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| Goodbye Boston! |
Chapter One: Boston, Massachusetts (late Wednesday evening)
So here we are. Boarding time. Or should I say bored-ing time? Well wait, this would be boarding time, however the flight is delayed. So we are in the AirFrance Lounge (quiet, complimentary food & drinks, lovely) and it's boring. The magazines and newspapers are in French and "je comprends un peu le français"; which translates to knowing words and still not being able to put together anything coherent. I picked up "Le Monde" and realized it was also a political article and not only lost interest, but lost interest in French. Merde!
I slept about 40 minutes on the way to Switzerland, Xanax had no effect whatsoever. I was so tired and uncomfortable; it was like 80*F inside the plane! I rolled up my jeans into shorts. Swiss Air doesn't have those little air vents like most planes that I've been on have.
So here we are. Boarding time. Or should I say bored-ing time? Well wait, this would be boarding time, however the flight is delayed. So we are in the AirFrance Lounge (quiet, complimentary food & drinks, lovely) and it's boring. The magazines and newspapers are in French and "je comprends un peu le français"; which translates to knowing words and still not being able to put together anything coherent. I picked up "Le Monde" and realized it was also a political article and not only lost interest, but lost interest in French. Merde!
I slept about 40 minutes on the way to Switzerland, Xanax had no effect whatsoever. I was so tired and uncomfortable; it was like 80*F inside the plane! I rolled up my jeans into shorts. Swiss Air doesn't have those little air vents like most planes that I've been on have.
Chapter Two: Zurich, Switzerland (mid-morning, Thursday)
Welcome to the land of chocolate! Toblerones are aplenty! We didn't leave the airport and unfortunately, it was so cold and cloudy/foggy it looked exactly like rural New England. Nothing to see here except chocolate, and white crosses on red backgrounds on everything to can buy. They're very proud here.
John noticed as we flew over Afghanistan that we were being escorted by some kind of jet - that was pretty unsettling, but at least this flight had the temperature right.
Chapter Three: New Delhi, India (after midnight, Friday)
Everybody warned me of the smell when you get off the plane. I was preparing for the absolute worst: the smell of sewage and dirt. I was actually pleasantly surprised that it smells like Los Angeles on it's worst smoggy day, sitting behind the exhaust pipe of a big truck. Being a Southern California native, I really didn't mind this. The really bad part was that you can literally see the smog inside the airport. Our driver was very easy to spot and drove us to the apartment. I was worried about the driving here, but once you've been to New York and Boston, it seemed the same. But, we also arrived in the middle of the night, so I think we hit Delhi at it's quietest & slowest.
Chapter Four: Greater Kailash Apartment (Friday morning)
This is not your everyday spotless/sterile hotel. It is a big apartment that is reasonably clean; not hotel clean, but clean enough and comfortable. All the amenities of home. For the most part it is quiet. I woke up around 7:45 (Delhi time) and can hear traffic, shouting, dogs barking, pigeons, and some kind of portly, green bird that looks like a cross between a pigeon and a parrot. We have not ventured out as of yet, so my opinions of everything may change. I haven't seen the city in daylight other than off the balcony. It's about 45*F (9*C) out and all I brought was a light sweatshirt: looks like someone's going to do some shopping!
Welcome to the land of chocolate! Toblerones are aplenty! We didn't leave the airport and unfortunately, it was so cold and cloudy/foggy it looked exactly like rural New England. Nothing to see here except chocolate, and white crosses on red backgrounds on everything to can buy. They're very proud here.
John noticed as we flew over Afghanistan that we were being escorted by some kind of jet - that was pretty unsettling, but at least this flight had the temperature right.
Chapter Three: New Delhi, India (after midnight, Friday)
Everybody warned me of the smell when you get off the plane. I was preparing for the absolute worst: the smell of sewage and dirt. I was actually pleasantly surprised that it smells like Los Angeles on it's worst smoggy day, sitting behind the exhaust pipe of a big truck. Being a Southern California native, I really didn't mind this. The really bad part was that you can literally see the smog inside the airport. Our driver was very easy to spot and drove us to the apartment. I was worried about the driving here, but once you've been to New York and Boston, it seemed the same. But, we also arrived in the middle of the night, so I think we hit Delhi at it's quietest & slowest.
Chapter Four: Greater Kailash Apartment (Friday morning)
This is not your everyday spotless/sterile hotel. It is a big apartment that is reasonably clean; not hotel clean, but clean enough and comfortable. All the amenities of home. For the most part it is quiet. I woke up around 7:45 (Delhi time) and can hear traffic, shouting, dogs barking, pigeons, and some kind of portly, green bird that looks like a cross between a pigeon and a parrot. We have not ventured out as of yet, so my opinions of everything may change. I haven't seen the city in daylight other than off the balcony. It's about 45*F (9*C) out and all I brought was a light sweatshirt: looks like someone's going to do some shopping!
And now the waiting starts for babies arrival!!! If you are in GK 1 at Chawla corner where there is a Bengali sweet shop, a chemist, there is a little store which sells bread, butter, coke and other groceries....everything you need and they will home deliver as well. He is a nice man and wont rip you off. If you need something after 11pm at night there is a 24 hour convenience store which is virtually opposite the ISIS centre it is called The Big Apple. Enjoy the Delhi experience.
ReplyDeleteHey John and Morgan. Thanks for the lively story about your trip. We are now considering Tulip House in GK-I as well, so your insight and experience in the next several weeks will help us finalize which to choose. Hope you guys don't suffer too much from jet lag. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to meeting up soon! The parrot-pigeon cross is called a parakeet , we have them in south and West outer London, suburbia too. Story in London is they escaped from a zoo and bred like crazy but I'm not sure lol :-)
ReplyDeleteHope you're having a good day.
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Hi Guys, you are in walking distance to M Block, great shopping, we found Kailash Market really good for everyday shopping, they have a milk vending machine that you have to take your own jug and just put a few coins in to getfresh milk daily. Take a look in Maxiums, the food is really good. Enjoy it is really nice area to stay.
ReplyDeleteI&D
So close...so soon...how very exciting!!!
ReplyDeletewow thats one long trip but so worth it! not long now :) agree with the I&D boys M block has pretty much everything you need :)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on making it this far, guys. We've been in Delhi for five years. Let us know (on our blog) if you need anything!
ReplyDeleteVery exciting! Best of luck.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on getting there! Step 1 tick, good luck with your wait you are almost there!
ReplyDeleteYour hear you must look me up guys, picked up my little one a week ago and she is just the best thing that happen to me. Look me up please love to meet up for a chat.
ReplyDeleteMichael
thundercats87@yahoo.com