That's a bummer...

A friend of mine and I had decided to go to Sepang for the GP this year and had planned it all. He had booked the tickets and I had booked the hotel. We had taken care of our flight tickets and so were all set to fly into KLIA and meet up on the morning of the 18th so that we could catch the Saturday morning practice session.

I called this friend in the afternoon on Friday and he told me that he was just getting ready for the flight (packing and the works) and that he would see me at my arrival gate in KL.

Then I got a call from him, late in the night. It seems that Malaysian Airlines was refusing to let him board because he does not have an ECNR stamped on his passport.

Now an ECNR on an Indian Passport means "Immigration Check Not Required". It is something that you have to apply for seperately if you applied for your passport before you graduated. ECNR allows you to travel to practically any country. If you dont have ECNR, you cannot go to certain countries. Tonight, my friend discovered that Malaysia fell in that category.

So his trip is off. Now I am in a bigger dilema. He has booked the tickets and the confirmation and pickup is based on his passport number. So here I am with my trip planned and paid for, but with a distinct possibility of not being able to see the GP.

I am planning to go anyways, since I already have the flight and hotel paid for. In case I dont get the tickets, I will just have to buy them there. If they are even available.

Let's see how it goes.