This one is a slightly different post as it's being written from Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam. In the last few days I had been trying to understand connecting flights, transit visa and the related requirements. I have found Harrow Travels (Regent Plaza, Sharae Faisal) to be pretty efficient folks.
Also, for going to most of the European countries you either need to go through Frankfurt (Germany) or Amsterdam (Netherlands). In both the cases, Pakistanis are required to have Transit Visas stamped on their passport (even if they are not going to leave the airport). The only exception is people who hold a Schengen Visa. The transit visa takes 4 days to get stamped and the fee for Netherlands is Rs. 2700/- (you also need to give 3 photographs with your passport). KLM helps you in the process for Netherlands; I'm not sure about Germany but I think Lufthansa should help.
Before leaving Karachi, I got in touch with Adnan Ejaz, a guy from FAST Lahore who later joined Microsoft, who is also going to the same university. Quite interestingly we had the same flight from Abu Dhabi to Amsterdam and more interestingly though we had never met each other and would not have recognized each other - we had adjacent seats in the KLM flight. More importantly, this is not just an accident. The form and substance are getting more and more clear to me with time. Yes, the journey has already begun!
Meanwhile, I have been reading Mumtaz Mufti's "Labbaik". It's a very good book - in fact a travelogue of Mumtaz Sahab's Hajj. It's a must read if you have a slight idea of Shahab Nama.
Amsterdam Schiphol is a very big airport - much bigger than Dubai, I would say. I shall reach Gothenburg by 3:30 pm, Insha Allah. Let's see how the future unfolds!
Mukhtar Masood wants your authograph on the pages of history. Remember: Ali = Bulund.
(Adil Shah: Karachi Airport, 21st Aug)
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