Bangladesh Trip Sun 22nd Feb 2015 – Day 9

Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig, Bangladesh
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig

It was Sunday 22nd February 2015 and we were flying home today. Last night, we had got back to the hotel at 1 am after a really interesting evening out at Charcoal in Gulshan 1, a trendy steakhouse that did great veggie pasta too.

Our mini bus to the airport was booked for 9.00 am for our 12 pm flight and we were meant to be going down for breakfast at 8.30 am. Instead, mum let me have a lie in until 8.15 am, whilst she finished the packing.

Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig, Bangladesh
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig

About 15 minutes later, mum got a text from her Chacha (paternal uncle) asking what time her flight was. She had thought the flight was at about midday, but thought she'd check the exact time at this point. Everything had been going too smoothly, but that was when she (and I) got a big shock.

Our flight was at 10.30 am and it was now exactly 8.25 am. OMG!!!!

Mum called down to reception and told them we had to leave in 5 minutes, was the mini bus available? Yes it was ready for us, so that was good. Everything was chucked into our bags and we were dragging them into the lift ourselves 5 minutes later. No time for the bellboy now.

Mum had a message on Facebook the night before that the article about me and Spoon-billed Sandpipers in Prothom Alo, a Bangladeshi broadsheet newspaper with the highest circulation, was in today's paper. There was no time to buy a copy now, but luckily the hotel had a copy in their lobby which we grabbed and took with us.

We were in our transport to the airport at 8.35 am with an hour's journey ahead of us. I have never been grateful for a hortal before, but it meant the roads were empty and we got to the airport in super quick time, getting to the hotel at 8.55 am. After giving the driver a BIG tip, we ran inside to the check-in desk.

The check-in desks were completely empty, showing how late we were. If we were later than ALL the British Bengali’s (who have a cultural difficulty with being on time) then we were really late. 

Getting through immigration quickly meant that our stress passed and we had time for a bit of shopping. We bought two gamcha's, the cotton multi purpose cloths recommended by Foysal Mama for multi purpose use on birding trips. Mum even bought some "mishti" as she said we couldnt have a trip to Bangladesh and not have any at all.

Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig

The flight itself was fine, except I ended up staying up all night watching films and reading. We arrived into Heathrow at 4 pm the same day we had left and were back at Bristol coach station by 8 pm, in need of a good night's sleep! 

Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig

I had the most amazing trip and am looking forward to raising awareness about the Spoon-billed Sandpiper and how much it needs to be protected. Hopefully, being Ambassador of World Shorebird Day will help me do that.

Thank you to everyone who helped make it a great trip including everyone who came to my talk. Thank especially to Sayam U Chowdhury, Mohammed Foysal, Sakib Ahmed, Paul Thompson, Quazi Hossain Ahmed, Josim Ahmed, Rupoz Sheikh, Bangladesh Spoon-billed Sandpiper Conservation a Project, Bangladesh Bird Club and all the media who have covered my trip, highlighting the plight of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper.

Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Sonadia Island, Bangladesh
Copyright Bangladesh Spoon-billed Sandpiper Project

About the writer 

Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig on Scilly
Photograph taken by and copyright Chris Craig

Mya-Rose Craig is a 12 year old young birder, conservationist, writer and speaker. She is based near Bristol and writes the successful Birdgirl Blog, with posts about birding and conservation from around the world. She was the youngest person to see 3,000 birds in 2013 and she hopes to see her 4,000th bird in Antarctica, her 7th continent, in 2015. Please like her Birdgirl Facebook Page and follow her on Birdgirl Twitter