A diamond in the emerald sea
British adventure traveler Claire, flying solo on British Airways to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, had given orders to flight attendants to wake her up for meals. She got the meals from her and they woke her up to prepare for landing. Rested and happy, she was looking forward to the arrival and boarding of a Gulf Air flight to Mumbai, India. Neither Abu Dhabi nor Mumbai was her final destination. Rather, she had booked a charter flight from Mumbai that would take her to one of the airports in the Maldives. She had scheduled a boat trip to take her to her island, which she considered to be a “Diamond in the Emerald Sea”.
But, life sometimes puts curves in our plans. Over Pakistan, passengers were informed by the captain of their second flight that technical problems forced them to land unscheduled at the airport in Karachi, Pakistan. Grateful for a safe landing, Claire and the other passengers waited for news that would affect their travel plans. The news was not good. The airline planned to fix the problem and would house passengers in a local hotel until the fix was complete. The estimated time for the delay was at least three days, maybe more.
The local airline staff chose the hotel. Some passengers objected, wanting a different hotel, but the staff wouldn’t pay to stay elsewhere. They did, however, provide a generous meal voucher scheme that would allow stranded passengers to dine wherever they wanted and submit a bill for reimbursement of costs, up to a reasonable amount. At that, Claire formed her plan. She decided that dining fit in well with sightseeing. Why not turn this inconvenience into an adventure? She tried to get the others to cooperate, but no one else was willing to leave the safe confines of the hotel. So, after settling in, Claire hit the road on her own, relying on a taxi driver to take her to interesting but safe places to experience.
At dinner time on the first day, he ran into a group of tourists. They were British, like her! A bus had dropped them off in front of a western-looking restaurant that had photos of the food it served and a menu in English. Claire recalled that she had seen an Anthony Bourdain television show in which she mentioned things as indicative of bad food. All these tourists were lined up like salmon passing through narrow waters. “All salmon are fish,” Claire decided, “but not all fish are salmon.” Claire told the taxi driver that she choose a restaurant that the locals like and that she would pay for her food there if he interpreted for her.
Clara had a great time. The taxi driver took her to her favorite place to eat of hers, where her friends hang out, and she told her friends that the brave Brit was her client and that they should treat her like a queen. Claire couldn’t understand her language, Urdu, but the taxi driver interpreted it. She and they learned that everyone had a peculiar sense of humor and liked to tell jokes. The different languages made the Pakistanis laugh in a group at her jokes and she alone at theirs. Plus, she got to sample some of the many foods, because everyone ordered something different and everyone shared!
Back at her hotel, Claire thanked her new friend and Pakistani taxi driver. She scheduled her service for tomorrow morning and told her that she could get some of her fellow travelers to come with her. #TAG1writer.