The saga begins...

On Monday morning I still had a list of things a mile long that needed to get done before I left on Tuesday afternoon... like get a visa! I had submitted it as per instructions but had not yet received it back from the Indian consulate in Houston. They had guaranteed that it would arrive Tuesday morning in plenty of time. Well, OK, I can wait. Also needed a confirmation on my airline ticket, and hotel too. My company was taking care of it, but the primary travel person was gone this week, and her assistant was helping out. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking away...

OK, run to the bank and get money, run to the Post Office and mail some stuff, run to the store and buy socks and underwear, run to the drugstore to buy hand sanitizer, etc. Then Tuesday morning came and the list is getting shorter. The airline ticket and hotel had been now confirmed but the visa hadn't come yet. Oh well, one more set of errands still to run, so we're off again.

Woo hoo! What do I see when I get back, but a FedEx envelope sitting on my doorstep! Open it up and there it is, my precious passport and the necessary visa permission inside. Now we're ready.

A quick last lunch and wait for the taxi. And wait. And wait. He is now fifteen minutes late and I'm starting to think about panicking. I call the taxi company and, "No, sir, we have no record of you having called to request a pick up." WHAT?! NO TAXI?! I have a plane to catch in 70 minutes!!

Fortunately one of my housemates was home that afternoon (he works nights) and he was in a good mood, and agreed to take me to the airport. (Thanks, Tim!) He dropped me off and I run inside with my two bags and briefcase... only to see twenty girls on a high school sports team step into the queue line right before me. Now I'll never make it!!

Fortunately (#2) the desk agent told them that Group Check-In was over there and I was able to go ahead to the counter and check in. Drop my bags off for the TSA and go to the security point in the main hall, only to see lines and lines of people waiting. The clock is ticking away as I start to sweat bullets. I'm calculating how long it will take to go through security, then take the monorail out to the satellite terminal, and IT'S NOT GONNA WORK. And of course the line I happen to eventually get assigned to is waaaay slow. Finally go through the magic gate, put your shoes back on, collect stuff from the plastic bins, and walk briskly to the monorail station. They pull in, I get on, they pull out.

And believe it or not, when the monorail arrives at the satellite terminal, they are actually making an announcement: "Mr. Roger Agness, you are delaying the plane. Please run or we will leave without you." :)

So I put it into gear and SPRINT clear through the terminal out to my gate, give a sheepish smile to the gate agent, and down the jetway to the waiting plane. I sit down at 2:19 pm, they close the doors immediately at 2:20 pm, and the plane leaves at 2:25 pm right on time. I was never so happy, and so relieved, to be on that plane. I had three connections to make before arriving in India, and any little slipup would have endangered the entire trip.

Sit back, relax, and take a deep breath...

First stop: Detroit. Lots of snow on the ground. Doesn't look good. Even the jetway is cold getting off. But they do have a cool bright red monorail running right through the middle of the airport terminals to take you to your correct gate. Pretty cool, for the Motor City! A brief layover, and we're off again...

Next stop: Schipol Airport, Amsterdam. A lonnnng flight, but I did get some sleep. No snow on the ground, but at 7:30 in the morning it is cloudy and gray. Not very inviting. Another cold jetway. Schipol Airport is very new with lots of high tech, lots of different languages, lots of things to look at. White people are starting to be in the minority, as everybody at this gate is going to India. Another brief layover, and we're off again...

Third stop: Mumbai Airport. Formerly known as the city of "Bombay" this airport was pretty old, and pretty low-tech compared to Amsterdam. Lots of marble, but it needed cleaning. Lots of people, even though it was 3:00 in the morning. And some mosquitos buzzing around too. Guess it's a good thing I had gotten that prescription for anti-malaria pills, even though it cost $150... ten dollars a pill! Ouch. That hurt almost as much as the shots did that I had to get for tetanus, typhoid, diptheria, and hepatitis.

One high point of the wait in Mumbai was meeting a family from Virginia who were traveling home for a wedding. Dr. P. Prabhakara Reddi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of Virginia. We talked, and they told me about their family and how even though they go back to India every two years, they see many changes as India modernizes. Even the airport terminal we were in (we had taken a bus from the International terminal to the Domestic terminal) had a brand new entry hall with soaring arches and a bamboo forest. Thank you, Dr. and Mrs. Reddi (and daughter) for being my traveling companions for a few hours.

One low point of the wait in Mumbai was that my luggage never came. At least the second bag didn't. The first bag took forever to come out on the belt, but the big one hadn't arrived by the time the belt stopped turning... and people started leaving. Finally I see one of the Indian baggage men wheeling my suitcase out. Boy, was I happy!

The meal on the plane was good. I got a vegetarian "Mutter Paneer" which was rice with two kinds of curry, salad (potatos, tomato wedge, lime wedge, garbanzo beans, and a sauce), yogurt with pineapple chunks and rye seeds (for flavor, they say), and a tasty dessert with a pastry crust on the bottom, thick pudding-like sauce, papaya chunks, and almond slices on top. Mmm good.

Fourth stop: Hyderabad Airport, in Hyderabad India! Arrive at 4:30 in the morning, pretty dazed by jet lag but surviving so far. The project manager was waiting outside the terminal with a driver who takes me to the hotel. (Nice place. More about it later!) I check in, get up to my room, and fall asleep... just as India is waking up for the day.

I left Orlando at 2:25 on Tuesday afternoon and got to Hyderabad early Thursday morning, with just a couple of hours of sleep in there. The bed is going to feel nice.