Cheap flights. Sleepless nights.

Mommy's girl. Any day.

A good part of this trip was that we booked early and got cheap fares. About INR 44,000 per person for a MAA-DXB-AMS-DXB-MAA return ticket. In a good airline like Emirates it is a steal any day!

That meant we got the lean hours to fly. That also meant a sleepless night at the Chennai airport which has no plans of vying for international airport laurels anytime soon.

So, having checked-in really fast, father-daughter-mother had to cool our heels in probably the worst part of one of Asia's worst airports.

I was reminded of the few times we three waited together in other times. Waiting outside the Principal's room for admission in to Ewart School, when a happily-running-around Anu fell and bruised her knee. Waiting at the Dr Vijayalakshmi Acharya Clinic for the braces. And now waiting through a night to fly away to welcoming friends in foreign lands and be reunited with a travelling son.

At 5 in the morning, airborne and the adrenaline settling down, with the sun chasing us, we finally slept. For all of three hours. Enough for a full 4-stage sleep cycle. Before tumbling out in a rush for a change over at Dubai.