Arriving at Cardiff

After landing at Cardiff international airport, which is quite small by the international standards, I was greeted by a very warm Immigration Officer. He asked me some routine questions and went through my CAS letter before approving my entry into the UK. As I was a student, he suggested that I take the bus instead of the cab to save on precious pounds. “You don’t want to get ripped off by the taxi”, he said handing me back my passport. I thanked him and headed towards to exit to locate the bus stop.

Now for those of you who have not been outside your country before, things can get pretty daunting once you exit the airport. You are suddenly thrown into a new environment where everything is different from back home. This puts you at loss about what to do and where to go next. All your mental preparation and readiness goes for a toss. For someone who is comfortable in English language, has the accommodation booked, and can use mobile apps comfortable, getting to the hotel from the airport should be walk in the park. But trust me, it has nothing to do with your language fluency, or how good of a planner you are. The excitement and the apprehension of new land and new way of life can get quite overwhelming. This happened to me when I was travelling to UAE for a conference. Even though I had my hotel booked, maps downloaded and addresses in my hand, I was clueless about my next course of action upon arrival at Dubai airport. I was travelling with a friend and we both thought that we had the same experience. Lucky for us, we had each others company. And so, from my history I knew that I could experience something similar upon arrival at Cardiff. To overcome that mental block, I sat down in the exit area of the airport and tried to shake off all the excitement and nervousness. I was finally in Europe, and was going to call this place my home for next one year. But I had no idea about how to initiate my life here. It was time to figure it out.

After about 15 mins, I exited the airport with two large (23 kg capacity) suitcase and tried to search for the bus route to my booked accommodation in the bus stop situated right across the airport. But this was a challenging task. I knew street name of my accommodation, but had no idea of the closest bus stop to my place. Hell I didn’t even know if there was any bus in the area where I wanted to go. From 4 years of Chennai experience, I knew that the spellings and the pronunciations of the stops were not going to match due to vernacular inflexion, and I will have hard time communicating the location with locals. So I decided to first take a bus to Cardiff Central station, which is right in the heart of the city; and then a cab to my accommodation. Content with my plan, I decided to board bus #T9, which was also recommended to me by the Immigration officer earlier. While I was waiting for the bus, I realised how chilly it was outside. It was only the first week of October, yet it felt like Indian December.

When the bus arrived, I was the first one to board it. This was partly due to the cold weather and partly the excitement. To my horror, I was informed by the driver (the only attendant in the bus who also gives you the ticket) that CARDIFF BUSES DO NOT ACCEPT CASH UNLESS TENDERED IN EXACT CHANGE. The fare from airport to Cardiff Central was 5 pounds. But I had a 50 pounds note with me. At first, it did not appear to be a big issue. After all, I had my prepare international Visa card, and I could easily pay by card. Then came the next shocker; CARDIFF BUSES ONLY ACCEPT PAYMENT VIA CONTACTLESS CARDS. Apparently, contactless cards are a big thing in the UK. This was a problem. I was stuck now. I began considering all my options… should I disembark? should I ask the shop inside the airport for loose change? should I withdraw 5 pounds from an ATM? Frankly, none of them sounded very appealing. I was also under pressure as there was a queue forming behind me of people wanting to get on to the bus, and I was holding the line. I was struggling with my options, when suddenly, the person behind me stepped forward and very generously offered to pay my fare. What? I couldn’t believe it. 30 mins in the UK and someone was already offering to help me. Wow. I immediately knew that life was going to be good in this city. I profusely thanked the gentleman and boarded the bus. I was a little worried about the crowd as I had the two huge suitcases with me, and were occupying a lot of space in the bus. But I very quickly realized that bus was not the most popular choice of transport from the airport. There were only 2 more people, other than me and the driver, in the bus throughout the journey. All Cardiff buses have free wifi access. So I connected to it and called home, and double checked my plan of getting down at Cardiff central and taking a taxi.

Passing through the lush green Welsh countryside, I arrived at the Cardiff Central station. The bus dropped me at a pavement on a busy square, and I spotted the huge a building with huge lettering which said “Cardiff Central Station”. Sticking with my original plan, I decided to take a taxi now. I was still worried about not having change with me. But that problem became secondary when I realized that there were no “wave and stop” taxis in the area. And since I did not have a local SIM card yet, I couldn’t call a radio taxi or an Uber. So there I was, standing on the pavement with two large suitcases and a carry bag like a fool, not knowing what to do next. My solid plan had run into trouble.

Thinking about what to do next, I remembered something a family friend had mentioned about Cardiff when he lived here. He had casually mentioned that almost all of Cardiff has free public WiFi connection. If what he said was true, and I had no reason to doubt him, surely the Cardiff Central station would have a WiFi. Also, there would be taxis coming to drop people and I may be able to hire one at the station. I moved towards the station to give my improvised plan an action. Thankfully the two suitcases had wheels. So I joined them together, and placed my handbag on top of them, and pushed them like a trolley. It was not the most efficient or fancy one, but it got me going.

Once outside the station, I tried to talk to several cab drivers who were dropping people. But all of them had another customer waiting as they were all radio taxis. Dejected, I moved to the inside of the station and was able to connect to the internet. I tried to book an Uber, but that also did not work as the app had no cash payment option and it would not accept my Indian card. So I again moved outside the station and tried my luck with the cab drivers. Finally, one of them agreed and he also had change for 50 quid note. I gave him my address and he dropped me right outside my booked accommodation.

Checking in was smooth as the owner had already provided me with elaborate instructions on how to enter the building. I realized that by some stroke of luck, I had booked an entire 1 BHK apartment for less than the cheapest hotel room in the area. It had a kitchen, a living room with a TV and Netflix, a bedroom, bathroom and a backyard. Jackpot. Loved the place.

I quickly freshened up and headed out to the Cardiff University Student Union to collect my Biometric Residence Permit (BRP), which is like a residence permit for foreigners. I wanted to collect it the same day it was the second last day for its collection from the student union. After that, they would send the BRP back to the UK Home office, and collection from them would require a trip to God knows which place. And so I didn’t want to delay the collection for the last day. On the way to the SU, I was also checking out all the eating joints as I was beginning to feel hungry. I also had to arrange dinner from somewhere. After collecting my BRP, I took a baguette meal and a sandwich meal from a corner store. Ate one immediately and saved one for the dinner. And finally returned back to the flat as the jet lag was starting to hit. I slouched on the super comfortable sofa, which doubled as a bed, to relax for a bit and switched in the TV. Sometime at around 11:30, there was loud knock on my window, and I realized that I had dozed off on the sofa. Some passerby had knocked on the window because the lights were on. That was strange. Why would someone knock if the lights were on. So I went outside to check. The moment I stepped out of the flat, it was clear why my window was knocked upon. In the entire neighbourhood, my window was the only one which was still lit. All other windows were dark as people had switched off the lights before going to bed.

I went back inside, and opened my sandwich dinner which had gone cold. Thankfully the flat had a microwave, and so I heated it up before having it. I was excited about the next day as I was going to meet my supervisor and finalise my permanent accommodation. With that thought, I called it a day.