Had a tough time getting my VISA done but I was finally ready to embark on my first abroad journey to Barcelona. The day came June 26, 2005 and as luck would have it I was alone to travel that day as somehow the other three people from my project had there plans cancelled due to some reasons.
Anyway, I was too excited to think about it and got ready to go. I reached the airport full three hours earlier for a smooth immigrations check. After having my boarding pass I then proceeded to the immigration's check and "Bam" ... i was offloaded. I couldn't fly that day - Reason : the immigration officer had a doubt on the signature of the visa official on my passport and my passport was seized to be verified from the embassy.
The next two weeks were torture for me. I was at the immigration office everyday to collect my passport but with no luck. As I was travelling to attend a training in Barcelona my work was suffereing.
I was ready again to go on July 11, 2005 and this time my colleagues Jyoti and Benjamin were also accompanying me. I was a little anxiuos this time at the immigration but this time things went ahead smoothly. Before we could feel like conquerors Benjamin was stopped at customs for a random check. Finally everything got in place and we boarded our flight at 12:00 in the night. It was scheduled to take off at 12:20 in the morning but due to bad weather was delayed by around half an hour.
We were flying over Paris in the morning and I was expected a nice view of the city once we were a little lower in altitude. We started descending and I was excited about seeing Paris. We went into the clouds, I just couldn't wait for the plane to cross the clouds. After a long wait the clouds thinned out and suddenly I could see the airstrip of Charles de Gaul airport. I knew I had missed a glimpse of the Eiffel tower from the air.
Time was running short. We had a connecting flight to Barcelona in one hour and forty minutes. We rushed towards the immigration where this time it was Jyoti's turn to be stalled up a little but we were out of it quickly. We had another nice one hour and forty five minutes flight to Barcelona. The plane took a detour over the sea to enter Barcelona. It was an amazing view. I was trying to look for the F1 race track in Barcelona but was not able to locate it.
Stepped on foreign soil for the first time. It felt different. It was easier crossing the airport in this part of the world than in our our own land. Got into taxi and went straight to the hotel which was in Sant Cugat. Barcelona is like a lot of small clusters put together to form a city. Sant Cugat was one of them although a little far from the main city center, it is supposed to be one of the costliest areas in Barcelona. It was 11 in the morning when we reached the hotel. All through the route I was just oogling at cars, bikes, roads and the landscape. I was relieved to have made it this time out of the country.
As planned, we stacked up our luggage in our rooms, got fresh and assembled in the snack bar for a quick brunch. Then it was time for work. Went to GiGames office. We were introduced to the people there. We started on our training that very afternoon. After finishing the training for the day it was time to visit the casino.
Benjamin came to pick us up and all three of us went to the casino at Port Olympic. It was 7:30 pm when we reached the casino and it was still daylight. The sunset in Barcelona this time of the year is around 9:30 pm.
We went into the casino which was of an average size with two floors packed with slot machines, roulette tables etc. We started playing the slot machines which seemed like five year old machines. The games there were pretty bad which was reflected with us losing for quite a while. Finally we got to some better machine where Benjamin made for some of our losses. After playing for around two hours we went to the casino restaurant for dinner.
The next day our pickup was ready for us at 9:30 and after our breakfast we went straight to GiGames office for our training. That afternoon one of our teacher's Juan along with his friend Miguel took us to a nearby place for lunch. It was hard as the menu was in Spanish and they had to interpret it for us.
That evening Benjamin had to leave and we went together back to the hotel fom where he went to the airport. We went for a little stroll nearby before coming back for dinner in the hotel.
The third day after the the first half of the training we went along with Juan, Miguel and Neus to a very nice place for lunch. Neus and Miguel are from the art team in GiGames. I had a nice conversation with Miguel on gaming this time. In the evening it was time to visit the city. Miguel promised to meet us in the city center. We went with Juan for a detour to the olympic stadium.
It is an amazing city engulfed between two mountains. Later in the evening we met with Miguel and his girlfriend at the La Rambla. It is a famous street in Barcelona with a lot of tourist activity.
With the darkness approaching we went for some shelter in a pub. There I witnessed one of the best live performances in my life. A girl danced suspended to a cloth through a ring on the ceiling and she was balancing its both ends while moving with the music.
The bullfighting stadium under renovation
The communications tower
Enjoying history
Olympic Stadium
The world beyond Barcelona
The last day we finished our training, said "adios" to our friends in GiGames and came back to the hotel. I slept while Jyoti went for a swim in the hotel swimming pool. At 8:30 pm we decided to go to Port Olympic again to the beach. The beach was amazing. We kept strolling there till late in the night and then came back as we had to leave early the next morning to catch our return flight. While coming back the taxi driver lost his way. We finally made it to the hotel after around 20 minutes. I didnt sleep that night, kept watching movies and woke up Jyoti in the morning.
Port Olympic
The Beach
We went to the airport in the morning, took our boarding passes, went for security check and then got loaded on to the flight. We had a shorter window this time in Paris to change the flight. The flight got delayed a little bit. We reached Paris at 9:20 am which was the latest for checking in for the net flight. We ran for the emmigration check. After crossing it we ran for the bus to take us to the terminal for our flight. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 10:20 and it was 10:00 when we boarded the bus. We reached the terminal at 10:20. I thought we missed it but then an Air Fance executive directed us to the flight. Someone on the flight was not in his seat and was mistaken to be missing which delayed the flight and enabled us to make it to the flight.
We had successfully fulfilled the purpose of our visit along with enjoying our first trip abroad. I had a nice time. Suddenly all the pain I had to take for getting the VISA and then my seized passport was subsided.
Anyway, I was too excited to think about it and got ready to go. I reached the airport full three hours earlier for a smooth immigrations check. After having my boarding pass I then proceeded to the immigration's check and "Bam" ... i was offloaded. I couldn't fly that day - Reason : the immigration officer had a doubt on the signature of the visa official on my passport and my passport was seized to be verified from the embassy.
The next two weeks were torture for me. I was at the immigration office everyday to collect my passport but with no luck. As I was travelling to attend a training in Barcelona my work was suffereing.
I was ready again to go on July 11, 2005 and this time my colleagues Jyoti and Benjamin were also accompanying me. I was a little anxiuos this time at the immigration but this time things went ahead smoothly. Before we could feel like conquerors Benjamin was stopped at customs for a random check. Finally everything got in place and we boarded our flight at 12:00 in the night. It was scheduled to take off at 12:20 in the morning but due to bad weather was delayed by around half an hour.
We were flying over Paris in the morning and I was expected a nice view of the city once we were a little lower in altitude. We started descending and I was excited about seeing Paris. We went into the clouds, I just couldn't wait for the plane to cross the clouds. After a long wait the clouds thinned out and suddenly I could see the airstrip of Charles de Gaul airport. I knew I had missed a glimpse of the Eiffel tower from the air.
Time was running short. We had a connecting flight to Barcelona in one hour and forty minutes. We rushed towards the immigration where this time it was Jyoti's turn to be stalled up a little but we were out of it quickly. We had another nice one hour and forty five minutes flight to Barcelona. The plane took a detour over the sea to enter Barcelona. It was an amazing view. I was trying to look for the F1 race track in Barcelona but was not able to locate it.
Stepped on foreign soil for the first time. It felt different. It was easier crossing the airport in this part of the world than in our our own land. Got into taxi and went straight to the hotel which was in Sant Cugat. Barcelona is like a lot of small clusters put together to form a city. Sant Cugat was one of them although a little far from the main city center, it is supposed to be one of the costliest areas in Barcelona. It was 11 in the morning when we reached the hotel. All through the route I was just oogling at cars, bikes, roads and the landscape. I was relieved to have made it this time out of the country.
As planned, we stacked up our luggage in our rooms, got fresh and assembled in the snack bar for a quick brunch. Then it was time for work. Went to GiGames office. We were introduced to the people there. We started on our training that very afternoon. After finishing the training for the day it was time to visit the casino.
Benjamin came to pick us up and all three of us went to the casino at Port Olympic. It was 7:30 pm when we reached the casino and it was still daylight. The sunset in Barcelona this time of the year is around 9:30 pm.
We went into the casino which was of an average size with two floors packed with slot machines, roulette tables etc. We started playing the slot machines which seemed like five year old machines. The games there were pretty bad which was reflected with us losing for quite a while. Finally we got to some better machine where Benjamin made for some of our losses. After playing for around two hours we went to the casino restaurant for dinner.
The next day our pickup was ready for us at 9:30 and after our breakfast we went straight to GiGames office for our training. That afternoon one of our teacher's Juan along with his friend Miguel took us to a nearby place for lunch. It was hard as the menu was in Spanish and they had to interpret it for us.
That evening Benjamin had to leave and we went together back to the hotel fom where he went to the airport. We went for a little stroll nearby before coming back for dinner in the hotel.
The third day after the the first half of the training we went along with Juan, Miguel and Neus to a very nice place for lunch. Neus and Miguel are from the art team in GiGames. I had a nice conversation with Miguel on gaming this time. In the evening it was time to visit the city. Miguel promised to meet us in the city center. We went with Juan for a detour to the olympic stadium.
It is an amazing city engulfed between two mountains. Later in the evening we met with Miguel and his girlfriend at the La Rambla. It is a famous street in Barcelona with a lot of tourist activity.
With the darkness approaching we went for some shelter in a pub. There I witnessed one of the best live performances in my life. A girl danced suspended to a cloth through a ring on the ceiling and she was balancing its both ends while moving with the music.
The bullfighting stadium under renovation
The communications tower
Enjoying history
Olympic Stadium
The world beyond Barcelona
The last day we finished our training, said "adios" to our friends in GiGames and came back to the hotel. I slept while Jyoti went for a swim in the hotel swimming pool. At 8:30 pm we decided to go to Port Olympic again to the beach. The beach was amazing. We kept strolling there till late in the night and then came back as we had to leave early the next morning to catch our return flight. While coming back the taxi driver lost his way. We finally made it to the hotel after around 20 minutes. I didnt sleep that night, kept watching movies and woke up Jyoti in the morning.
Port Olympic
The Beach
We went to the airport in the morning, took our boarding passes, went for security check and then got loaded on to the flight. We had a shorter window this time in Paris to change the flight. The flight got delayed a little bit. We reached Paris at 9:20 am which was the latest for checking in for the net flight. We ran for the emmigration check. After crossing it we ran for the bus to take us to the terminal for our flight. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 10:20 and it was 10:00 when we boarded the bus. We reached the terminal at 10:20. I thought we missed it but then an Air Fance executive directed us to the flight. Someone on the flight was not in his seat and was mistaken to be missing which delayed the flight and enabled us to make it to the flight.
We had successfully fulfilled the purpose of our visit along with enjoying our first trip abroad. I had a nice time. Suddenly all the pain I had to take for getting the VISA and then my seized passport was subsided.
1 comment:
Hello asif bhai......dis is sagar....i hd a look at ur profile....its very intrestin....n keep up d gud wrk n.....keep updatin it....bye
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