The Long Journey Home

It was a really long journey home from Syria. I woke up as early as 6 AM and I left Jisr Al Shoghour at 7AM. I headed to Damascus and was at the airport by 12 NOON. The queue was not too long but somehow the management of the check-in counters was absolutely chaotic and disorganized. This of course I've learnt to be a trademark of Syrians. Anyway, immigration clearance was smooth and I entered the duty free zone. There is a pathetic restaurant which only serves cheese sandwich. I just grabbed that with a glass of orange juice. Thereafter, I walked around. Nothing much of interest. The flight was delayed by an hour due to late arrival of the airplane. The crowd was impatient and an Arab lady almost fainted while waiting to board.

The airplane finally departed from Damascus at about 4.15pm. By the time we arrived in Bahrain it was dark. There was a sandstorm and everything was dusty. I changed the remaining SYP1000 into Bahraini Dinar. Shopped for some souvenirs and dates. Time flies and by the time I know it, I'm already on board the connecting flight to KL. Gulf Air aircrafts were quite good but I could not say the same for their flight attendants. Their service is horrible and they do not seem to attend to the passengers even after repeatedly pressing the flight attendant button. During breakfast time, they delivered the food minus the drinks. Before we even touched it, they were collecting it back again. I've always thought that Lufthansa was the worst in service but from now onwards the honor goes to Gulf Air. No wonder the airline almost folded some years back.

After a long 8 hour flight, we finally landed in KLIA. It was such a good feeling to reach back home. Bought some stuff at the airport, cleared immigration and customs. Took the taxi and by the time I reach home it was past 11am. Counting back, I spent almost 24 hours travelling from Syria to KL. The journey home was definitely not an easy one!