Delayed... Delayed and Delayed!

Wow, what a LONG trip it was getting halfway around the world!! I survived though and am currently sitting in my hotel room in Delhi. After all the stress of the ticket fiasco, I arrived at the airport a bit drained and stressed. I know that it will all work out before I have to go home, but I was stressed out getting them to fix the two tickets just to get me here! I arrived at the airport to find that my flight was delayed an hour because of the snow in London (the plane was coming from London). I had great company to wait with though. My mom was there with her friend Marti, and my friend Jennifer and her daughter Cali had just flown in from New Hampshire and were waiting at the airport. By the time I had to get ready to go through security, I could feel the exhaustion and stress of the past few days settling in. Being sick doesnt help! I must admit, it was really nice to have a little bon voyage group standing there waving me through security! While waiting in line I started talking with a pilot standing behind me. And when I say talking, I really mean flirting! He was cute!!!! He had a British accent and we talked about India (he had just been here last week). Turns out he was the pilot for my flight to London! When we parted ways I said "alright, you have a safe flight now" and he turned and chuckled! :) He'd BETTER have a good flight!!!! The flight to London was amazing... it was half empty so I got a whole row of 3 seats to myself. I probably slept for 5-6 hours of the 10 hour flight. There was a very sweet man sitting across the aisle... he was heading home to Scotland. When we landed, he threw a dark chocolate Cadbury bar and a bag of chips at me and said "this will help you along on your journey." Very sweet!!!!

Can I just say that London is freezing! Who would ever want to live there!? IT was in the 20's and they walkways are not heated! BRRRRR!!!!! It had snowed and there was snow on the ground. I quickly realized that my next flight was also delayed. It said it was delayed 1 1/2 hours. I was famished and luckily my mom had packed a peanut butter sandwich for me. I ate half and sat around watching planes. I made my way to the gate and waited, and waited, and waited. The original flight time was @ 3:25 and the sign said 5pm was the updated time but at 5pm we still hadn't boarded. At this point, exhaustion was starting to set in and believe it or not, I was getting grumpy! :) Boarding was a nightmare! I am starting to see some patterns here. If you are over 70,you can cut to the front of the line. If you have small children, you can push your way in front of other people as well as bring along both sets of grandparents. If you have any sort of disability, you get pushed to the back of the pushing mob of people :) Or at least that's how our boarding went (and later our customs line in India).


We get onto the plane, get buckled in and the pilot comes over the intercom to say that while the plane was waiting, ice developed on the wings and we were going to have to wait for a de-icer. The wait was an hour and a half and then the proposed wait for take-off was 30 more minutes. I just about lost it. WE are sitting in the seats, can't get up, can't watch movies and they wouldn't feed us or give us water. Luckily I had the 2nd half of my PB & J or I might have had to knock someone out! The good news is that the de-icer came sooner... the bad news is that the have to turn off the air inside the plane while they do it. So now we are all grumpy, hungry, thirsty, tired AND hot! Oh... and thanks to the hot... STINKY! There must have been about 20 children on the plane under the aeg of 2 years so you can just imagine how well they handled the wait. The two guys next to me were very sweet but I was about ready to throttle them by the end of the flight. One was a 74 year old man from Vancouver who is flying home to India for a visit. The other was in his 30's and also was from Canada. They didn't know each other and promptly started debating about some topic... in Hindi... loudly... with hand motions. So here I am, stuck in a seat, sweating, hungry, sick, frustrated, listening to a bazillion children screaming, trying to dodge hand movements. To make matters even better, the woman with crying baby #4 stood up to get something out of the bin above me and pour a whole bunch of water all over me. So now I can add SOPPING WET to the mix. The flight gets underway and everything seems to be going smoothly. We eat and then I try to get some sleep. Yeller #1 and Yeller #2 are continuing their debate in the seats next to me. I try turning on the radio full blast. No dice. I then add a blanket over my head. I can still hear them. I then tie my sweatshirt around the towel which is around the headphones with the radio on full blast. Loud mumbles is the best I could do. I tried meditating and praying. I then try alcohol... excuse me Sir Flight attendant, I'd like a bottle of wine and quick. One bottle of wine later and all it does is make me tearful! I was so frustrated. (repeat of the Miami airport incident anyone? :) ). when we landed in India, 3 1/2 hours after our scheduled time, you could not get me off the plane fast enough!!! I practically ran down the walkway! The first thing I noticed though is the smell. It was hazy when we landed... a thick mixture of fog and dense smog. L.A. doesn't have a THING on Delhi smog! The smell though is something I'm not sure how to describe. It's a mixture or burning wood (a sweet pungent smell) and an incense smell. It's thick and makes you want to cough. I really like it though... it's somehow comforting and soothing.
(this image was above where passport control was... I LOVE the hands!)Passportcontrol was much of the same pushing and shoving... I even got elbowed by an 8 year old as he merged into line right in front of me. I can tell that the moral of this trip is going to be patience. Good news though is that my luggage made it here! YEA!!! Ray (the team leader) met me at the airport, poor guy hadn't gotten the message that my flight was delayed and had been waiting since 4:30am! He seems REALLY cool!!! He rode back to the hotel with me, giving me the low-down on the hotel, what to expect today/tomorrow and the like. On the way, we dodged about 23 potential car accidents, saw about 30 beggar children in the streets, dodged to miss a cart being pulled by two oxen and went the wrong way on a one way street. WELCOME TO INDIA! I LOVE IT!!!! :) Driving to the hotel, I suddenly felt invigorated and peaceful. Gone were all the hassles of getting here or knowing how I am going to get back. Instead, I simply sat back and watched. Ray dropped me off at the hotel and immediately turned back to the airport. Daniel is already here but his room has a Do Not Disturb sign on it. It looks like I will be sharing a room with Natasha (National Guard from Canada). but she will not be getting here until tomorrow so I have the place to myself. The room is small but clean. The beds are ridiculously close together so that should be fun... getting to know each other right away! The first time I went to use the loo... I practically fell in because it is much closer to the ground than we are used to. As I am typing, I can heard a pigeon trying to hack into the room through the airconditioner and there is something crawling in the wall to my right... ah, nothing like it :) the shower has a small window in it and under that is a simple wood plank, let's just hope it is well bolted down as the shower looks out onto the street!! Well, I think I am going to head out to scavege for some food and see if Daniel or anyone else is around.