My journey from Dubai to India

So I was on my way to India.
Firstly I had to get my self checked in but was told by the very beautiful and elegant Emirates employee that the flight was full and I would have to make my way to another part of the airport, another check in desk and they would check me in there and with a turn of her head and a swish of her white face veil she shouted out "anybody for Cairo, Cairo anybody for Cairo" i took it that our conversation was over.
Now a few years ago ago i would have panicked at that little bit of information, I would have worried about by connecting flight to Goa but to be honest I was calm and just thought, oh well, what will be will be I am just going to except my destiny which is far easier than screaming at the Emirates lady and foaming at the mouth. i took myself and my back pack across the concourse to another beautiful and elegant Emirates employee and explained that i was told to come here to be checked in for the flight to Mumbai.
"The flight is very busy" she said you will have to wait for a little while stand there" so I did, I mean when you are in an airport in a foreign country and someone tells you to stand somewhere you do it. If they tell you to stand on your head with your head in a saucepan you bloody well do it (i did exactly that in Dubai in my friends apartment for a laugh a few nights previous, ha ha ).

Eventually after waiting for 20 minutes or so I was checked in, the lady who finally checked me in was from India she was from Mumbai she told me. She was in her late forties i would say and had a beautiful smile and twinkly brown eyes but I could tell if you got in her way she would flatten you. she was so interesting to watch, i watched while I waited as she dealt with maybe 4 passengers at once. she was talking in English one minute and the Arabic and then Hindi to girl next to her who was also from India.
She asked me how long I was planning to stay in India, I explained that I was going to be there for 6 months, she was very surprised her twinkly brown eyes almost popped out on to her key board. "are you going alone for 6 months" I told her yeas i was that I was going to travel around India, visit amazing temples, learn some Hindi, trek in the Himalayas and do yoga and get closer to God. She laughed but not a nasty laugh she said she would love to come with me but she loved her job and could not leave it, "who else will keep the check in routines, routine if I go off to India for 6 months" she said. She was the supervisor and she was bloody good at her job.
She told me to visit Agra and the Taj Mahal and the holy city of Varannassi, which were both on my list. She said she admired me for going alone which brought tears to my eyes I almost hugged her but I thought Jacqueline get a grip of yourself just in time.
she checked me in and wished me luck and I was on my way, I looked back at her and she was up on her feet screaming at the crowd of people that had sat down on the plastic chairs across from the check in desks, "Cairo Cairo anyone for Cairo".
I went up the escalator and smiled to myself, she was my lucky charm that day my "luck in the morning" as the Indians say, I knew everything was going to be good and I was on my way to Mother India.

Hi Everybody

I have never written a blogg before but my dear friend Emma made me promise before I left the warmth of her loving arms in Dubai that I would write one so here I go.

As you all know coming to India has always been a dream of mine. I have wanted to see India and be part of this incredible culture for as long as I can remember. I have done my fair share of traveling over the years as you know and I suppose in my heart I was saving the best until last.
Don't get me wrong I don't intend to hang up my traveling flip flops just yet but there is no where else really I have a burning desire to see. India for me is the big one, the grand finale the trip and adventure of a lifetime.

On route to India I decided to visit my dear friend Emma in Dubai. Emma has been living there for 4 years and has made my ears bleed for 4 years because I have not visited her.
So on the 21st of Jan 2012 I waited patiently at Dubai international airport for the blonde bombshell to arrive, twenty minutes late and stinking of last night she turned up in her convertible.
Before arriving in Dubai I did warn Emma that I was not taking Jacquelina with me. Jacquelina is the crazy half of me, the one that drinks too much, dances on bars and gets me into trouble. I told Emma that i was on a spiritual journey and i was focusing on Celibacy, Sobriety and Reflexology and planning to be an all round boring fart. It did not last.

Emma and myself go back years and so we went a bit mad and drank 2 bottles of chardonnay on her balcony within 30 minutes of us walking through the door, so yes Jaquelina was out and there was an audience, Emma's friends were there and flat mate Corrine so jacquelina was dancing on the tables and swinging from the chandeliers and making a general tit of herself in front of everyone.

Apart from that day we only drank on one more occasion and that to ended with me wrapped around a palm tree in downtown Dubai, swinging around the railings outside Emma's apartment and sticking myself head down in an urn (im sure you all enjoyed that photo on face book), so after that second time of drinking and waking in the morning to a deep depression I sat with Emma and put my cards on the table and explained that Jacquelina was going back in her box and the key would be turned and then thrown with almighty force into the Arabian sea.
I have known for some time that i need to leave alcohol were it is, in the bottle. It never used to effect me the way it does now, I used to be really cool and never would allow my self to be stumbling around flashing my bits, I don't know when it happened or how but every time I drink something terrible happens, or i offend someone or flirt with someone i shouldn't or just loose something or break something. one of my dear Krishna devotee friends once said to me "Jacqueline the thing with alcohol and drugs is that it always starts sweet but ends bitter" and that is exactly right, it always ends bitter and with me depressed and ashamed and sad and i just don't want to do it anymore
After that we still had loads of fun but were not arrested so i was pleased about that.
We visited the Burj al Arab the only seven star hotel in the world, we were escorted into the hotel by a millionaire Arab client of Emma's (no she is not a prostitute she deals in real estate or something to do with property). I was blown away by Dubai i could not make my mind up if i was delighted by it or disgusted by it.
I was amazed by the buildings and grandeur and how clean it was but I felt angry that so many people lived in such wealth and comfort while so may people in India and other parts of the world lived in slums, hungry and without much food or comfort. I did enjoy my time there though and i lapped up the luxury of Emma's gorgeous apartment with hot showers and king sized bed, I knew in India on my backpackers budget my life style was about to dramatically change

We got up and did aerobics on the beach and lay in the sun and went for nice meals and even though I was sober i still had a great laugh. I guess that is when you know you are with a great friend, in great company because you can laugh your socks off sober.
I worry that if I don't drink I will be boring and people wont want to be around me anymore but we had some great laughs some belly grabbing laughs and i still managed to talk loads and loads of balderdash even though I was sober.

Leaving Emma was sad, we have been friends for a long time, partied together and i mean 3 day benders were the whole world is going about their business and you are sat on the floor in some ones lounge at 11am with the curtains closed with your sunglasses on, yeah you know the one!!
cried together, laughed together oh yes our friendship had stood the test of time and the test of my craziness and i knew that was tough for anyone to endure
I was glad i was leaving Dubai sober and calm and ready for India. we had planned to do brunch on Friday the day before I left for India but we called it off because it is a day of drinking and eating as much as you can and we both knew we would end up in the back end of the beyond wrapped up in someones headscarf and I would be boarding my flight, tripping over with my back pack and having a whitey so it was a relief to be happy and calm and excited about India.

So with tears in our eyes we hugged and said our goodbyes and then I was there, alone in the airport with my back pack about to begin what I really believe will be the journey of my life

From The Bro

This is a Blog for Jacqueline Quinn as she travels around India and other parts of the world.