India 2nd time around

May 14, 2010 Friday

How I managed to get this website is well beyond me, but here I am.

Bob, Keagan, and Tom dropped me off at O'Hare sometime around 5PM Chicago time on Monday, May 10, 2010. On the way, Keagan and I were talking about air travel. I started a sentence with "They say you are safer up there than you are down here" and Keagan finished with "in an earthquake". Out of the mouths of babes.

Arrived in London at 11AM London time. Had to travel west of Ice4land and then north of Iceland to avoid the volcanic ash. Took more fuel than normal and approximately an hour longer than normal--just going by what the pilot said. One of the stewardesses said they didn't know if they would get back to the state at all the previous day due to the volcanic ash--smller planes which could not take on enough additional fuel were grounded from going from London to the US. I took my courage in both hands and actually went on the tube to Picadilly--downtown London--and took a 2 1/2 hour bus tour of London. The weather was damp and 46 degrees so, besides the fear of getting loost and not making it back to the airport for the flight, I wasn't any more adventurous than that. Found the tube, found the Picadilly line and returned to the airport with no problem at all. Score one for the MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was notable to me how very many people of color were in London. There was a one day festival of many, many artistically decorated elephant statues throughout the city. You could purchase them with the money going to a fund to save the Asiatic elephants. You don't know until after purchase what artist decorated your elephant. The man didn't say whether the elephant statues were then delivered to you, and I forgot to ask. Good thing I didn't purchase 6 of them!

In this London tour, we passed by Trafalgar Square no less than 4 times. But also on the route were many of the sites visited when David and I visited Kevin in London many years ago. It was notable to me that I actually recognized many of the sites and remembered them.

Apparently all airports have their own system, and all are different from the US. I had plenty of time when I returned to the airport Sufficient time to twice end up at the wrong gate in the wrong terminal. Not to worry. Someone appeared to be looking out for me, and, unlike later in this story, I was pointed in the right direction. Nevertheless. There aren't screens for departures posted well ahead of time in London. One of the workers found a board for me, and I just stood there waiting until the gate was finally posted (well past the Boarding time listed on the ticket). I had already scoped out who in the group watching the Board looked like they might be going to Mumbai and kept an eye on them to make sure I wasn't left in the dust.
Slept maybe an hour on the plane to London and maybe another hour on the plane to Mumbai.

Ah, Mumbai. Although I had reset my watch according to the time on the airplane communications device, it apparently wasn't the right time. I kept going from one boarding area to another boarding area--being sent from one to the other--committing the cardinal sin of asking for direction. I had forgotten the guidebook advice that Indians will give you directions even when they don't know them! At any rate, by the time I finally arrived at the correct area and the correct gate, the plane to Kochi was long gone. I guess you don't need/want to know all the ins and outs. Suffice it to say that the Boarding agents weren't really interested in getting me on another airline--also explaining I would have to pay extra. Finally, it was too late to even get on another airline. So I opted for the 5:45 AM, which I think would have been Thursday morning. Rather than risk missing another flight, I spent the night in the airport reading, watching people, and catching very few winks. I couldn't check-in until 11:30 PM and couldn't get into the secure area until 4 AM, but no one bothered me, and there were a couple of places I could get diet pepsi (!) and safe water to drink. (Interesting sidenote: Bathrooms had both western-style toilets and eastern style--ceramic holes in the floor as well as the sprays.

Nothing was open on the secure side, but there were toilets and safe drinking water. Yet another airport system for departures. I could never fully understand the loudspeaker, which was anxiety producing. If one is lucky, one's arrival city is posted whereupon people line up, get their tickets and passports checked for the umpteenth time, board a transporting bus, and taken to the airplane. Many, many airplanes are lined up on the tarmac, side by side. All passengers departing for domestic flights are apparently bused to their airplane. Miss the bus, woe be unto you! It had to take multiple buses to fill up the plane. When everyone is onboard, the plane taxiis and takes off. Kochi was no problem at all. Arrived, deplaned, boarded a bus, had my luggage, found my driver--Peggy Frick-spelled correctly this time, and was gone in under 30 minutes. Amazing. And this was a large plane.

Will sign off for now. Am safe and sound and being well taken care of.

Love,
Mom/Peggy/Granny