Holiday period is over. Two weeks seem to be like just two days when I go on holidays and especially when I am with my wife and  son. Today, I am feeling more sad for Jaya as both Babai and I left yesterday. My flight for Delhi was in the afternoon and Babai started his journey in the evening.

I reached New Delhi in the evening. After Holi colours and lots of traveling, I was feeling tired and went for massage at the Hotel Radission, soon after check in. Had an hour-long Balinese massage followed by steam bath and showers. The massage was very nice and relaxing. I was feeling much better and relaxed.

After refreshing massage and evening prayers, I headed for Savannah Bar. I wanted to cool me down and opted for beer. Gulped down two bottles of beer along with light and hot snacks. The ambiance of the Savannah Bar was nice. Also called my friends in Delhi to bid them Good Bye. As I will be travelling early morning, so I went for a light dinner, in fact, I only took Chicken Caesar salad. After the dinner, I went for a couple of hour sleep.

Got ready and then I checked out of the hotel at 2am for the airport as the flight was scheduled at 4.20am. As I checked in, I found that the flight is delayed. However, there was no prior information of the delay from Etihad airlines. Anyway, I went to the ITC Sheraton lounge and relaxed there. The flight was rescheduled at 6am as per the notice board. So, around 5.30am went towards the gate, as the notice board displayed that the gate is open. However found that Etihad has made arrangements for some light refreshments due to delay. There was a queue for that. I was in no mood for any such things so early in the morning. I was feeling very sleepy. My night was spoiled. Then took a tetra pack of juice as the Duty Manager insisted that I take something.

Ultimately, we boarded the flight and it took off at 6.40am! I sat on my seat, took a glass of fresh lemon with mint and then just slept. I got up around 9am and asked for a coffee. I was chatting with the crew for sometime. They informed me the reason for the delay. The original flight started from the airport and when it was taxing to the runway for take off, the pilot discovered some snag in the system. So, he returned back. The ground engineer declared it unfit for flight at that moment. Etihad then arranged a new plane. It put into the service a different plane with a new set of crews. The crews were scheduled for the Abu Dhabi-Karachi flight. These all caused the delay. Thank God that the pilot discovered the snag before the take off otherwise it could have been a major accident.

The delay caused a very small time gap for Baghdad flight. Our flight reached just 40 minutes before the Baghdad flight. So, I had to miss my breakfast at the airport and ran for the Baghdad flight. I was worried for my suitcase. I asked the flight attendant to get it confirmed by the ground staff that it has been loaded. He later on affirmed it. It was nice that I could catch the flight and on return, found my suitcase at Baghdad airport. Thank God!