I'm sitting in the Delhi airport waiting on the final leg of my trip to board and I finally have internet access that I can understand. I attempted to update my blog in Amsterdam but google kept delivering me everything in Dutch so had a bit of trouble figuring things out.
So the day started off great. I got to the Atlanta airport without a problem thanks to Marta being on time and my great neighbor Chad for dropping me off. I was armed with all of my stuff and a batman bandaid on my right hand courtesy of my neighbor Mary Ann. I got some weird looks from folks, but I know that Connor would be proud that Batman made it to India. :-) We boarded on time and I had a nice exit row seat with a power outlet and tons of leg room! Was a super nice new plane or at least the seats were new. I sat next to a guy going on a mission trip to Kenya, quite a pair we made, church mission trip and corporate mission trip. He kept us safe by reading his bible for a good portion of the flight. The flights attendants were more than chipper and the flight was super smooth. I had about 2 hours in Amsterdam, so I checked out the KLM lounge, which was huge and just managed to have a shower before running to my gate. Well, not running exactly, since I'm wearing a boot on my right foot due to my sprained achilles (another story for another day). So, we were herded onto the plane, literally, it was the most disorganized boarding process I've ever seen. I had a bulkhead seat this time with a good bit of leg room, but the plane itself had seen better days. I sat next to a young lady from Finland who didn't believe in using deodorant, things started to go a bit down hill from there.
The flight wasn't bad, I slept most of the time thanks to synthetic help and we landed in India. Holy cow (hehe, pun intended) I'm in India! Immigration, no problem. Bags, only took an hour for them to arrive. Checking in for domestic flight? Oh, that doesn't open til 1:30 am and it's 12:45. Where do I wait? Um, there really wasn't anywhere, so I just sat on the floor in front of the checkin area and waited. I got in line, it was my turn to talk to the lady (I was second in line) and this nice Indian man cut in front of me and asked her a question. Then he left. I was almost done getting my boarding pass and he showed up again, right over my left shoulder. The lady behind the counter was very nice though and ignored him. Deeps breaths, personal space is different here.
So then it was off to domestic security, remember it's 1:45 am and the airport is practically empty. I tried to be nice and smile to the security guys. Do I need to take shoes off? no Do I need to show you liquids? no Maam, do you have batteries in your bag? yes, I do What are they for, maam? AAA for my noise cancelling headphones which are in the other bag, want me to show you? oh, how many do you have? um, 8 i think. why so many? because it eats batteries Why the 20 questions about batteries when I had a full water bottle in there?!
They have separate screening machines for women/men and the women have to get wanded down. But they put you in this little make shift room with dark curtains (kinda like when you are trying clothes on a boutique) and the female security person wands you. I said to her, um, don't I get to see my things, I didn't like them being on the belt and me in a canvas curtain room. My purse, camera, computer, etc,etc were all being held hostage on the other side of the curtain by the 5 men working there. Meanwhile I'm the only one going thru security. She let me through and then I heard here mock me to the other guards, saying, don't I get to see my things. I looked at her and said, wouldn't you want to see your things. They switched from English and all looked at me and sort of laughed, so I got my things, including my pillow which they stamped, yes, ink stamped and then attached a security approved sticker too and I thought, this is going great, I just need to make it to the lounge and rest.
So I find the lounge, at least what I thought was the lounge. Turns out I was authorized to use it. The research I had done about what was affiliated with Delta was all for not, since that was in the Intl terminal and I was in Domestic. But you can't leave and go to the other terminal, I was stuck. Only Platinum Mastercard members with cards from India or Hong Kong can. The guy working there asked where are you from and I saw US and he said, is your card from Hong Kong or India and I just looked at him like, why? I may want to look into it though if they have better rates. So, at this point I just couldn't take it anymore, I just wanted to sit down and rest. I turned my head from the two nice young men helping me and I started to tear up, emotions took over. Yes, I cried. They saw me and said, oh no maam, please don't cry, please please. Remember it's 2:00 am and I have been traveling for 20 hours already. So, he cuts me a deal, we negotiate and I get a 50% discount even though I technically shouldn't. He would have let me in for free but there are cameras and he likes his job, he told me. I am the second person in here, the other guy is asleep snoring in the corner. They bring me water and offer me potato chips, since that's all they had. Ah, how to gain sympathy, just cry. :-)
I check email, and fall asleep between two comfy chairs for a couple hours. Had a nice cup of tea, changed clothes, I felt much better. I thought things are looking up! I proceed to my gate at 5:30, they load us onto a bus which takes us thru the foggy Delhi morning to our plane, Kingfisher airlines. Did you know they still make prop planes? And they have an exit row with seats that face each other like on a train. It was a pretty full flight, but we made record time to Jaipur, only 40 minutes up to down. The sun was shining in Jaipur, I got my bags and was greeted by Pochi, who was arranged by the homestay (owners brother I think). Super nice man. We met three other team members coming in from Mumbai and then we were on our way to the B&B/homestay....
Let's hope the final 1:10 minute flight goes well and I can start to move on and enjoy the trip! and my promise to myself and the rest of India - no more crying! :-)
So the day started off great. I got to the Atlanta airport without a problem thanks to Marta being on time and my great neighbor Chad for dropping me off. I was armed with all of my stuff and a batman bandaid on my right hand courtesy of my neighbor Mary Ann. I got some weird looks from folks, but I know that Connor would be proud that Batman made it to India. :-) We boarded on time and I had a nice exit row seat with a power outlet and tons of leg room! Was a super nice new plane or at least the seats were new. I sat next to a guy going on a mission trip to Kenya, quite a pair we made, church mission trip and corporate mission trip. He kept us safe by reading his bible for a good portion of the flight. The flights attendants were more than chipper and the flight was super smooth. I had about 2 hours in Amsterdam, so I checked out the KLM lounge, which was huge and just managed to have a shower before running to my gate. Well, not running exactly, since I'm wearing a boot on my right foot due to my sprained achilles (another story for another day). So, we were herded onto the plane, literally, it was the most disorganized boarding process I've ever seen. I had a bulkhead seat this time with a good bit of leg room, but the plane itself had seen better days. I sat next to a young lady from Finland who didn't believe in using deodorant, things started to go a bit down hill from there.
The flight wasn't bad, I slept most of the time thanks to synthetic help and we landed in India. Holy cow (hehe, pun intended) I'm in India! Immigration, no problem. Bags, only took an hour for them to arrive. Checking in for domestic flight? Oh, that doesn't open til 1:30 am and it's 12:45. Where do I wait? Um, there really wasn't anywhere, so I just sat on the floor in front of the checkin area and waited. I got in line, it was my turn to talk to the lady (I was second in line) and this nice Indian man cut in front of me and asked her a question. Then he left. I was almost done getting my boarding pass and he showed up again, right over my left shoulder. The lady behind the counter was very nice though and ignored him. Deeps breaths, personal space is different here.
So then it was off to domestic security, remember it's 1:45 am and the airport is practically empty. I tried to be nice and smile to the security guys. Do I need to take shoes off? no Do I need to show you liquids? no Maam, do you have batteries in your bag? yes, I do What are they for, maam? AAA for my noise cancelling headphones which are in the other bag, want me to show you? oh, how many do you have? um, 8 i think. why so many? because it eats batteries Why the 20 questions about batteries when I had a full water bottle in there?!
They have separate screening machines for women/men and the women have to get wanded down. But they put you in this little make shift room with dark curtains (kinda like when you are trying clothes on a boutique) and the female security person wands you. I said to her, um, don't I get to see my things, I didn't like them being on the belt and me in a canvas curtain room. My purse, camera, computer, etc,etc were all being held hostage on the other side of the curtain by the 5 men working there. Meanwhile I'm the only one going thru security. She let me through and then I heard here mock me to the other guards, saying, don't I get to see my things. I looked at her and said, wouldn't you want to see your things. They switched from English and all looked at me and sort of laughed, so I got my things, including my pillow which they stamped, yes, ink stamped and then attached a security approved sticker too and I thought, this is going great, I just need to make it to the lounge and rest.
So I find the lounge, at least what I thought was the lounge. Turns out I was authorized to use it. The research I had done about what was affiliated with Delta was all for not, since that was in the Intl terminal and I was in Domestic. But you can't leave and go to the other terminal, I was stuck. Only Platinum Mastercard members with cards from India or Hong Kong can. The guy working there asked where are you from and I saw US and he said, is your card from Hong Kong or India and I just looked at him like, why? I may want to look into it though if they have better rates. So, at this point I just couldn't take it anymore, I just wanted to sit down and rest. I turned my head from the two nice young men helping me and I started to tear up, emotions took over. Yes, I cried. They saw me and said, oh no maam, please don't cry, please please. Remember it's 2:00 am and I have been traveling for 20 hours already. So, he cuts me a deal, we negotiate and I get a 50% discount even though I technically shouldn't. He would have let me in for free but there are cameras and he likes his job, he told me. I am the second person in here, the other guy is asleep snoring in the corner. They bring me water and offer me potato chips, since that's all they had. Ah, how to gain sympathy, just cry. :-)
I check email, and fall asleep between two comfy chairs for a couple hours. Had a nice cup of tea, changed clothes, I felt much better. I thought things are looking up! I proceed to my gate at 5:30, they load us onto a bus which takes us thru the foggy Delhi morning to our plane, Kingfisher airlines. Did you know they still make prop planes? And they have an exit row with seats that face each other like on a train. It was a pretty full flight, but we made record time to Jaipur, only 40 minutes up to down. The sun was shining in Jaipur, I got my bags and was greeted by Pochi, who was arranged by the homestay (owners brother I think). Super nice man. We met three other team members coming in from Mumbai and then we were on our way to the B&B/homestay....
Let's hope the final 1:10 minute flight goes well and I can start to move on and enjoy the trip! and my promise to myself and the rest of India - no more crying! :-)
I think I would have sobbed hysterically not only making my eyes tear up with that whole trip you endured!!
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