Around the world in 30 hours

We got the tickets!! As planned, we will be spending the month of June in India! Total time spent in air: 24 hours (not counting the Phoenix to LA trip). Total time from LA to India: 30 hours. Air miles from here to there: 10,429

We have to get ourselves to LA by our own means. We will leave in the middle of the night from LA, fly along the coast up past Alaska, over and down to Taipei, Taiwan. That leg of the trip isn't bad because we sleep for awhile. In Taipei we are all herded into a holding area that is cut off from the rest of the airport, contains hard plastic chairs, a drinking fountain, and a bathroom. No diversions like TV, music, or even watching people pass by, and it's pitch black so we can't even look out the windows. Then back on the plane to Kuala Lumpur. That leg of the trip, from LA to KL lasts 19.5 hours total, not including the Taipei stop.

Those 19 hours are going to be so incredibly long. Not only my fear of flying which I try to hide as best I can for the sake of the kids, but the boredom. No matter how well I pack the kids' bags, there is no way we can pack enough stuff to keep them entertained that long. We will just have to cope. I remember last time that I was very grateful for on board entertainment. Except that, even though the airplane has several channels, they all run on a loop of about 6 hours. So by 18 hours you have watched everything that's interesting, played all the games until you are sick of them, and you actually care a lot about the next bit of food they bring around because that's the one thing left that you haven't seen or done yet. The flight attendants, bless their hearts, try to keep everyone happy with food. They bring the regular meals and then they bring little snacks in between. You look forward and learn to savor as long as possible even if it's a little wedge of soft cheese and some crackers. You learn to spread it on there artfully because there's nothing else to do. There is constant food, and most of it is pretty decent. The only bad food was when I ordered Indian vegetarian meals our second trip. Ugh! The Western vegetarian meal is pretty good. Don't ever order the regular meals unless you like things like broiled eel. My poor husband got that on our first trip over. It's not surprise that he declared himself a vegetarian a week or so after that meal.

The bathrooms. Where shall I start. There is a big area in the middle of the plane and again at the end where there are about 6 bathrooms. There is a constant line to the bathrooms, especially right after movies end or after meals. A lot of people just don't care about cleaning up after themselves and as a result the floors are covered with wet papertowels, there are no clean papertowels anywhere, all the little amenities like mouthwash and toothbrushes and even cheap maxi pads are gone in 15 minutes. The sinks have to be depressed to be emptied and no one bothers. The trash bins are overflowing. Oh, and how could I forget the socks? They give everyone a pair of polyester disposable socks to wear. A lot of people coming from warm climates wear sandals and that high up, your feet get pretty cold. But it's a good idea to remember to remove the socks before you go into the bathrooms. Yep, I learned that the hard way.

We will land in Kuala Lumpur at around noon their time. The airport is very modern and shiny, lots of glass and metalwork (see photo above). There's an underground train which the girls will probably enjoy. Last time our layover was more than 12 hours so we were shuttled to a hotel and allowed to take a shower and rest. This time our layover will be 7 hours and so we will be stuck to pass the time in whatever way we can inside the airport. We may be able to take a bus tour or something if we can get a temporary visa. Maybe I should look into that. They might even have showers like the Singapore airport does and if so we will be doing that for sure. I always pack fresh underwear. Which works out great unless you have to dump your bag on a table for random inspection. Yep, learned about that one the hard way, too. About 1.5 hours before our flight we will be checked into another holding area. It's glass enclosed and once in, you can't go out again. Last time there were no bathrooms and 15 month old Abi chose that moment to produce a poopy diaper. Note to self: have Nitara wear Pull-Ups for the trip. We will travel 3.5 more hours to Chennai, India on a smaller plane. This leg of the trip has mostly Indians. They play Bollywood movies instead of American and Chinese movies. The trip is short but seems like forever because we are so ready to get off planes for awhile.

But wait! We are not done yet! Because after we get off the plane in India at around 10 or so at night their time (exactly 12.5 hours different from the time we came from in the States), we have to wait in a long, long, long line. (See black and white photo above). Get our luggage, hope it hasn't been tampered with, go through customs. Then outside is where we will see our family waiting for us. They always have to hire a taxi for our luggage because their own cars are too small to fit it all in, plus all the people who come to meet us. Writing this, I can almost hear the sounds of the cars beeping and the put-put of the autorickshaws, and feel the warm humid air on my skin. And I can also almost feel the sandpapery feeling on my eyeballs from the jet lag, the feeling of not quite being there, the joy at seeing my family and wanting to talk to them all night but knowing that they are tired and want to go to bed.

My dad has offered to house-sit. He and Diana might even move into our house if they decide to remodel their kitchen. Our cat and fish will be taken care of. We need to wait for Abi's passport to come (her old one expired), get Visas for Vignesh and Nitara, shop for gifts, write and rewrite lists of what to bring and what to do before we leave. Ten weeks until we leave!

I found this travel page by Sue Knight and was finding myself nodding in agreement at what she said. She writes,

The air was damp and heavy and there was a pervasive pungent smell in the airport lounge but ‘lounge’ did not really seem apt. No one seems to lounge much at this airport. We stood waiting and scanning the belt for our bags for an hour before we realised that most of the luggage from our flight had been taken off the conveyor belt almost immediately and was piled in a heap at the back of this arrivals hall. The clues about quality assurance or the lack of it were everywhere. Arriving in India was different from anywhere else that I had experienced. . . . The air in Chennai is toxic. The fumes from the two stroke mopeds seep through the open windows and even what might seem to be the tightly sealed air-conditioned vehicles. It gets in your clothes, your nose, your eyes, your ears, the pores of your skin. It is virtually impossible not to associate in Chennai. It is an assault of the senses. And I fell in love with it.