I boarded the 747 from Frankfurt to Bangalore just before noon.  Seeing so many Indians waiting in line, it was my first taste of the culture change that was to come.

The plane was packed, but I got a window seat thankfully, so I settled in for a snooze. I found that the 747 gave a bit more room, and the seats were a bit more comfortable.  It helped that I could lean against the window.

There are 2 lines of thought when dealing with timezone change.  Try to stay awake to synch with the destination timezone, so that when you arrive at nightime, you are ready to sleep even though your body says it’s still afternoon.  Or zonk out and sleep as much as you can.  I tried the former for about 4 minutes, and basically zonked out for most of the flight.

Plus when you are asleep on the plane, the monotony of being immobile is a bit more bearable.

A few hours in, I looked out the window and saw the black sea.  It looks like a beautiful area for a future visit.

Once we reached India, we started to hit some turbulance around Mumbai.  It’s monsoon season so Mumbai is heavily flooded.  I think over the season they get 2 meters of rain!  

I had taken a gravol earlier so I was still fairly sleepy.  At this point, I really didnt care how bad the turbulance was, but it was pretty constant from Mumbai to Bangalore.  It’s a strange sensation… it’s dark outside, you’re strapped in looking at the seat in front of your, but you’re getting bounced around in all 4 axis.  There’s no visual frame of reference for all this motion you’re feeling.  Gravol is your friend.

Finally… lights from below.  Nothing like the lights from Calgary or New York, but concentration of dim lights scattered here and there.  As we drop into final approach, I see signs, roads, and buildings very close beneath us… where’s the runway?  The ride is bumpy all the way down… finally the rear wheels touch, and we feel this left-right-left swaying from a cross-wind. Yee haw!! touch down at midnight.  We disembark and the first thing you notice is the humidity in the air, and the different smells.

The airport is well… a lot like the airport in Cancun- an older building made of plaster and stone.  We’re herded like cows to the immigration lineups where there’s about 6 stone-faced officers with stamps.  There’s a sign that says <paraphrasing> “less talk, get through faster”

I’m like the last person to get through immigration as I was seated at the back of the plane.  Next is baggage carousel, which after looking at the size of it and the sheer number of passengers crowded around it, I’m so glad i just brought 2 carry-on bags.  I change my CDN to Rupees… hand the man 100, and I get 3500 rupees back in 1000 and 100 bills.  My wallet feels full.

Final hurdle is the customs, give the man the slip saying I’m not bringing anything of worth into the country, and I’m through the doors. 

At this point, I’m supposed to meet the hotel driver holding a sign with my name.  I see about 7 well dressed drivers in uniform… nope, my names not there.  I pass through some more doors and see more drivers with signs… nope not there either.  At this point I’m not worried, but am wondering what to do. I walk to the main doors to peek outside, and I see hundreds of dark faces peering back at me.  Wow, Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore…

I was hesitant to walk out into the throng, as I haven’t left the building and I’ve been asked if I want a cab 3 or 4 times.  I double check to make sure I didn’t walk pass my driver, and I head outside.  Thankfully I spot my “Indian-fied name almost immediately- Mr. Deerek Lau”

Walk fast down the ramp and into the parking lot.  Looking around, I see building architecture that you just don’t see anywhere in NA.  Different materials- stone/plaster/wood.  The parking lot is controlled chaos with cars, scooters, bikes, and those 3 wheel jobs zipping around.  I hop into the backseat and off we go to the hotel. 

The driver is nice, I can kinda understand him… he’s already offering to take me around the city on a tour sometime.  I found that a lot, Indians are masters at drumming up additional opportunites and business.

The trip through the city is wild- the traffic- I’ll write about that later- is almost indescribable… and I thought Paris was tough.

So we’re winding through streets that look pretty rough- rubble on the side, some buildings look like they’ve been bombed, lots of signage selling various products… and all of a sudden the car makes a right turn through some gates, and voila, I’m at the Chancery Pavillion.   It’s a nice hotel, even by NA standards.  The doorman opens my door, and offers to help with my bag.  Pet peeve, when I’m carrying a small 19″ carryon, and a backpack, I don’t need help to carry it 10 yards to the front desk, or 5 yards to the car.  I know it’s part of the service culture, but really…

As I enter the building, I notice it again, that smell.  Every building you enter has a fragrance to it, and it’s different from building to building.  It’s like a spicy, heavy perfumy smell.  It’s like Potpourri mixed with feenugreek seeds. 

By the time i check in and get to my room, it’s almost 1:20am.  I plug in my laptop, and of course there’s a fee to use the internet.  Most NA hotels are free, but here it’s 200 rupees ($6 cdn) an hour.  The hotel is 260USD/day, which if you think of what that means to the average Indian, it’s a staggering amount.  I later find out that my driver rents a place for his family of 4 for 1200 rupees a month.

I get on MSN, send some emails, unpack a bit, and I’m ready for bed at 2am, and I’m getting up by 8am to meet the driver.  20 hours on the plane, 26 hours of straight travel.  ZzzZZzzZZzzz…
 

So I packed my bags and left last Saturday to fly 20 hours to pretty much the opposite side of the world.  I had no idea what to expect, the longest flight I had ever taken was to London, and that is less than half the time to Bangalore.  I found the hardest part was to leave E, and especially e behind.  I had become so accustomed to having her as a part of my daily routine, that it felt strange to not be there for her.

To give an idea of what I mean, I saw a clip of Tiger woods talking about the birth of his daughter… it about the experience of loving something so much, something that did not exist the day before.  I think people bond with their babies at different rates, some it’s immediate, some not.  For me, it started when e first grabbed my finger at 2 minutes old, and it’s grown steadily since… so I found it a bit hard to say goodbye.

My cab driver was from India, so we had a nice chat about monsoon season, and what to expect.  One annoying thing is having to show up so early for international flights.  2-3 hours.  I understand that security and checkin takes time, but I think they do this partly to spread out the rush, otherwise everyone would try to get onboard 30 min before flighttime.

I had a good 90 min to kill after passing security, so I bought a litre of water- $3.50 cdn and just chilled at the gate. 

I flew Lufthansa to Bangalore via Frankfurt.  The plane was a BIG airbus 300, and it was packed.  I didn’t notice this until later, but I think I was the only asian onboard.  I had the aisle seat and a Portuguese girl sat next to me.  She was flying home after working the Vancouver to Alaska cruise lines selling jewelry.  She pointed out a lot of her other crewmembers who were flying home to Europe, and other Europeans who were on the cruise.  Anyways, being on a plane was new for her, and she was pretty much breaking all the rules- yakking on the cell phone and reclining her seat during takeoff.  The Turkish couple in front told her that the cell phone will damage the planes electronics, and must be turned off.  Uh huh.

Anyways I won’t comment on how pretty she was because I’ll get punched by my wife… and honey, I didn’t bring my wedding ring because I didn’t want to lose it in a foreign country.

Although the plane is big, everyone is packed in so the space is more like what you find on a domestic flight.  Not great for 10 hours in the air.  Behind was a family with 2 small boys- at the age where they can talk, but there’s no volume control.  To occupy them, they had a small video game unit, with I’m guessing a violent game.  They were yelling “Get the bullets!! Over there, over there!!!”  Great.  In situations like these, IPOD is your friend.

I tried to sleep, but it was hard to sustain it for any length of time.  It really becomes a mental challenge- looking at your watch and seeing that you’re nearing your limit, but only 2 hours have passed. 

About the 8 hour mark, you’re over Europe, and the thought that crossed my mind was “I’m less than 50% of the way there”  Owwwww…  the best word I can use to describe sitting on a plane for 10 hours, unable to move is “ordeal”

The other helpful tip is to bring a pharmacy with you onboard.  Decongestant, gum, gravol, painkillers… 

We finally landed in Frankfurt- 2:50am PST, and 10:50am local time.  My connecting flight was leaving in 40 min, and we had yet to get off the plane and take the bus to the terminal.  Run Forest run…

The first indication that I was going to another world was at gate B45… FRA to BLR on a 747.  Again I was the only asian, and there was a handful of Europeans… and the rest of the flight was filled with Indians.  Not like 72nd and Scott Rd, but very traditionally dressed Indians.  Only 9.5 hours over europe, Serbia/yugoslavia, turkey, middle east, and finally India…