Home again, home again, jiggity jig

I've been home for a few days now and am starting to feel like myself again. I don't think that jet lag was as much of an issue as getting sick was. As is my typical M.O., I started feeling poorly Sunday night, within about 24 hrs of arriving home. It feels like bronchitis - although not as severe a bout as I've had in the past. I've had to sleep in a semi-upright position so that I'm not constantly coughing. After a few nights of tossing and turning, I've taken an ambien at bedtime for the past 2 nights - has helped immensely. I'm hoping the crud will clear thru my lungs relatively quickly and leave me the hell alone!



Flights home were relatively uneventful, which is always a good thing. I left the hotel at around 4 a.m. on Saturday and we made it to the airport in under 45 minutes (due to both the lack of traffic and my driver's lead foot). At one point, I had to ask the driver to slow down - he was going THAT fast. When we reached the airport, a gentleman from the hotel was there to greet me. I thought that he would just help me inside, but he stayed with me all the way to the security gate. What an enormous help he was! He led me to the business class line for check-in, despite my protests that I was not flying business class. He told me not to worry about it. He had "first class" tags for my carry-on luggage, procured after an exchange in non-English with someone. I decided to go for the "don't ask, don't protest" policy. At check-in, not an eye was blinked re: which line I was/should be in. I asked if any upgrades were available and was told that they were currently reserved for "higher level" airline customers (e.g. those with platinum memberships, etc.). The woman helping me did say that if there was availability after these members checked in, she would try to get me upgraded.

My "escort" (nothing dirty, even though that word makes it sound like it!) then took my carry-on and guided me through to security. He was just so helpful and made the process much, much easier. I tipped him well and headed thru security with no problems. The lines were pretty short (one line for women, one for men). In total, I was at my gate within under 30 min of arriving at the airport... meaning that I had about a 2 hour wait for my flight.

When it was my turn to board, I was informed that I had been given a complimentary upgrade to business class - nice! The seat was extremely comfortable and reclined a full 180 degrees. I was able to sleep for about 4 hours and then read and relaxed and ate the rest of the way to London. Had about a 2.5 hr layover in London, and then was off to DC. No upgrades this time - but no crying babies, either, so it all evens out. Was able to get about another 3 hrs of sleep.

Relatively painless getting thru customs & immigration once I reached Dulles. Made it thru in about 30 min, tops, and then happily greeted mom & headed home. Received another warm greeting - this one from the pup - upon arrival home. She seemed a little confused (as I anthropamorphize her behavior), but she seemed happy to see me. She seems to be her normal, happy self - apparently, no worse for her adventures.

Thanks so much for all of the nice comments - glad that so many of you have enjoyed reading my travel adventures! Next trip to India = December, so I'm sure I'll have plenty more to share (NOT, however, synchonized massages - been there, done that, don't need to do it again!).

Did someone say cake?

I believe that I have mentioned the kindness and graciousness of so many people that I've met during my time here. Two more examples were shown to me today. At around 4 pm, Meher came to my office & asked if I'd like to go upstairs for a "mini-coffee" (I make fun of how tiny the cups are - really, like a dixie cup of coffee!). When we got up to the cafeteria, the entire team was there waiting for me, to say goodbye. They had a beautiful chocolate cake with "Thanks Jill" written on it - sweet, right? Of course, I didn't realize that there were words written on it until Meher turned it about 90 degrees clockwise in my direction :). We all stood around and had cake and I thanked them for their hospitality and talked of the great time that I've had. They thanked me for coming & for all of the trainings and said they were looking forward to seeing me when I return in December. One of the women, Yukthi, came to me separately and gave me a gift of a lovely pair of earrings - very thoughtful and quite unexpected.

Got back to the hotel, bought a few more pillow covers (at the Galleria, attached to the hotel), packed and then went downstairs to the coffee shop for dinner. Had a nice meal (spaghetti with pesto - ha!). I then asked for the check. Before it arrived, 3 of the waiters and the hostess (all of whom I had seen every morning at breakfast for the past 2 weeks and about 4 times at dinner), came over to my table bearing a....chocolate cake with "bon voyage" written on it! I had mentioned to the hostess this morning that today was my last day here. Wow - can you believe it? I was floored! It was just so, so nice of them. Each day, the hostess and at least one waiter called me by name. I guess being friendly and smiling and saying please and thank you really do go a long way! I had a SMALL slice of the cake - and it was so delicious! Chocolate cake with chocolate mousse - yum! I then asked if they could please enjoy the rest of the cake. They wanted to send it up to my room and I explained that I would not have the chance to enjoy it (plus - could you imagine - a whole cake?!).

Several very sweet (literally and figuratively) ways to end my wonderful time here.

Wonder if mom will bake me a cake tomorrow? Kidding, kidding!

p.s.

But, oh, how I will miss the mangoes here!!

Last day in India!

My 2 weeks have flown by - especially this past week. Hard to believe that at this time tomorrow I'll be on my first flight home (fast asleep if I'm lucky). Had a great dinner last night with Meher at a place called Shiro. It is in one of the fanciest shopping centers (malls) I've ever seen. The architecture inside of the restaurant was amazing - the room where we were seated had a ceiling that was 3 - 4 stories high... not to mention a huge stone sculpture of a head behind me. The food was eastern asian and was quite tasty. Didn't have sushi, but had some other yummy dishes, along with a litchi martini. The company, of course, was wonderful. I feel as though Meher and I have been friends for a long time. We were instantly comfortable with each other and have shared much laughter over the past 2 weeks.

I packed a lot of work into this trip. I delivered at least one training on 8 out of 10 days and had team meetings (3 - 10 people each) on 9 of the 10 days. I feel as though I was able to accomplish a lot and now have a better understanding about how things operate.

As good of a trip as I have had, I am quite eager to come home. I miss my pup (of course!), friends, family & the familiarities of home!

Wednesday? How did that happen?

Oh my goodness, this week is flying by. Can't believe that I head back home at the end of the week.

Sorry for my lack of updates (for my faithful followers!). I don't blog during the workday and I've gone out to dinner the past few nights - and have gotten home too late to do anything much more than sacking out.

Monday's dinner was with 5 colleagues (my 2 main contacts + the 3 team leads). We went to a place called Bonsouth (or Bon South - not sure), which is a Southern Indian restaurant. I typically eat Northern Indian food, so I had thought it would be fun to try Southern Indian. We had quite a delicious meal, including a few preparations of prawns/shrimp and a few of chicken (for the meat-eaters in the group - the vegetarians ate various yummy things of their own, a few of which I tasted). Nice evening all around - but a little bit quiet on the part of the team leads, as they were dining with their manager & his manager (who are both very nice and - in my mind - not intimidating... unless they want to be!). As for me, well, these are the same 3 women who took me shopping on Saturday, so they have no problem being chatty with me! Well, if not chatty, at least chattier.

Last night, my new friend, Gordon, and I met up with the wife of another colleague. Tom (said colleague) couldn't join us, but Julie was able to. What a fun, fun night! Much wine, much laughter, much irreverance. My kind of evening! I hit it off with Julie right away (had expected to, based on Gordon's description). The restaurant was called Olive Beach (no relation to Olive Garden - let's just put that right out there!!) and served mediterranean food. We shared mixed bruschetta with various toppings (I suppose that's redundant - the various toppings = mixed) and some herbed shrimp. Gordon and I both had a rib-eye (yes! in India!) and Julie had lamb. Everything was very tasty. On our way back to the hotel, we dropped Julie off at home... and then came inside for one final drink. I think that's the one that caused the fairies to come and put cotton in my mouth during the night.

Must get ready for work now & head into the office - but I didn't want to leave my fans hanging :)

More soon.

Goodbye, modesty

Today was my spa day. Jumping to the conclusion, I am much less achy and more relaxed than I was 5 1/2 hours ago. That said, the process was a little bit interesting. Manicure and pedicure were really nice. Before getting to mani/pedi, though, I had my synchronized massage (2 masseuses). Both female, which I expected in this country (b/c of my preconceived notions of their thoughts on modesty). Just had an IM conversation with mom talking about my experience, so I'm pretty much going to cut & paste my end of the conversation. Mom's end pretty much consisted of laughter (with an occasional, "better you than I!"):

I went down at about 12:45 for my 1:00 appt. Sat for a few minutes, then was led back to the women's area and given a locker, changed into a robe - the usual spa experience. Was led upstairs to the treatment room. Inside the room, I was asked to disrobe - completely. Right there, in front of the masseuse. There goes my modesty. The masseuse put on a teeny-tiny loin cloth on me. It did not help me feel more covered!!

Next, she had me sit on a stool and she stood behind me for my scalp and neck massage. Very relaxing, but I sat there wondering why I needed to be naked (save for my loin cloth) for that part of the massage. During the head and neck massage, a second masseuse came in and stood in the back of the room while the first masseuse finished.

When my head and scalp massage was done, I was led to the table (in all my glory, still) and instructed to lay face down on the table. Suddenly, my very small loin cloth was untied, with the ties moved to the side. Super. Because I felt the need to be even more exposed. And then, because that wasn't enough, these 2 women started massaging my butt. EEEEEKKKKK! As soon as I got over the surprise, it was actually fairly relaxing. They did butt, back, arms, legs, shoulders. Having 4 hands simultaneously massaging me was great, good amount of pressure (they asked to make sure). Again, mostly relaxing - except for the fact that I could never completely get past the fact that I was completely naked.

Then it was time to roll over. So I rolled, once again in all my glory (except that tiny piece of fabric). They started massaging my stomach - which I do not particularly care for, but I did the "grin and bear it" thing. Soon moved on to legs, neck. Sort of partially massaged around my chest, but not full-on. Very, very weird. (Maybe if they had been masseurs, I would have enjoyed it... sorry, mom & dad!).

Then it was time for a shower (a very large stall shower in the treatment room). I was led over to the shower (yes, of course, naked). And then...

One of the women CAME IN THE SHOWER WITH ME! I was thinking, "Are you friggin' kidding me? Can I not attempt to regain one tiny shred of my modesty???" She asked if she could apply a scrub and I agreed (really, what would be the use of declining at this point?). When she finished applying the scrub, she left me alone to shower - thank goodness! I thought she was planning to do that for me, too!

Showered alone (mostly - it was a frosted glass stall shower and both women were right outside), put on my robe (with help, of course - thanks, because I want to be exposed just a little bit longer). Went back to the locker room, re-donned several critical (in my book) pieces of clothing, and went off for my manicure and pedicure. No nudity, fortunately.

Would I do the massage again? Not sure. The 4 hands massaging simulaneously was quite luxurious. Maybe a second time would be better, b/c I'd be fully aware of what I was getting into... but probably not, b/c I really, really, really like the way body parts not currently being massaged are appropriately draped in the U.S. :)

Hope you've all laughed as much as mom did (and mom is probably laughing again, even having heard the story once!).

Off to have some dinner. Fully clothed.

And then I laughed

As I've mentioned, my room is quite lovely and comfortable. The bathroom has a stall shower and a deep soaking tub. The tub also has a hand-held shower spray. Lots of options to stay clean!

Several nights ago, I decided to take a bath. It was very nice and extremely relaxing. I added a few squirts of shower/bath gel to turn it into a bubble bath, read a magazine, definitely relaxed. After I drained the tub, I used the shower spray to rinse off residual bubbles. To switch from bath to shower, there is a small lever that is moved from right to left.

Fast forward to yesterday evening. Decided that another relaxing bath was in order. Turned on the faucets and BAM! Hit by a major spray of water! The hand-held spray had become a twisting snake and shot water everywhere - ceiling, entire bathroom floor, sink, magazine I had brought in to read, and - of course - me. I was finally able to tame the beast by forging through the stream and turning off the faucet. Yes, I had indeed forgotten to switch the lever back to the right-hand (tub) position. After I turned the water off, I stood dripping for a moment and then just started laughing. It was ridiculous how wet the bathroom had become. Truly, the process from faucet on to faucet off could not have taken more than 10 seconds. But, oh, what a powerful 10 seconds! I wiped the floor with towels - a bit treacherous, given the slippery marble. I then drew myself a proper bath - which felt a bit like a bath in a rain forest, given the fact that I was unable to clean the ceiling and therefore had to contend with occasionally drips of water during the first few minutes of the bath.

Lesson learned... I hope! I recall a similar incident in Italy a number of years ago so perhaps, in the worst case, I will have a few more years before this happens again!

Saturday: Jill shopped and Lilly came home!

It's around 9:30 pm on Saturday evening and I'm relaxing from my day of shopping. A few of the women from the office told me that they would take me shopping today in downtown Banagalore. I met one of them at about 11 am, and then we met up with the others within 45 minutes or so. We shopped on Commercial Street, which is insanely crowded with both cars and pedestrians. It was around 95 degrees - I felt my sunblock melting on my face and neck (yuck!). We went into about 6 stores total, and I made purchases in 3 of them. I mostly stuck to textiles - pillow (cushion) covers, cotton napkins, stoles (heavy cotton scarves), wall hangings. I was very glad to have my new friends there to do the bargaining for me! I'm sure that I still paid a little more than they would have had I not been there, but I felt as though I was getting a lot for my money. The first store, which several people had recommended, is called FabIndia. It has fixed prices (no bargaining), which I prefer - I don't feel as though I'm being charged more that way!

Mid-shopping we stopped for something to drink. We all had lassi, a yogurt drink that can be salty or sweet. I went for the sweet version - tried the salty once and it was just too strange for me. I also drank most of a liter bottle of mineral water. Those who know me know that I do not do well in the sun and heat (delicate flower that I am!), so I was feeling a little faint at that point. Nothing bad, just a little weak. The lassi and water perked me back up for more shopping!

After shopping, we went to a local shopping mall to have lunch. The top floor had a nice restaurant (Indian) with a buffet lunch. It was quite tasty and it was very nice to sit in an air conditioned place. The place we stopped for drinks was air conditioned, too, but the A/C felt meted out - kind of like when my grandmother used to press down on the gas and then let up & coast, press on the gas, coast. It was A/C, not A/C, A/C, not A/C.

Spoke with mom (hi, mom!) on IM a little while ago. It is Saturday morning at home, which meant Lilly's coming home day! Mom picked her up from Affectionate and brought her home. She appears to be a little confused/out of sorts (as we anthropamorphize her behavior!). I told mom where to find the tastiest treats and gave full permission for spoiling! This is the longest that Lilly has ever been away - that, combined with the fact that her Grandma picked her up and brought her home, could certainly explain her being out of sorts. Or maybe she's just exhausted after 9 days of playing!

I have eaten fresh mango each and every day. I'm so happy to be here during peak mango season! My return trip is tentatively planned for December. It won't be fresh mango season then... but it also won't be 95 degrees! It will be winter, so maybe 70 - 80ish. That's my kind of winter (especially closer to 70!).

Debating whether to eat dinner or not. It's almost 10 now (got distracted while writing). I had a relatively large lunch and ate a few small mangoes about an hour ago, so I think I may skip dinner. Will eat lightly tomorrow morning, as I have a 1 pm appointment for a massage at the hotel spa. Not just any massage, mind you. A "synchronized" massage, with 2 masseuses (masseusi?) simultaneously massaging my aching body. The massage also includes a head massage with oils, which I'm sure my dry hair will just soak up. After the massage, a pedicure. It's going to be a lovely day :)

Friday exhaustion

It has been a great week, but I am really, really beat. Had considered going to Mysore tomorrow, which is supposed to be beautiful, but between the 5-6 hr round-trip drive and the hot, hot weather, it just wasn't appealing to me. Instead, I'll meet a few of the women from the office at one of the major shopping streets downtown and we'll go shopping - thinking about pillow covers (for small, square pillows), scarves, wall hangings, sandalwood soap. I'm definitely big on the textiles here - they're gorgeous (and quite reasonably priced). My driver (who brings me to and from the office every day and will drive me downtown tomorrow) has insisted that he knows the best stores for me to shop. Hmmm... kickbacks, much?! I will, of course, take the advice of my colleagues.

Had another dinner with my new friend, Gordon, and we had another fun-filled dinner. At one point, we were laughing so hard that we were each clutching our stomachs. I'm hoping that we can meet up for dinner once more before I leave at the end of next week. I also have dinner plans for Monday and Thursday - the restaurants at the hotel are great, but it will be fun to try other places, too. The restaurant tonight was called Zen and the menu contains sections for Chinese, Thai, Japanese and Korean. We mixed and matched - papaya salad (Thai), shrimp tempura (Japanese), wok-fried beef with ginger and chili (Chinese) and pad thai (Thai - and the best pad thai I've ever had). Had a bottle of wine (from Cakebread in Napa, one of my favorite wineries!). The price of wine here is insanely expensive, especially in comparison to the food. Our food cost about 1/2 what the wine cost. Obviously the cost of importing is pretty steep.

I'm planning to make appointments for the Leela's spa on Sunday. They offer a massage performed simultaneously by 2 therapists - I think I need that! Also, perhaps a pedicure and a hair treatment (they use all sorts of lovely oils, which my dry hair will just drink in!). Otherwise, no plans on Sunday - and I am looking forward to that! I've been keeping quite busy here, so I'm ready for some downtime. I do hope to visit Mysore (along with Agra, to see the Taj Mahal) on my next visit, which will likely be in December.

Cultural differences

Just saw a TV ad for a skin product line called, "White Beauty" by Ponds. The products are for skin lightening. See - some parts of the world *admire* my fair skin!

Dilemma

Want = watch American Idol (Wednesday's episode is airing tonight). Need = finish the training that I'm giving on Monday and Tuesday. Want is winning. Need will kick in about 45 min from now. Means I'll be up working till at least midnight, but I've gotta have my priorities!

Another really good day at the office. Gave 1 training & had a few 1-on-1 and small group meetings. Very little free time/down time, which makes it hard to get everything accomplished during the workday. Happy tomorrow's Friday. May go to Mysore on Saturday (about a 3 hr drive - apparently, many palaces and other beautiful places) with a few colleagues from work. I think Sunday may = shopping and spa (I need a massage!!).

Juxtoposition

Counting cows and oxen while listening to Katy Perry and Lady Gaga on the radio.

Non-luxury photography

Obviously, not everything is going to be quite as beautiful and serene as my hotel. Here's an idea of the insanity of the city:

3 more camels

I thought the 2 camels I saw the other day were an isolated sighting, but clearly not the case, as I saw 3 more on the way to work this morning.

Today was my 3rd day at the office. I've been coming home pretty wiped out each evening, but the days have all been very good and productive. Everyone I meet is just so gracious and welcoming - it's really been nice meeting so many people. Again, though, I completely stink at learning the names. Even a few of the people who I thought I recognized I realized today that I confused with others. Ah well - I'm trying!

More in a bit...

Another busy day

Had another good day at the office. Got back to the hotel at around 8 pm and then met a colleague for dinner. Gordon and I had never met before, but you wouldn't have known that from our time together - we spent nearly 3 hours together, laughing for most of the time. The food was excellent, too (ate at the hotel's Indian restaurant), but the company was truly a joy.

Monday, Monday

It's only 8:15 pm, but I am beat. Had a good but exhausting day at the office. Driver picked me up at around 9:30 and we headed the 15-20 km to the office. Traffic was crazy in some parts, but not the whole way, so we made it in about 30 - 35 minutes. The office building is pretty modern. I was escorted upstairs (they do a lot of escorting in India!) and met my "key contacts" (e.g. coworkers). Settled in a little and talked about the plan for my 2 weeks here and then I met the whole (30 person) team. At this point, I can probably name 6 or 7 of the people, max. Not only is it a lot of new names and faces, but definitely unfamiliar names! Thank goodness for the one guy named John (not kidding!!).

Traffic in Bangalore is truly something to behold. I read something in the newspaper this weekend that referred to it as "Jamgalore" (as in [traffic] jams galore). Seems about right! Most of the roads have marked lanes, but I believe that's just for show. Cars, motor scooters, bikes, pedicabs, trucks and buses all fight for the same space - definitely every man/woman for him/herself. Stop signs are rare and, again, pretty much ignored. Cars just merge into traffic and assume that oncoming cars will stop. It appears that, for the most part, they do. I'm hoping to not see the alternative.

No cow sightings yet, but there were 2 camels being led along the side of the road this morning.

This evening's traffic made this morning's look positively serene. Downpours/thunderstorms added immensely to the typical insanity and it took about an hour to get back to the hotel (again, less than 15 miles from the office). It is shocking how close the vehicles get to one another - inches away is not an exaggeration. The drive also includes: a symphony of car horns, speed bumps that force cars to come to a near stop, an endless line of pedestrians crossing traffic whenever they're able (and with no apparent concern for the vehicles headed directly at them).

Went upstairs to the cafeteria for lunch. Got a cheese sandwich and chips. Total cost ~60 cents. And yet I looked at the room service menu in the hotel and the cheapest glass of wine is $20. City of contrasts, much?

Can't bear to face any more people right now, so I'm going to order room service and turn in early. There's a "mandatory" call on my calendar for 11:30 pm. I normally take mandatory quite seriously, goody-goody that I am. Tonight, not so much.

Thanks for the nice e-mails - glad you're all enjoying this!

Confession

It is no secret that I absolutely adore my furry princess, Lilly. As much as I miss being near her, and as much as I enjoy having her snuggling near me in bed, I do not miss:

• furry sheets
• waking up in the morning in some strange contortion as my body struggles to find a way to work with the immovable mass that it confronts.

That said, I'll be thrilled to see her again in a few weeks!

Mango and papaya and litchi (oh my!)

Got a good night's sleep, thanks to my friend ambien. I don't typically rely on it, but I need to get on a normal schedule as quickly as possible (off to work tomorrow!). It's almost noon local time on Sunday and I'm starting to feel tired again. It's not a typical tiredness; more of a lightheadness & feeling of being "off".

Had another nice breakfast this morning. I do love bread & cheese & salami when I travel to Europe & it's no different here. I've also really been enjoying the fresh fruit. I know that I need to be very careful about fresh fruit in India, but I feel safe eating it at the hotel. Throw away any notions of mango or papaya that you may have, based on the fruit available in the U.S. Fresh mango & papaya here are simply in another class altogether and makes the usual U.S. stuff feel like a pathetic imitation. Don't get me wrong - I love mango, even in the U.S. I'm not typically a huge fan of papaya. Here, though, the ripeness and sweetness and sunny-ness (does that even make sense?) are just exquisite. I had fresh litchi (lychee), too, which was also tasty. Still, nothing tops the mango. I could almost write a poem - it's that good.

After breakfast, I strolled around inside & out for a few minutes (temperature hadn't yet gotten intolerable for my sensitive nature) and took a few pictures:

As you can see, it's all quite lovely.

OK - time for a quick respite. More later!

May 2nd - part 3 (food!)

I'm feeling so, so out of it. Just went down to one of the hotel's 3 restaurants for dinner. This one is a 24-hour "coffee shop," though much nicer than any coffee shop I've visited. They have a wide variety on the menu - salads, sandwiches, burgers (yes, they serve beef), steaks, pasta, pizza - plus some Indian dishes. I went with Indian - paneer tikka masala (cheese cubes in a tomato-based sauce) and spinach & potatoes, along with some garlic naan. Everything was very good. I greatly overordered, but I did it b/c I wanted the flavor of more than just one item. I ate about 1/2 of what they brought (in other words, a normal meal) and drank close to a liter of bottled water. Staying away from alcohol until I've recovered from my jet lag (or "jet log" as I just mis-typed).

My room rate includes the coffee shop's breakfast buffet, which I enjoyed this morning. All sorts of fresh fruit (mango, pineapple, bananas, grapes, etc.), cheese, meats (salami, etc.), smoked salmon, a wide variety of breads & pastries, yogurt, cereal, as well as hot choices (bacon, chicken sausage, and some various Indian food choices). Fresh juices include watermelon, orange, a few others.

The hotel also has 2 other restaurants. Zen offers Japanese, Thai, Korean and Chinese food, including sushi, Korean barbeque, and a noodle bar. Jamavar is the Indian restaurant, with many Northern and Southern Indian choices. I'm sure that I'll visit both of those restaurants soon. Room service is also available, for those nights that I've had people overload (and we all know that will happen to me!).

There's also the "Library Bar," which is described as an "old English lounge." Perhaps I'll go sip cognac and smoke a stogie :)

OK - off to read a bit in bed and then turn in. It's only 9:20 pm local time but I'm feeling the need for sleep.

May 2nd - part 2

Oh, the power of a nap! No, I'm not completely myself - not by a long shot - but my long, luxurious nap was quite delightful. I'm feeling slightly less loopy, so on to more tales of travel:

• London's Heathrow airport is large but easy to navigate. All sorts of interesting stores and spots to have a bite to eat. Having been fed (I didn't say "fed well") on my flight over, I wasn't really hungry. I wandered around a bit and then purchased 90 minutes worth of Internet time. After about 20 minutes, my gate was listed, so I logged off the connection as directed (to save my remaining credits, rather than having them eaten up) and headed over to the gate. Very easy to get to - elevator down, followed by a clean, easy, quick train (like a subway) ride to the B gates. Got to my gate, re-logged in... and suddenly my new account is nowhere to be found. Tried unsuccessfully for about 15 minutes and then decided to purchase another 90 minutes. I paid via AmEx and decided I'd let them help me sort it out when I get back home. Was only able to use about 10 minutes of the new time. Ah well. Remember, I saved all that money by not being able to upgrade my flights!


• On this flight (747, vs. a 777 over to London), World Traveler Plus was the section between 1st class and Business class. Of about 40 or 45 available seats, only about 15 ended up occupied. That allowed a few people to move around and we all had plenty of room. No one was seated beside me (would have been better still if the divider between the seats was moveable, allowing me to lie down, but no such luck). No babies, no children (I swear, I don't have anything against babies and children... except when they're fussy on planes. Don't hate me for it.)


• Another flight delay - this one due to someone not showing up at the gate on time, though his/her bags had been loaded on the plane. After they offloaded the luggage, we had another delay due to flight traffic. In the end, we left about 30 - 40 minutes late.


• Meals were a step or two up from the flight to the U.S. (no mystery meat). About 1/2 an hour after dinner, I took an ambien and fell asleep about 20 minutes later. When I awoke, about 5 1/2 hours had passed - nice! Even though the flight to B'lore was about 3 hours longer than the flight to London, the longer flight felt so much shorter and more comfortable.


• No gates available for arrival, so we had to stop on the tarmac and wait for shuttles to take us to the terminal. Only delayed things by about 10 minutes. Worst part = getting down the stairs with my carry-on (bigger roll-on than I normally take onto a flight). Ended up not being too much of a struggle & made it over to the terminal in ~ 5 min.


• Immigration was quick and easy. I had been told that there were procedures in place at the airport (along with 8 other airports in India) to examine arrivals for swine flu, including blood pressure, temperature & throat swab. Fortunately, the process ended up being a simple form which was then reviewed with someone sitting at a small folding table (and wearing a mask, I might add! The only other masks I saw on the entire journey were worn by 2 people at Heathrow). I was passed thru quickly and was on my way. Total delay for this screening (including waiting in line) was perhaps 10 - 15 minutes.


• Our luggage was already starting to come out by the time I made it to the carousel... but my bag took another 20 minutes to arrive. Ah well. Truly, do we get our luggage any more quickly in the U.S.? It arrived fully intact and the TSA-approved lock was still on, un-tampered-with. Thank goodness the chocolate that I brought for my new friends in India was safe!


• Exited the main area to find someone from the hotel waiting to greet me. He took my bags and led me to the driver. Had a nice, easy ride to the hotel. Though the airport is about 42 km (30ish miles?) to downtown, there was minimal traffic on a Saturday morning at around 6 am. Definitely not the chaos of downtown Bangalore traffic that I remember from 4 years ago (I'm sure I'll experience that on Monday getting to the office). No cow sightings yet, either, for those who asked.


• The hotel is really lovely. Lots of security, from gates to numerous security guards. Pulled up to the reception area where I was greeted by name. A few people took care of my bags while I was led to my room (no front desk check-in required). Had to pass thru a metal detector before proceeding into the hotel.


• Again, quite a lovely hotel and my room is great. Comfortable king-sized bed with great pillows* and soft, cool sheets (remember, I took a nice long nap!). Desk for working, several 2-line phones, small couch, nice TV (I just turned it on & flipped channels - and I found last week's Amazing Race!! Woo hoo - I may be able to keep up with it while I'm here!), DVR (with DVDs available at the front desk).
• * There is a pillow menu available, in case I'm not content with those provided. Choices include: Spelt pillow, exclusive neck supporting pillow, horse hair pillow (for babies/children), down special pillow, non allergy bolster "imprima", smoker pillow "imprima", standard duofill pillow, super soft pillow ("a popular choice with our lady guests"), chimera pillow, firm pillow, contour pillow, and slim pillow. Wow. Who knew? I may have to order one or two just because I can.

• A fruit bowl (apples, grapes, tiny bananas) was waiting on the coffee table, along with several chocolates and bottles of water.


• Room has a balcony with a small wood table and 2 chairs. Not huge, but not tiny, either. The balcony overlooks the beautiful gardens - including a small waterfall! - at the back of the hotel. I can't see the waterfall from the balcony, but I can hear it.

• I was supposed to be in a "deluxe" room (the lowest class of rooms), but I believe they gave me the next class ("conservatory"). According to what I've read, conservatory rooms are the ones that overlook the gardens & that have complimentary fruit & sweets. I'm not great at estimating room sizes, but I'd say more than 400 square feet.


• The bathroom is very pretty, with a separate shower stall and deep tub, along with a separate room with the toilet. Nice, big towels - love that!

• Downfall of a lighted magnifying mirror = problems that you didn't realize that you had! Thank goodness for tweezers, for all the strays I missed under my eyebrows!


• Starting to feel a little loopy/out of it again, so this will be all for now. More later!

May 2nd: Arrival in India - part 1

The good news is that I've arrived safely and am in my beautiful room in the lovely Leela Palace. Getting here wasn't too awful, though there were some bumps along the way. The good, the bad, the funny:

• Getting thru security is a breeze when your mom is a volunteer at the airport! She assisted me through the special employee lane, which took us a grand total of ~5 minutes. Savings over the regular security area was probably at least 30 minutes. Thanks, mom!
• Airport was pretty quiet, given that my flight was scheduled to depart after 10pm. Easy walk (love those moving walkways!) down to my gate.
• Tried to get an upgrade to business class, but no luck. It ends up that British Airways charges the full differential between business & what your current ticket cost - so there's no way I'd spend that kind of money. If they had told me they could do it for, say, $750, I would have been all over it.
• "World Traveler Plus" = Economy Plus = much, much, much more like Economy than Business class. Let me emphasize much. Only differences: seats are in front of the regular "World Traveler" section (= faster exit from the plane); more legroom (7", according to the written specs); more seat width (1" - as if I could tell!); more incline (3" - whee! I'm practically on my back!).
• I was able to get an aisle seat, but it was a bulkhead seat. A bulkhead seat next to a mother traveling with her newborn son and her 3 1/2 year old son, plus her mother (who was a godsend). Mom and Grandma were very nice. Older son was a bit vocal at first, but not painfully so. He slept for much of the trip. Newborn was cute as could be - especially when he was sleeping. When he was awake, he cried. A lot. Fortunately, I had "connected" with the mom early on, so I wasn't as annoyed as I might have been otherwise. Ipod headphones really helped, too.
• We pushed off from the gate but weren't on the tarmac for long before they took us back to the gate. There was a problem with the system that controls the chimes, intercoms, etc. Apparently, the cleaning crew spilled water into the control. At least that's what the pilot said (may be true, but was it really appropriate to call out the cleaning crew on that?). Mechanics came in, took out the system, replaced it with a new (dry) system. Then we had to "top the fuel off" - did we really use that much going to & from the tarmac?? Finally took off at around 11:40 pm, about 90 minutes late.
• Dinner options were beef or chicken. Except the chicken didn't look like chicken, according to Grandma. I agreed with her. The (very nice and quite handsome) flight attendant said, "I *think* it's chicken"). It's bad when even the flight attendants don't know what they're serving you. So I had either chicken or "chicken".
• Could airplane bathrooms be any more claustrophobic? No, I do not think that they could be.
• Was able to doze off and on a little, though I would have preferred not to. It's hard trying to read, though, when all the lights in the plane are of & everyone else is trying to sleep. I didn't want to be the one jerk with her overhead light on. I definitely tossed and turned, trying to get comfortable. It felt too warm for me, though many others were covered up with blankets.
• Landed in London at 11 am local time, about 50 minutes behind schedule. Not a problem for me, as my layover was about 4 hours. This just cut it down to 3 hrs.

My eyes are struggling to stay open, so I think I'm going to finally have to give into a nap. To be continued! Preview: flight from London to Bangalore was much better!

T-6 to India

Just setting up this blog prior to my trip to Bangalore next week. Plan = to post journal entries and pictures while I'm there. It remains to be seen how much jet lag and work will interfere with my plan...