The day before yesterday, yesterday, and today, I spent a total of 20 hrs and 41 minutes in a plane. If you count lay-overs and time zone changes, having left at 11:00 a.m. in San Diego and arriving at 12:00 a.m. in Chennai, over 37 hours were spent in transit.
A.K.A. time travel. Well maybe not Back to the Future style time travel since the hours will be made up when I return, but if you know much about physics, biologically I am actually a tiny bit younger in comparison to the world when I left. Ask Matt Brown about it and he can explain it to you.
I actually don't feel too jet lagged at all. My theory is that when I arrived in Frankfurt I was set up to be jet lagged. But then when I left again and arrived in Chennai the next day, I jet lagged my jet lag. So now I'm fine! Take that jet lag.
Frankfurt has a very beautiful countryside. The 747 we rode on was enormous. Here is a 'walking away quick get a photo' snapshot of the plane.
Three interesting stories:
Story number one:
We had two random security checks during our travels. It was probably one out of every 30 people who would get singled out by the airport security and have their bags sifted through. Odds are against me and my cousin getting checked though right?
Well my younger cousin got blasted both times. I TOLD him not to look so cunning, threatening, and dangerous....
If you know Nelson, this should be funny to you.
Story number two:
As we connected in Frankfurt to Chennai and attempted to get our boarding passes quickly from the German flight desk lady so we could make our flight, I had a dose of good luck. Well first it was bad luck. I approached her with the friendly 'guten morgan' greeting I learned way back in ELP and thought I could get a smile out of her. I got nothing. Straight up poker face. She printed out my boarding pass and then ripped it up. As my eyes widened in shock, she printed out a new one and said "Leider haben sie sich zu ride business class." (which means something like sorry, you have to ride business class)
And then she smiled.
To say it best- I've always wondered why people would pay triple the amount to ride business class. Not anymore. I fear I now will never be content to ride economy. And yes, I will shoulder the burden of keeping the business class details a secret so that you poor, deprived, and naive economy class fellows can remain in ignorant bliss.
Story Number three:
Our taxi driver's name was Dominique. He is a Christian. He is a loving father. And he is the worst driver in the world. My mother would have cried. My father would have taken the wheel from him. Nelson and I just laughed.
It was bad from the get go. He turns out of the parking lot and I ask him "so you are the best driver in Chennai right?" He mumbles something like "yah yah, me best driver". And then on Que. stalls the car in the middle of the Chennai freeway. But he did get us here in one piece so I won't complain too much.
It's now 3 a.m. over here and I need to wake up at 9:00 to be transferred over to the Enclave. Good Night everyone! Or good morning! Or....
First off, I loved your very first post. Very though provoking and well written. Second, I know how your cousin feels because on our trip to Europe last time I got "randomly searched" every time we went through the airport. Sometimes it's hard to not look like a threat, I guess. Third, I like your blog and love hearing how it's all going!
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