Departing From Flock To Fedora 2026

When I was just about getting used to the time zone shift and the hotel bedding, 17th June 2026 came, and I had to leave Prague. Even though I did my packing beforehand, I still found myself waking up as early as around 0500am Central European Summer Time. My scheduled flight, Emirates EK0140, was going to take off from Prague (PRG) for Dubai (DXB) at 0400pm Central European Summer Time, so I had plenty of time to connect with family and friends back home. After having a quick breakfast by myself at around 0730am Central European Summer Time, I saw Tomáš Hrčka leaving the Ibis Praha Mala Strana hotel at that time. I made a brief return to Nový Smíchov Shopping Centre to purchase more goodies for my folks before returning to meet with a departing Lenka Segura at breakfast.

I also met with Kamil Paral briefly, who was on his way out too, and Lukas Ruzicka and Adam Williamson at the hotel lobby, who were planning on leaving too. After dropping my goods at the hotel, I headed over to the nearby Rossmann Cosmetics outlet for some purchases, as advised by my sister-in-law and my mother. As the Douglas Lifestyle inside the Nový Smíchov Shopping Centre did not open by then, this also allowed me to walk a little further on an overcast morning, after it seemed to have rained heavily the previous night. Taking the scenic route while heading back to the hotel, I clicked a bunch of pictures while being on a video call with my family members along the walking route. As the designated check-out time was 1200pm Central European Summer Time, I had plenty of time to pack my goods.

Thanks to the spring balance that I was carrying with me, I got my checked-in luggage to around 24 kilograms - staying well under the Emirates standard limit of 30 kilograms, while my travelling backpack was barely about 5 kilograms heavy. I started heading downstairs at around 1150am Central European Summer Time, and with the checkout done, I started looking for cabs on the Uber application. It took forever for a ride to be booked on that platform, so I instead relied on the Bolt application, which got me a ride in about the next 10 minutes or so. I was able to swiftly make it to Václav Havel Airport Prague (PRG) by around 1245pm Central European Summer Time, and after a failed attempt at securing the VAT refund, I decided to have myself checked in for the journey without wasting more time on it.

At the designated Emirates check-in gates, there were automated kiosks for self-service with multiple human attendants too, for if (read whenever) someone faced difficulties with the novel process. After having my luggage sent and a quick chat with the human attendants to ensure that the check-in kiosk also accounted for layover journeys, I headed into the immigration checks. Surprisingly enough, the immigration process, both during arrival and departure, was stamp-free and very seamless. I, for one, loved getting immigration stamps on my passport, so while that did ease the process significantly, I realized that we were giving away yet another organic process for convenience's sake. The crazy short immigration time meant that I had more time (read money) to spend at the Aelia Duty Free Stores!

Restricting my needless purchases to just chocolates and collectibles, I finally came to Gate B8, from where my Emirates EK0140 was going to be boarded. At around 0230pm Central European Summer Time, I had a Chicken Cheddar Panini Meal for lunch because I knew it would take a while before lunch was served during the flight. At around 0300pm Central European Summer Time, when the flight was finally starting to board, the Prague Airport (PRG) had another shocking surprise for me. Not only was my water bottle discarded - only for them to have a water vending automated machine on the other side of the checks - but I was also frisked physically after passing through the metal detectors without any buzzing concerns, and my purchases from their duty free airport stores were separately checked too.

Being a frequent traveller, I always made sure to remove my metal-hooked boots too to ensure that the security checks went through just fine, so believe me when I say - I was absolutely shocked when that actually happened. To add further insult to injury, their automated water vending machine was fancy enough to get my purchased water bottle stuck, with no one to help me with it. Not only was I forced to stay thirsty until I could board the flight, but there were also additional checks using German Shepherd sniffer dogs that everyone was subjected to. As you could imagine - I was super pissed at the overall situation, but I stayed calm regardless, as the last thing I wanted to do was spoil my mood further and worsen the ongoing affair - also not a choice note on which I wanted to end my Flock 2026 journey...

The flight finally took off, with us being seated in the flight after the final checks, at around 0400pm Central European Summer Time, and I decided to catch up on some respite. I knew that with the rush that I had to make in Dubai (DXB) during the short ninety-minute-long layover, I would be able to use some of the recovered energy. Unlike my arrival flight, which had almost eight hours of dreadful layover, I had a shorter one this time, which could have ended up being even more tricky if the transit buses were involved. After being served meals and finishing off the third season of Oshi No Ko (2023), I finally had some sleep on the six-hour-long flight. The fact that I had an empty seat between my window seat and the aisle seat also helped me avoid the overcrowded affairs in flying economy on longer flights.

At around 1230am Gulf Standard Time, I found the flight closing in on Dubai International Airport (DXB), and yet again, we were at an airport concourse - not an arrival gate. With the transit bus taking away almost thirty minutes for me to make it to the arrival gate, I was thankful that the security checks passed with zero hitches. The fact that I landed at different gates hurt as now I also had to give fifteen minutes on a transit train to travel closer to the Series A departure gates. Minus the peak rush, I had to sprint to the travelator escalator in Terminal 3 with my lightweight backpack to finally make it closer to my designated gates. At that defining moment, moving all the heavy things to the checked-in luggage felt like the right thing to do, and I was able to sprint on for a longer duration as a result.

The layover rush finally ended when I finally made it to Gate A12, where the boarding process had begun for Emirates EK0570. Even though I had roughly 15 minutes before the boarding gates eventually closed, it was way better to be there earlier. Plagued with the classical Gate Lice situation, I had to weave through the passenger crowd as my boarding group was called, being seated at the tail end of the Emirates flight. With nothing to make a rush for, I wanted to relax on the last leg of my struggling journey with the larger footspace and lesser stuffiness at the twin seats. While I was briefly requested by a fellow passenger to swap seats for one of the more cramped seating regions, I respectfully declined their request as not only did the seat cost more, but I also really needed some rest on this flight.

Awkwardly enough, they had run into some trouble with the Emirates staff due to their seat-swapping request attempts, as I was the second person that they asked to swap with. After clearing up the boarding confusion, we took off from Dubai International Airport (DXB) at around 0130pm Gulf Standard Time, and we were soon provided with the health reporting self-declaration by the flight helpers right after. While my co-passenger left that to be done later, I wanted to get this out of the way so that I could finally get some undisturbed rest. While drifting into sleep and enjoying some flight meals at the break of dawn, the flight was finally closing in on Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport (CCU), and after a lengthy deboarding, I was back on the ground in my hometown of Kolkata, India.

Of course, I had to go through immigration here too - but as I had the health reporting self-declaration filled in advance, passing through with the immigration stamps on my passport was a breeze. While my fellow passengers struggled to find a writing surface at the arrival gates, I was glad that I did that even when I was just about to fall asleep on the Emirates flight. Right when I thought that my travel struggles were about to end, the luggage belt started its operation late at around 0830am Indian Standard Time, and I had to wait for almost an hour to obtain my checked-in luggage. Having not received an SMS notification, I also contemplated reaching out to the Emirates staff due to the abnormal duration, but not having to do that saved my return journey from getting any worse than it already had been.