Saturday, November 10, 2007

A Passage to India


The two days of flying are over and I have arrived in Bangalore safe and sound--hooray! After flying to Chicago; then to Frankfurt, Germany; and finally on to Bangalore, I have adjusted very quickly to the time change. Thanks to Paul Dominski's words of advice (he's my excellent VP at Target--thanks, Paul!), I managed to sleep and stay awake at the right times to beat the shift. I am now 11 1/2 hours ahead of Minnesota time (BTW: that extra 1/2 hour is due to India not wanting to split the country into two time zones...)

My flight into Bangalore was right on time (1:20am), but, alas, the luggage was not. Apparently the luggage door on the airplane was stuck and so we all waited (patiently) for the luggage to arrive. During the wait, all of the lights in the airport went out (power outage), and everyone started clapping and cheering. Wow! Now there's a reaction--they seemed to celebrate! I'm going to like it here :o)

Even though there were a couple of grumblers, most people were content just sitting and waiting. I had on my earbuds listening to Lisa Gerrard, so I was just fine. And, after an hour and half of waiting, the baggage carousel started moving and slowly parcels began to appear. Hey--it was only 3:00 in the morning and after traveling for 2 days, what's the difference?!

Despite the delay of the luggage and a small "snafu" with my Visa in Chicago being delayed, the move to India has been smooth and easy--just the way I knew it would be.

My room at the Oberoi Hotel is absolutely beautiful. The staff is very friendly, the weather is beautiful and sunny (reminds me so much of the climate in Hawaii), and I am very comfortable. I unpacked this afternoon and have been catching up on email. It's nice to have my laptop with me... I feel like I haven't even moved at all! Now to venture outdoors and check out the city.

Namaste :o)

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