Namaste,
We finally made it! The Fulbrighters did have a few interesting issues along the way, but the planes were on time, and the flights went smoothly.
To start things off, one of our group members didn't show up at the airport until boarding. I guess he missed the memo on arriving 2 hours early for international flights. His excuse is that he forgot to start taking his malaria medication two days before the trip, so he took two pills on an empty stomach (supposed to take with food) the morning of our flight. He was sick as a dog, and the 14 hour plane ride didn't help him.
During the ride we encountered typical plane issues: One man's bags were too heavy, the flight or food didn't agree with some stomachs, some of us slept too much, others slept too little, and of course we got told more than one by the flight attendants that we couldn't invade their space back by the restrooms. However, in my opinion we had good reason to invade their space, because the only window shades allowed to be left open were those on the doors at the back of the plane. We flew from Chicago up through Canada, over Greenland, across Scandinavia, into Russia, and finally past Pakistan into India. The entire time we were in daylight, and most of the time the sky was clear.
So, being curious Fulbrighters we wanted to look out the windows. I personally got to see Greenland (the western side), the Ural mountains of Russia, and the tail end of the Himalayan range. A very nice Indian man that took a liking to our group was going to show us the wall built on the border of Pakistan and India, but it was too cloudy at that point.
I thought the flight went by quite well overall. I was slightly miffed because the TV player in my seat had a bad connection with headphones, so I didn't get to watch a single movie, TV show, or even listen to music. However, I did sleep for about 4 hours, got up several times to talk to other people while looking out the window and stretching, and my seat mates kept up some riveting conversation (we were of course in a middle row, and I was the second seat in).
Once we landed, it took two hours to exit the building. It's not because customs were difficult to go through, but because it is difficult traveling with a group. One had realized she forgot her wallet on the plane and the rest of us waited while she had to go back to the gate. We had to stop 3 times and wait on people to go to the bathroom, and twice to get money or exchange money. Once we finally got out security, we were greeted by two men who gave us each a dot of orange powder in the middle of our foreheads, and a lei of bright orange marigolds. We took a group picture (that I will have to get later because it was not on my camera), and then we were off to the hotel. It was dark by that point, so I still haven't really seen much of Delhi. I look forward to telling you about it on my next post!
We finally made it! The Fulbrighters did have a few interesting issues along the way, but the planes were on time, and the flights went smoothly.
To start things off, one of our group members didn't show up at the airport until boarding. I guess he missed the memo on arriving 2 hours early for international flights. His excuse is that he forgot to start taking his malaria medication two days before the trip, so he took two pills on an empty stomach (supposed to take with food) the morning of our flight. He was sick as a dog, and the 14 hour plane ride didn't help him.
During the ride we encountered typical plane issues: One man's bags were too heavy, the flight or food didn't agree with some stomachs, some of us slept too much, others slept too little, and of course we got told more than one by the flight attendants that we couldn't invade their space back by the restrooms. However, in my opinion we had good reason to invade their space, because the only window shades allowed to be left open were those on the doors at the back of the plane. We flew from Chicago up through Canada, over Greenland, across Scandinavia, into Russia, and finally past Pakistan into India. The entire time we were in daylight, and most of the time the sky was clear.
So, being curious Fulbrighters we wanted to look out the windows. I personally got to see Greenland (the western side), the Ural mountains of Russia, and the tail end of the Himalayan range. A very nice Indian man that took a liking to our group was going to show us the wall built on the border of Pakistan and India, but it was too cloudy at that point.
I thought the flight went by quite well overall. I was slightly miffed because the TV player in my seat had a bad connection with headphones, so I didn't get to watch a single movie, TV show, or even listen to music. However, I did sleep for about 4 hours, got up several times to talk to other people while looking out the window and stretching, and my seat mates kept up some riveting conversation (we were of course in a middle row, and I was the second seat in).
Once we landed, it took two hours to exit the building. It's not because customs were difficult to go through, but because it is difficult traveling with a group. One had realized she forgot her wallet on the plane and the rest of us waited while she had to go back to the gate. We had to stop 3 times and wait on people to go to the bathroom, and twice to get money or exchange money. Once we finally got out security, we were greeted by two men who gave us each a dot of orange powder in the middle of our foreheads, and a lei of bright orange marigolds. We took a group picture (that I will have to get later because it was not on my camera), and then we were off to the hotel. It was dark by that point, so I still haven't really seen much of Delhi. I look forward to telling you about it on my next post!
Glad to hear you guys made it safely Kerry!
ReplyDelete