifically chosen that place because our flight back home would depart from there. It was only once we started telling stories of our adventures, that I learned Nick and Lance had not only been in Leiden, but they had actually tried to stay for a night in the exact pension I was staying. Crazy!
I have classified this one as “Missed”.

 

 

In 2010, some friends were planning

a two-week family vacation at a timeshare in Florida, and they invited me to join them for the first week. I was immediately interested, as I had never been. My friends were planning to spend multiple days at Disney World, and I was welcome to join them for as many days as I desired. As I began looking up other things to do in the area, Cape Canaveral popped up on my radar. This excited me because I am a space geek.
As I was planning my visit to Kennedy Space Center, it quickly became apparent that the most economical way for me to get there was to purchase a ticket on a NASA tour bus that would pick me up very close to where I was staying. Because the bus had to drop passengers off at multiple stops, it planned to leave KSC before they closed.

Before allowing any of us to disembark from his bus, the driver informed us that we absolutely NEEDED to be back at the drop-off location by a specific time that afternoon. He warned us that because he had a schedule to keep, he would not wait for anyone. If we missed the bus, then we would be responsible for our own transportation back.

 

 

 

Knowing that my day would be shorter than if I was operating on my own schedule, I packed it as full as I could. I toured the Saturn V building and marvelled at that giant rocket, I rode the Space Shuttle ride simulator, I watched the IMAX 3D show about the International Space Station, and more.
My favorite part of that day was a tour that took me as close as a civilian could get to the Space Shuttle launch pads. In fact, the Shuttle Discovery was stacked and on the pad waiting to launch for mission STS-133. That is something that I will never get to see again. I really enjoyed that, and only wish I could have gotten closer to the Space Shuttle.

 

 

The one thing that I had not done that day yet was walk through the Rocket Garden. I wanted to take my time and read all the information about each of the rockets standing there.
As the specified meeting time neared, I thought that I was adequately keeping track of the time, but then I lost track of time. Suddenly, I looked down at my watch and realized that I only had one minute until the bus would depart, so I took off running. I ran through the rocket garden, and barely had the time to stop and take a couple of quick pictures. Then I kept running to the bus parking area. When I rounded the corner and saw my bus, it was already backing out of the stall. By the time I came running up, it was just starting to drive away, so I frantically waved my arms while chasing after it. A couple of the passengers got the driver’s attention, and he stopped to let me on.
Whew! Talk about cutting it close!
I sure was glad that my watch had the correct time, and I suppose you could say that I used every minute that the driver gave me. I hope to return to KSC one day, to see the Shuttle Atlantis that is on display there, and to walk through the Rocket Garden.
I have classified this one as “Nearly Missed”.

 

 

In 2011, I went to Mexico for my first

scuba diving trip with a couple of friends. To read my adventures on that trip, check out this post. Our trip started normally enough. As travellers are supposed to, we arrived at the airport with time to spare, and made it through security. We found our gate and waited. Once the plane arrived and was prepared for us, we boarded. After finding our seats and stowing our carry-on luggage, we sat down and buckled in. I had the window seat, so I glanced out to check out my view. I happily discovered that we were sitting in front of the wing, so I would be able to see down unobstructed during our flight. So far, so good. Soon we would escape the snow and set foot in tropical Mexico!

 

 

 

But then, we felt a bump that rocked the entire plane. I immediately looked out my window again in an attempt to see what had happened. I didn’t see anything that looked like it would have done that to our plane, but I did see something skittering across the tarmac and stop. As Mike and I watched, somebody in an orange vest walked up to this part and picked it up. He held it in his hand while inquisitively looking back at our plane, then a few moments later he gently set the part down exactly where he had found it. His co-worker brought over four orange cones, and they set them around the part. Then the chatter started in the plane, as people on both sides began letting others know what they were seeing on their side.
Moments later, the pilot came on the PA and addressed us. He calmly stated that there had been a change in plans and requested that we gather up all of our belongings. He informed us that we would not be returning to this airplane and asked us to return to the gate in an orderly fashion.
Once we were back in the airport, we saw that the pilot was on the phone for a little while. When he hung up, a bunch of us passengers expectantly crowded around him, seeking answers. The pilot explained that as the individual driving the luggage conveyer vehicle had approached the plane, he had stepped on the gas rather than the brake. This caused the vehicle to punch a human head-sized hole in the fuselage and to knock one of the antennas off the plane, which was the part that we had seen on the tarmac. The pilot told us that this plane was no longer airworthy, therefore, his head office was now working on a solution to get us all to Mexico. We later learned that the damage to that plane was estimated to cost about one million dollars to repair! Yikes!!
I don’t think I will ever forget this next part. As the pilot pulled a cigar out of his pocket and unwrapped it, he told us that he needed to call his head office back in about 15 minutes, which would give him enough time to go smoke his cigar. Then, he calmly walked out the nearest door and lit up. Looking back, that was pretty funny!
After his next phone call, the pilot informed us that head office was putting together another crew that would fly out of their home airport, Toronto. He informed us that we were free to wander the airport or leave, because it would be hours before we would be required to re-assemble at the gate.

 

 

My friends and I decided to stay at the airport, since we had gotten a ride there early that morning. We found the closest restaurant and settled in. Since there are only so many restaurants behind security in an airport, a few of the other passengers ended up at the same one. Time seemed to fly by as we watched the games on the tv and talked. Soon enough, we heard the call on the airport’s PA, and once again gathered at our gate. Finally, we boarded our new plane, nearly 8 hours after we had disembarked our original plane. Once we took off, our flight was uneventful. Instead of arriving in Mexico in the late morning, we arrived after the sun had set.
I have classified this one as “Missed”.

 

 

 

 

In 2013, I visited some friends

who were living in Singapore at the time. For more about that visit, check out this post (link to come in the future, after it’s posted). The first portion of my trip I visited China, then before coming home, I stopped to see my friends. Our visit was wonderful, and I also enjoyed exploring beautiful, tropical Singapore. My flight home included an almost six-hour layover in Hong Kong, which was in the same timezone as Singapore. Not having anywhere to store my luggage, I just stayed in the airport and read a book. After taking off for a long flight, we landed in Vancouver, British Columbia, for another layover. Because my watch only had room for two timezones that I could switch between, I had them set to my home and Singapore, where I had spent my vacation. But Vancouver’s timezone was one hour behind my home time. Looking back, I realize that it was very unwise to be somewhere and not have an accurate time on me. I thought that I could just do that math in my head any time I wanted to know the time, as I would only be there for a couple of hours. The gate for my flight home was quite far away from all the amenities, in a newly constructed part of the terminal. After waiting there for a while, I got hungry. So I wandered away to find some food. On the way back to my gate, I stepped into a store for what was supposed to be a quick glance around. But I got caught up reading a fishing magazine (pun intended!) At one point, I glanced at my watch and thought I had lots of time left to wait. Boy, was I wrong, and I ended up missing my connecting flight home! Once I realized the error of my time conversion, I rushed to my gate, but it was empty and the plane was long gone.
So, I walked to the airline desk to see what other flights were available. I first had to sort out where my luggage was. Usually, if a passenger misses their flight, the airline will remove their checked bag from the airplane before departing. It’s a safety thing. I was directed to the airline desk on the other side of security. There, I was informed that my luggage would arrive at my home airport before me, as it had not been removed from the plane. After once again going through security, I spoke with an airline agent about rebooking my flight. The agent jokingly asked if I had an excuse that she had not yet heard, because she thought she had heard them all. I didn’t give any excuses, but owned it and claimed full responsibility. She was kind enough not to charge me the $75 booking change fee, for which I was grateful.

 

 

It was then, while walking to my new gate, that I saw a very appropriate art installment. I found it ironic that at the very airport where I missed my flight, there was a statue that depicted just how I had felt in that moment! I believe that every traveller, at some time or another, has felt the way this guy looks.

My friend Mike had planned to pick me up from my home airport, so I had to call him and explain my situation. I was now scheduled to land at 1:30 am, which was quite early. I knew that he had to go to work the next morning, so I offered to let him off the hook and just take a cab. Mike would have none of it, and told me he would be there to pick me up. After landing, I was reunited with my luggage, then Mike brought me home.
Thank you, Mike, for your generosity!
I have classified this one as “Missed”.

 

 

In early 2015, I embarked on the biggest trip

of my life so far. In the year previous I had worked extra jobs and saved up. Just before leaving, I had quit my job and rented my place out. For I was Australia bound, with a working holiday visa in my pocket. The first leg of my flight was to Vancouver, where I spent a couple of days visiting family that I do not see often. Once in the airport and at my gate, I faced multiple delays. During this time, the airport was blanketed by a very heavy fog. Finally, after nearly five hours of delays, we took off. This was the only commercial flight I have been on where they did not do the usual pre-flight safety briefing, which I found quite odd! Also, the pilot did not address us passengers over the PA even once during our long flight. I found out that the reason for our delay was because a trainee was flying the jet to land in Vancouver this morning. However, he wasn’t comfortable landing in the very heavy fog, so he ended up landing in Seattle. Then once the fog had dissipated some, he had to fly the plane back to Vancouver to pick us up.

 

 

We were supposed to have a short layover in Guangzhou, China. But due to our massive delay, we unsurprisingly missed our connecting flight. Therefore, the airline put us in a hotel for that night, then put us on another flight to Sydney the next morning.
I have classified this one as “Missed”.

 

 

This following story is about an accommodations miss,

not a transportation one. The delay from Vancouver continued cascading throughout the rest of my journey. And that delay was increased because we had spent the night at our last layover. We landed in Sydney at 9:30 pm, so late that there were no more flights departing for Cairns (my final destination) that night. And because I was booked onto a different airline for that final leg of my journey, no accommodations were provided for me for the night. I was left to sort it out for myself. So I looked for an inexpensive hostel and found one. I took the train and walked to find it, only to find that frustratingly, it was closed. I learned something new that night, apparently not all hostels have 24-hour desks. So I took the train back to the airport and slept there in an airport chair. It was an uncomfortable and fitful sleep.
Four months later, I would find myself in Sydney again. And where I had travelled that night was familiar. I never did stay at that hostel, though.
I have classified this one as “Missed”.

 

 

The next morning,

I attempted to Skype my family using the free wifi in the airport. But it did not go so well, as the audio and video kept skipping and freezing. I tried multiple times, but never was able to have a conversation with them. Because I was fighting with Skype, I ended up missing the deadline to check in my bags by six minutes! The airline had a strict luggage cut off half an hour before their flights were scheduled to take off. Because the delay was my fault, I was forced to pay for the booking change fee, which was almost as much as that leg of the flight cost.
But when my new flight landed, then I had finally made it to my destination! I was in beautiful, hot, and sunny Cairns! As soon as I was checked into my hostel, I jumped into the pool. And that night I had an Emu burger for supper. What a start to my big adventure!
I have classified this one as “Missed”.

 

 

In Australia, I either spent my time

living and working at a hostel, saving money up for the next leg of my adventure; or I spent my time travelling, seeing, and doing as much as I could.
The easiest way to travel on the East Coast was via coach busses. This next leg of my travels only required me to ride the bus for almost three hours; then I was meant to be in the town of Byron Bay, where I had booked some activities. I was at the bus stop on time, but the bus was running late. Once it arrived, I boarded and enjoyed the relatively short travel day. Once the others and I disembarked at my destination, we found that there were a few of us booked to stay at the same hostel. We called that hostel to request their courtesy shuttle. They informed us that they only ran when the bus arrived, and since we were calling late, they would not come. We explained that our bus had been running late, but they would not budge. I had two suitcases plus a laptop backpack and a food bag. One suitcase contained all of my scuba diving equipment, and the other, my clothes. Trying to pull two wide suitcases behind me at the same time did not work well, so I used a spare belt to tie my two suitcases together like a train. Then the group of us began walking to our hostel, but we discovered that the sidewalk ended where the road got rough. A little further along the road turned to gravel. Dragging my luggage over broken pavement and rough gravel caused one of my suitcase’s wheels to break. That was unfortunate, because I had to drag that thing everywhere. It was even more frustrating because there were no good places to buy luggage in that town, or the next few towns.
It would be twenty days later, when I was in the big capital city of Sydney, that I was finally able to purchase a replacement suitcase.
I have classified this one as “Missed”.

 

 

I visited the island of Tasmania for ten days

in 2016. For eight of those days, I joined a van full of other travellers on a guided tour called “Ultimate 8.” We shared many adventures together as were taken to heaps of popular tourist spots all around Tasmania. For more about that part of my Australia trip, check out this post. (link to come in the future, after it’s posted).

 

 

Upon returning to the Hobart Airport for my flight back to the mainland, I breezed through security in ten minutes. A short time later, we boarded our plane and prepared to depart. But then we sat there, all buckled up and not going anywhere. Outside the windows, we could see a couple of men with a ladder near our plane and were informed that an engineer had found a “fault” that he was attempting to fix. I was quite content to wait on the ground until he had it all sorted out, after all, we could not fall out of the sky if we did not climb up into it. Almost an hour and a half later, the engineer still had not fixed the issue, and they were not sure how much longer he would take. So for our comfort, we were asked to deplane. Because we had walked out of the terminal when we boarded, we all had to go through security again when we walked back inside. Finally, after another hour of waiting, we were assured that the fault had been fixed. After boarding again, we took off and had an uneventful flight, landing safely in Brisbane. When it comes to mechanical and weather-related things, my favorite flights are the uneventful ones!
I have classified this one as “Nearly Missed”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My wife and I were invited to India for a wedding

where the celebrations lasted for three days, in February of 2019. Check out this post to read about our trip to India (link to come in the future, after it’s posted). Our flights were originally supposed to travel East from our home airport. But on the date of our departure, Eastern Canada was dealing with massive ice storms that were shutting airports down and wreaking havoc on many flights. Once we were at the airport, we were informed that our flight had been rescheduled to a much later time, so the gate agent found us an alternative flight. However, because I had redeemed points to book our flights, I had to call the airline directly to get them to switch our tickets. I called the airline, and the agent said he got it switched, but he accidentally did not. We were not allowed to board the flight that we were supposed to be booked on due to “ticketing issues”, so it left without us. Now I was a little concerned, because we had to get halfway around the world in time to attend this wedding, and I know how delays can cascade. Finally, on my 6th call to them, the last agent I spoke with came up with a creative solution that none of her coworkers had found. Rather than try to fly us East, she found us flights that flew West, therefore avoiding all the Eastern ice storms.
This caused something interesting to happen on this trip. I have noticed that most flights seem to be routed there and back. But because of our last-minute flight direction change, on this trip, we flew the same direction all the way around the world.
After I spoke with the gate agent and finally got everything worked out, I told her our story and how long we had been in the airport. Then her manager, who was standing nearby, gave us each $20 in food vouchers! That was great, because by that time we were hungry!
I have classified this one as “Missed”.

 

 

The last leg of our journey West

was from New Delhi to Mumbai. Because the New Delhi Airport was our entry point into India, we were required to go through the immigration line. When we made it through that line, we were let out in the public area. One of the first things we noticed about this airport was how smoggy the air was, which matched what we saw out the windows. Our boarding passes for this flight had not been printed for us yet, so we had to find that airline kiosk and get them printed. Finding them in the sprawling airport was a real challenge, mostly because there was very little spoken or written English. When we finally found the airline kiosk, we were faced with an even bigger conundrum. Security would not give us access to that area of the airport without us showing our boarding passes. But we needed the gate agent inside that area to print our boarding passes for us. Finally, I did something I rarely do while travelling, I gave them our Passports and allowed them to be taken out of my sight. Once they confirmed that we were booked on the next flight, then we were welcomed inside to come collect our documents. That was a big relief, especially after the adventure we had already gone through to get this far.
Knowing that we were short on time, we immediately went back through security. However, it was very busy; so by the time we got through, our connecting flight was just minutes from departing. Subsequently, we ran through the airport, our carry-ons in tow. The smog caused my wife to cough a lot and have difficulty breathing, especially while running and breathing hard. But we made it to our gate in time, and were the last two passengers to board that flight!
There is one other part to this story. In February of 2019, there was a conflict happening between India & Pakistan.
After arriving at our hotel in India, I received an email from the airline we flew when we departed Canada. It notified me that all flights to India had been suspended, due to the increasing conflict in the region. So we had flown in on the last flight into India, for which I am very grateful!
I have classified this one as “Nearly Missed”.

 

 

 

 

Near the end of our India trip,

my wife Myrina and I, along with Nita and her friend Nidhi, took a night train to the city of Agra. Once there, we visited the Taj Mahal and a few other notable places.
At the end of the day, we caught a train bound for Mathura Station. From there, we had a fast night train booked to get back to Mumbai. But we misread the signs and were waiting on the wrong platform. Around the time the train was supposed to arrive, but was not there; we inquired where it was. We were directed to the correct platform, but we had missed it by just two minutes. Ironically, most of the other trains running that evening were behind schedule. Just our train was on time. Because Myrina and I had our flights home booked out of Mumbai, we absolutely had to be there the next morning. So we made new plans. We took a train to the New Delhi train station, then an Uber to the New Delhi airport. Once there, we purchased tickets to Mumbai over the counter. After getting through security, and to our gate, I napped for a few hours. We then had an uneventful flight to Mumbai, landing in the morning.

 

 

Our flights home departed late in the evening, so we spent most of the day with my friend Nitin and his wife Richa. I had first met Nitin while we were both on a tour in the Australian Outback. Check out this post for that story. They showed us some of the top things to see in Mumbai, including the Gateway of India. To learn about its history, check out this Wikipedia article.
After watching the sun set over the Arabian Sea, we shared a delicious supper. Thank you, Nitin & Richa for your hospitality; you made our short stay in Mumbai so much better than if we had just remained in the airport all day!
I have classified this one as “Missed”.

 

 

I hope that you have enjoyed these stories,

and hopefully, you chuckled at how one or two of them unfolded. As much as we want to remember the best parts of our vacations, sometimes the best parts went so smoothly that they did not stick in our memories as well. It would seem that for some trips, we remember them more because of those moments when things did not go quite as planned. But that is part of the tapestry of life, we experience happiness because we also know sadness. Looking back, I am able to laugh at the predicaments I found myself in. I view it as experience gained and stories to tell!

 

Next month I will share how I visited my friends when they lived overseas. They actually lived in two different countries, on opposite sides of the world, so I visited them twice. I hope that you will join me!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Till next time, keep dreaming big!
» Jamie

 

“Never let your memories be greater than your dreams” – Douglas Ivester”