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…