The Amazon-g Trip !!!!!

10 Nov, 2010. 3:30 AM : I got up. Yes that's right, I got up at 3:30AM :) And still its not the reason why the day will be remembered. (Remember, remember the 10th of November !!!!!). I knew it was going to be a gruelling day. Had to catch a 6:15 AM flight :) Got ready quickly and was ready to leave for the airport by 4:45.
Around 5:25 AM : Should have reached airport by now. Was very near to the airport, when we took a wrong turn by mistake. We thought we will take a U-turn and this should not be a problem. It would not have been a problem, if we were not running short of time. As it turned out, that wrong turn even resulted in the front tyre of my car being punctured. When you are late all your activities take a little longer than usual!
Somehow was able to find an auto on an empty road and reached the airport by 5:40.
At the airport: At the boarding pass counter:
Lady: Please come in line.
Me: Please allow me. I am running a bit late.
Lady: Which flight are you on?
Me: The 6:15 flight to Hyderabad.
Lady: Sorry, you are required to reach here at least 45 minutes before the scheduled departure. You cannot board the flight now.
Me to myself: Wow! Another twist in the tale. This is gonna make a great blog post :P :)
Me: Please mam. Pls do something. I have already done my web check-in. Passed her my ticket. I was traveling Business Class (Yes, Amazon had booked me on business class!!!!!).
Lady: Let me see.
She called someone and told them that she had a business class passenger with her. And it worked! She gave me my boarding pass :)
Now that I had the boarding pass, I was sure I'll make it! Jumped the line for security check and got over it quickly. Boarded the flight safely. Thanks Amazon for the business class ticket. It was the first time I was traveling in that class.
On the plane: As soon as I sat on the seat, the first thing that came to mind was that I had forgotten to bring a camera! Damn, no pictures :( (That is why this will be an all text post, unlike some of my earlier picture only posts!).

The guy sitting next to me, asked the hostess about entertainment system on-board. The air-hostess refused and the guy promptly took out his MacBook Pro and tuned into Quantum of Solace! I wasnt carrying my laptop but didnt even need it. Experiencing the Business class hospitality for the first time was more entertaining than any film on my laptop.
Overall, the experience in the plane was awesome. Enjoyed every bit of it!
Hyderabad: At 8:15 was back to the city which I have visited most often, after of course my home, Delhi. The weather as expected was awesome. The Amazon cab took us (me and Akhil) to the office.
Akhil had reached 25 minutes after me. He had traveled by the an Indian Airlines flight (Economy class :P).
11:00 PM: Reached the Amazon office. The HR was waiting for both of us. She asked about our flights, breakfast and after 5 minutes, we were ready to start our interviews!
Akhil was the first one to start. I had to wait for an hour for my interviewer!
At 12:30 my first interview started and lasted till 1:30. When I came out, the HR told me that Akhil had started with his second interview and when he completes, we will proceed for lunch. My interviews would then be after lunch.
I had heard a lot of negative comments about food at Amazon, and after 2 months at Google, I was sure that I cant like the food anywhere else! But my empty stomach didnt stop. By 3, I was ready for my next interviews. Now, I was the first one to go. Akhil had to wait a bit. My interviews happened back to back from 3:15 to 4:15 and then from 4:20 to 5:20.
By the time I came out, Akhil was finished with his interview and told me that we were again very late for our flights. He had to catch a 7:15 flight and hence should have left for the airport, by at max 5:15. Luckily, my flight was delayed to 8:25. Probably, now it was time for Akhil to experience the same thing! But he wasnt travelling Business class and we hadnt even done web check-in. :(
We rushed quickly and thanks to the driver, we reached the airport by 6:30 (Just 45 minutes before the scheduled departure!). But thankfully, Akhil had no problem this time and boarded the flight easily. And then came the news that my flight was further delayed to 8:55 :(
Had to wait on the airport alone. And to add to it, my phone got switched off due to low battery!
At 9:10 the plane finally took off and at 11:15, I was back to Delhi! Back home :)
Now just hoping that the hard work pays off and Amazon announces a great result!!
Fingers crossed...........