Winter in Hamburg

"Bah, Hamburg!"

"Dear, don't be so condescending!"

"I'm not condensing anything. I'm saying 'Bah, Hamburg'. I'm not going to Hamburg."

"Listen, Scrooge Junior, you're not paying for the trip, so you don't need to Bah."

"It's not the money, though you're right I don't want to spend that. It's the cold. It'll be 3 degrees there, do you know that?"

Mrs. Dhupia turned to the little crowd gathered around them. "I'm so sorry he's behaving like this. We are, of course, very grateful."

The Dhupias were at baggage claim at the airport. Mr. Dhupia had been the airline's one millionth customer to take his baggage off the conveyor belt, and five senior crew members had come hurrying over to give him his prize - two round tickets to Hamburg. Mrs. Dhupia was trying to smile at the camera and be nice to the crew members and keep her husband from being utterly rude.

"When can we take this trip, anyway?" Mr. Dhupia barked suddenly.

"Any time, sir, the validity starts today and goes on for six months."

"You really want to go to Hamburg?" he said, turning to his wife.

"Yes, dear, since we've won ..."

"Well, then, load our bags on to your next plane to Hamburg and - here - take our passports to do the relevant stuff with them. If we've got to do it, let's get it over with."

"But dear, we haven't ..."

"You want to go to Hamburg, we're going to Hamburg. When's the next flight?"

"It departs in an hour and a half, sir. We'll do the necessary formalities, if you and madam would like to wait in the first class lounge and have a drink and a snack ... ?"

"Is the drink and snack on the house?"

"Yes, sir, it goes with your ticket. Are these the bags, sir? And I need to tag your hand baggage please."

Sitting in the first class lounge sipping coffee and munching on a cheese and tomato sandwich, Mr. Dhupia raised his eyebrows at his wife. "What's the matter, aren't you happy?"

"This is so sudden ..."

"You wanted to go through packing and fighting the traffic to the airport again because we won a trip to Bah Hamburg?"

"Stop calling it Bah Hamburg. It's a lovely place."

"How do you know, you've never been there."

They argued the whole time, till the flight was announced. As soon as he had fastened his seat belt, Mr. Dhupia put his eye shades on, leaned back and went to sleep. Mrs. Dhupia understood from the flight attendant exactly what they had won, and scheduled their hotel stay and return journey. They'd get only three days in Hamburg, but still, it was all paid and would be fun. The crew at the airport had done their job well and the flight attendant had the necessary currency notes and papers all at hand.

Mr. Dhupia awoke when they landed. "Winter in Bah Hamburg," he stated.

They went straight to the party mile, where they enjoyed the delights in their own way, but together. Mr. Dhupia was slightly tipsy three hours later when they headed back to the hotel.

The next day, he had mellowed enough to visit a museum with her, and only compared the 'cold' sculptures to the 'cold' weather three times in the three hours they were there, much to his wife's relief. They did canal rides and boat rides off the great harbour. They visited cafes, restaurants, malls ... they even went dancing once.

And then they were on the flight back. Once again, Mr. Dhupia slept the whole way through.

Upon landing, he phoned their son to say they were back. "Yes, yes, we are back in town now. Lovely place, Hamburg, had a lot of fun there. Always wanted to go there in winter, but thought it would be too cold for your Mom, you know."