"Respond to situations instead of reacting" is one of the most important lessons I learnt from Sadguru!
Practicing this is important to keep a balance especially when things are beyond your control. I have always wondered about the word luck and the answer I found is "things beyond your control".
I had an interesting journey of luck changing several times!
It was a business travel for a workshop at Nice in France. I was happy that I could get the shortest route with 1.5 hrs connection in Dubai.
I had done connections shorter than this, so it wasn't a thing to worry about.
I started to realize my luck changing when I reached Bangalore airport! The flight to Dubai was delayed by 1.5 hrs. Though they make up for some time in the air, I knew it can't be as much as an hour since it was not a long flight. So probability of missing the next flight from Dubai was high.
Still I had some hope since the Emirates staff at Bangalore told that almost every flight from Dubai is delayed due to bad weather and there are high chances of making it to next fight. My previous experiences of missing connections in Frankfurt & Singapore was not bad. When you miss your flight due to the delay of previous flight you are put in one of the next fights and if it's the next day, then you typically get a hotel organized by airlines.
My flight from Dubai was at 8.20 and the flight from Bangalore landed at 8.00. Typically there will be ground staff to assist for quick transfer in such cases but there was none! As I entered the terminal, the departure information board said that gate is closed for my next flight. Even then, I told myself 'let's check the luck' and did run to the gate only to find out that the gate was actually closed. While a lot of other flights were delayed the fight I was supposed to take was on time!
Heading to the connections counter I realised that there is a much bigger chaos in the airport than I imagined! Runways were shut, flights were delayed or cancelled due to heavy rains. Tons of passengers in every connections counter looking for alternatives!
The queue was long, on top every passenger would take long time at the counter to discuss the alternative options, made the movement of the queue in snails pace. After 5 long hours of standing in the queue I was given an option to fly the next day and a hotel voucher. While I thought that the trouble is over, I found another queue for the Visa stamping and then a queue for immigration. It was easily 6-7 hours since landing and standing!
The surprises weren't over! I finished immigration and came out to see over 300 people lined up at the Emirates hotel transfer with the hotel vouchers; everyone like me who had missed connections! My situation was probably better! I landed only at 8am while there were others who had landed at 2am. I got a flight next day while many others especially to US & UK put in the waiting list! Lot of them with small kids were really struggling.
After an hour of waiting at hotel transfer we learnt that the hotel for which the vouchers were given was full and they were working on alternatives. I am sure Emirates had to organize hotels for thousands & it wasn't an easy task! Finally we were transferred to a hotel around 5pm in the evening. Now to my luck it was a great room at one of the finest Hilton brands Waldorf Astoria overlooking the famous Burj Khalifa.
After a good sleep next morning things seemed to be okay and normal! The flight was on time however I still had doubts about my checked inn baggage reaching in the same flight. To my luck the baggage arrived with me. Two days of journey with lot of variables not in control was quite interesting!
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