EUROPE TRI-NATION TOUR,  DAY#1

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  “Life is a journey that must be travelled no matter how bad the roads and accommodations.” – Oliver Goldsmith

 “The journey is never-ending. There’s always gonna be growth, improvement, adversity; you just gotta take it all in and do what’s right, continue to grow, continue to live in the moment.” – Antonio Brown

 “Sometimes it’s the journey that teaches you a lot about your destination.” – Drake

       Formation of a Group is established not as a summation of parts but by an integration of the parts to make a ‘Whole’. Much the same way the Veterans from Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai gathered to integrate on landing at Dubai in the 3 flights of Etihad Airways, to commence their Europe Group Tour.

      The  second Veterans Foreign Tri-nation tour was also the brainchild of Cdr Vijay Vadhera, Secy NFMC, just as the first one to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand last year about the same time.  After 7 months of detailed planning and preparation by  TravelEdge  (Veer Vikram and Rupali), 45 veterans came together from Mumbai, Delhi,  & Hyderabad for this second Veterans Tour. The Airport arrival was abuzz when the Naval veterans hugged each other, some after decades. The team under NFMC Secy is catalysed for fun and frolic. All have volunteered to share various responsibilities under the two dynamic SOPAs: LtCdr MS Grewal (SOPA 1) and Cmde Shyam Kaushal (SOPA2).  They say people come into our lives either for a season, a reason or a Lifetime. Here they R/V ‘ed for the third one. My Cadets time NAVAC instructor with his good Lady is also in the team: Cdr SS Gill. They all felt the absence of Mrs Kanta Mukherjee, who was compelled to drop out just two days prior to departure due to a high fever which needed detailed investigation.

    The Email recd on Day#1 Activities compiled by Cdr Manjul Mayank is enumerated below :

1.       Finally, today the wait was over. After hectic planning and preparations, under the directives of very meticulous and ever vigilant Team LeaderCdrVadhera, veterans were ready and raring to go. As directed by Team Leader we all assembled near Pillar number 7 of CSMIA Terminal 2 (closest to Emirates counter) between 0030 to 0100 h. The tour operator Mr Veer Vikram and ever-smiling Mrs Rupali, who were already present there, did the final briefing for the members and also handed over the complimentary beautiful ‘Travelodge’ shoulder bags to each member. Well, the bags also contained some sumptuous small eats for munching during long haul bus drives.

2.       Amidst all the excitement, came the disturbing news in the afternoon that the senior-most veer nari travelling with us, Mrs.Kanta Mukherjee, has taken ill suddenly with high viral fever and vomiting and had to be admitted in hospital and may have to drop out view health reasons. Suddenly a gloom set in the entire group and good wishes start pouring in for quick recovery. Confident that God will hear the sincere wishes of the veterans, the mood slowly changed to optimism. And by God, the news came in the evening that she will be travelling with us. But alas the fortunes turned again and Ma’am though fit decided to give the tour a miss as she feared that she may be carrying the infection for a couple of days. What a display of consideration of fellow members.

3.       All set and briefed all smartly dressed veterans, their ‘Butter’ halves and Veer Naris entered the Terminal 2 and headed for the Emirates counter for Check-in, security checks and immigration formalities. Concurrently Telephonic confirmation was also obtained from Delhi and Hyderabad groups also of their readiness for flight. After an hour wait at gate 70, the flight to Dubai finally took off 45 min late at 0515 h.

4.       We landed at Dubai at 0630 Dubai time and straight away shifted to gate 24 A via a small train journey for flight to Rome. We were also met there with our members' ex Delhi and Hyderabad. There was a minor scare in between when Mrs Swarnlata suddenly realised that she has left her passport in the aircraft itself. After some real efforts by MrVikram with the security staff the passport was finally recovered and we all took a sigh of relief. After a prolonged immigration formality for about 90 min we were all set to leave the terminal to board the bus for the hotel. En-route the Team Leader Cdr Vadhera gave a lengthy pep talk to all members and explained the rules of the game in detail. We reached hotel Rome Pisanna at 1700 h local time and after a quick high tea, we all checked into our rooms.

5.       A per the directives all members mustered in the lobby again at 1900 h and proceeded for dinner at 1915 h after a short photo session. Enroute the restaurant the local guide Mr Sunny gave a detailed briefing on the Dos and DONTs in Rome. He also gave a running commentary on all the monuments we passed and which we will visit again tomorrow. We dined in a fine homely Indian Restaurant Maharajah. The food was delicious and the service was personal.

6.       After dinner, we all returned to the hotel in the bus at 2230 h local time and all the members thoroughly tired and deprived of sleep hastily retired into their rooms for good night sleep.

7.       The highlight events of the day were the passport scare of Madam SwarnLata and the pep talk of Team Leader in the bus. 

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 Well, we at Mumbai Wish the Europe Team of Veterans all the very best.  Have a look at the Pics that speak.