We (Chris and I) got to the airport around 3:30. Our reservations were a little odd – booked through Lufthansa, but the carriers are United and Air India. So first we go to Lufthansa. They say “go to United”. We head towards United, and we see the Lufthansa United quick check-in. So we use it, then walk over to the person at the United counter to check our bags. “This is the domestic check-in” she says. “But we just checked in right there at the Lufthansa quick checkin machines” we say. “There’s no one there from Lufthansa, but let me take care of it for you.” she says. And she does.
Then we sit around for three hours until our flight is SUPPOSED to leave. I decided to splurge just a little bit and upgrade to Economy Plus so I could (a) have 5” more leg room and (b) choose an aisle seat. Did I mention that we didn’t have seat assignments? Sigh.
When they start boarding, Chris still doesn’t have a seat assignment. He finally gets one, and it’s a center seat in the Economy Plus section. Eight hours in a center seat. 5” more legroom doesn’t matter much at that point.
And then we sit on the plane. And sit. And sit for 1.5 hours while they fix and test something. We finally took off at 8pm. Arrived at Frankfurt Germany with 45 minutes before our flight to Mumbai, on which we didn’t yet have seat assignments. Fortunately, I got an aisle and Chris got a window (not same row, but right behind each other), which made us both happy.
Two meals on each flight. Three movies on the Chicago-Frankfurt leg, one movie on Frankfurt-Mumbai.
Arrive at Mumbai, go through immigration, and wait for our bags. And wait. And wait. My bag finally comes out, and the belt gets turned off. No bag for Chris! It’s now between 12:30am and 1:00am, and Chris gets to search for his bag, fill out forms, and generally kill another hour. I went outside to find our driver, then came back inside to find Chris and see what’s going on, then went back outside to get the address where we’re staying (which isn’t where we thought we were staying) and went back inside to give it to Chris. Then I went back outside to tell the driver and wait for Chris. Then when he didn’t come outside for a long time, I went inside again (the security people were starting to look at me funny) to find out if he was done. We finally got in the car to drive from Mumbai to Pune at about 2am.
Driving in India is like a combination of roller coaster, playing Chicken, and testing the horn. The driver honked the horn to tell other vehicles he was there. He honked the horn to get them to move over. He honked the horn to tell them to go faster. He honked the horn because he hadn’t honked the horn in a while.
On the backs of all the trucks is says “Horn Please”. Apparently – between the lack of or failure of rear lights, small or nonexistent side mirrors, and total insanity – using their horns is not just culturally accepted but desirable!
I did manage to sleep for a bit, here and there, during the three hour adventure.
We got into Pune, and it seems that our driver and escort didn’t know where to find the hotel. So we drove around a block about three times before they found it tucked away on a small side street.
And here we are. Chris and I are sitting in my room, typing emails. I unpacked. There are no DRAWERS. There’s a free-standing closet, a safe, wifi internet, a TV, twin beds, an interesting bathroom (more on that later), but no drawers. Bizarre. We had grilled chicken sandwiches (not grilled chicken, but grilled sandwiches) that were quite tasty.
Now we’ll probably nap, shower, and then go exploring.
Here's a picture of Chris in my room.
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