Our first night in INDIA!

We're here! 8 AM Mumbai time Wednesday morning, 7:30 PM Tuesday night back home.
We left Abbotsford Monday morning shortly after 8AM, catching a ride with Loree's parents who were heading home to Portland. The car was packed with their bags, our bags, four people and a dog. All went well, we arrived in Seattle with lots of time for some lunch. I remembered belatedly that I was going to phone my credit card company to warn them my card would be used in India for 3 weeks. I barely completed that as we walked down the gangway to board. Loree will have to contact the bank about my debit card Tuesday as they were closed for Easter Monday. Liftoff was 2 PM.
There were lots of empty seats which was fortunate as the LCD at my assigned seat was broken. Air France has a camera mounted up front so you can get a pilot's view of takeoff and landing - very cool. The first round of drinks served were normal except champagne was also an option - how very French. :-) Shortly after that (3PM) a meal was served - my choice chicken. I guess this is the evening meal already. I can not remember the last time I had a hot meal on a plane - perhaps my last trip to India in 1986. As soon as we tookoff the plane turned north straight to Canada, arcing across north of Edmonton. One of the TV channel options is to watch the progress of the plane on a map. Within 5 hours we were almost to Greenland - that is at least what it takes to get to Toronto but this seems like it whould be a lot further. By 11:20 PM home time we landed in Paris, a hazy Tuesday morning where it is now 8:20 AM. I'm not at all impressed by this airport. We got off on the tarmac, caught a fairly lengthy shuttle bus to the(a) terminal, got off, caught another shuttle to another terminal, had to go through security again even though we had never left the secured area, and then had 90 minutes to kill in this hot and congested terminal building. I guess I have to start getting used to the hot but the congestion surprised me. It wasn't that it was really crowded, just really poor design. The public walkways were only wide enough for 3 maybe 4 people. Crazy. And is it ever expensive. I saw a bottle of Pepsi in one store for 4.5 Euros which by my calculations is CDN$6.75. Taxes extra! Boarding was getting on yet another shuttle for a much longer shuttle ride to our plane which was just sitting way out by itself. The good new was the plane we less than half full. Merv & I split up again for more space. By 11 AM we were off again. Side note - my Sony noise cancelling headphones are awesome! It cuts that plane hum to nothing and it is like sitting at home with headphones on. I must have looked like an idiot grinning away the first time I tried them - it was great! Flying time to Mumbai was just over 8 hours but then we circled for about an hour before finally landing - just 21 hours after we left Seattle. I could not help but compare it to the first time I came to India in 1959 when it was a journey of multiple weeks. Just the trip across Canada by train in those days was a week. (Actually I guess a train ride across Canada would still be a week if they did it anymore. Pathetic trains.) It's too bad I was only 4 for that original journey and have no memory of it. And of course no video - maybe some moldy slides buried in a box somewehere at Mom&Dads. Even as we sat on the tarmac edging toward the gate the air began to smell different coming in the ventilation system - smell is definitely part of the India experience. Close to midnight and the temperature has cooled down to 32C. Wow!
Koshy, Phil and James were waiting for us outside the airport and from there it was a fairly quick drive to his place for a cup of tea (yum!) and off to bed. Traffic was light, but James mentioned how the daytime driving was kinda like a thrill ride for him. Time for breakfast!

Randy and Merv Arrived

They finally made it! We waited outside the airport for an hour before they walked out. I was beginning to think maybe Merv had looked suspicious and had been picked for a full body cavity search! LOL Apparently they sat on the tarmac for a while as their gate still had a plane there. Merv looks a little nervous, wait till he sees the daytime traffic! He says he's been watching lots of u-tube videos on Indian traffic to prepare himself but it's not real until you are in it!!

First Day In Mumbai

Koshy took James and I for a drive after breakfast, traffic was realativly light due to it being a holiday today, all banks, office buildings were closed. I'm not sure what holiday it was but it made geting around a lot easier. We still got to experience the typical Indian traffic rules of which there are only three. Here there are in order of importance as far as driving goes.
1. Might Is Right (the bigger the vehicle, the more it has the right of way)
2. Nose First (if you get your smaller vehicle nosed out in front, you have the right of way, no matter the size of the other vehicle)
3. Don't Look Back (self explainitory!)
We found the Hard Rock Cafe Mumbai where James bought a couple shot glasses. We stopped at an airconditioned market with small stalls mostly selling watches, cellphones, colognes, shoes and some clothing. Mostly "western" stuff, didn't buy a thing. Got back to the house around 1430 whre Koshy's wife Kumari had an awesome Indian lunch waiting for us!
We're off to Juhu Beach to look around for a bit before going to the airport to pick up Randy and Merv at 2330 tonight. I'll post pictures later on

James and Phil Arrived

We landed in Bombay a couple hours ago. Our family friend of 40 years, Koshy, picked us up at the airport. I tried to take pictures inside but was told to put away my camera. I'll try to get some pics tomorrow when we pick up Randy and Merv. Koshy's wife, Kumari, served us a tasty meal of Birianni and Raita with Okra and Papadums. She has an Indian breakfast planned for us in the am. Life is good. I talked to Pearl and the kids on skype as well as mom and dad. We are off to bed for a while. It is 0150 and we have kept Koshy up late. More tomorrow.

Randy and Merv Start Their Trip

They will add to this later, I'm just saving a chronological spot!

15 Hours On A Plane

It’s midnight back home, James and I are currently at 33000 ft above sea level, travelling at almost 600 miles/hr. We are 2,200 miles out of Newark, just flew past the tip of, Greenland flying in an arc towards Iceland. Only 6,000 miles to go. I just dug my blow up neck pillow out of my bag, not for my neck but for my ass! Airplane seats are also your floatation device for a water landing and are not made to sit in comfort for a 15 hr flight! At least not for my butt that is short on cushioning! This neck pillow works perfect, takes the pressure off my tailbone, my own personal “air shocks”!
This flight is so empty it is unbelievable! The entire middle section of Business/First is empty, 18 beautiful big seats that recline 170 degrees are visible right through the door in front of me just 4 feet away. Do you think they’d let me go use one of those seats? Not a chance!! It’s just not right! I shouldn’t complain too much though, my friend Shane who flies for Continental, hooked us up with bulkhead seats in Row 16 which are great. It is the first row behind Business/First and we can fully stretch our legs out in front of us, no seats leaning back into us, and nobody beside us on this flight because it is so empty. We have an empty seat in between us. I just went for a walk to the back and people are laid out sleeping on 3 seat sections all over the place. The Economy section has 245 seats and I’m guessing there are maybe 100 of us back here! I guess flying on a holiday is a good thing. The Steward said this flight is normally packed.
The onboard entertainment is great. We each have our own little TV with access to almost 200 movies, plus a bunch of TV shows as well as video games. Crazy! When I last flew to India in 1995, you just had one choice. Whatever they showed you on the big screen. Even my trip to Turkey in 2003 only had a limited amount of entertainment. Next trip I’m betting most planes will also have internet access which a few already do.
I need another nap. More to come.

Hanging Out In Jersey

Ok, we made a quick flight to Houston, made it onto our plane to Newark and then sat at the boarding gate for an hour waiting for the thunderstorm to pass. We got into Newark at 1700, our next flight leaves at 2020 so we had lots of time to spare. James found the Brooklyn Brewery and polished off 2 $8 beers! Kinda steep for my taste. I'm more of a $2 Diet Coke guy!! :) I was sitting next to a cute 8 year old girl named Tatiana on our flight here. Her "real mom" lives in Houston and her "real dad" lives in Jersey and she travels back and forth by herself a lot. I don't think my 10 or 11 year old kids would travel alone. The airline looks after kids of course but it's still pretty brave I thought! James commented that my kids were pretty lucky, they don't have to do that back and forth thing like so many kids have to nowdays.

Next stop, Bombay!! More to come.