I thought we had had Mr Toad's Wild Ride in China - well it was in New Delhi for sure. The train was supposed to get into New Delhi at 10:30 allowing me plenty of time to get to the airport for my 2:25 am flight. Well, the train got into the New Delhi Main Train Station at 12:30 am - and the drive from the station to the airport with all of the traffic is an hour. Even sitting up front on the plane, you are supposed to check in 1 1/2 hours before flight departure - so I knew that there was a distinct possibility that I could be staying another night in Delhi.
Kurian met me at the train and as I got off he and I dashed to the car which the driver had waiting in the VIP area. Kurian has this little badge that he flashes and we get in special places - a necessity. We jumped in the car and off we went on our wild ride. I think we were on the other side of the road more than on the left side where the Indians drive (like the British). I don't know how we made it but the driver got me to the airport in 30 minutes - despite the traffic and construction. I gave him a good tip as I understand drivers make about $140 a month in India. He was excellent the entire time I was in India.
When we got to the airport, the real fun began. I couldn't figure out where to go but Kurian was directing me the entire time - thank goodness. There were no visible directions of what to do - we had to fight our way in the terminal doors. What looked like endless queues were actually "everyone from the village comes to send off or greet their relatives" according to Kurian. He beat us a path through this unorganized mess and I headed to the Luftansa First/Business check in - wrong - you have to get your luggage xrayed first before you can check in. Who Knew?
By this point it was 1:20 - everything in the terminal seemed interminable. I was the last to check in according to the agent but all went very quickly from there. Through immigration, customs, and security nd by 1:30 am I was in the premier lounge. I'm amazed that in 60 minutes we got from the central New Delhi train station to this point ready to board my plane. I'll make the plane after all - WHEW!
It ends up that the plane was late arriving so instead of departing at 2:25 am we left at 3am. The young agent directed me for some reason to the front of the line to board whenthis mass of people queued up - not sure how that happened but I was glad. When I got on the plane, I was so excited - I got to sit in Row 1 on a 747 with a seat that fully reclines - I've always wanted to sit there. It ended up that Vivek Bhargave, who leads DuPont HR for India, was sitting next to me. He saw the DuPont oveal on the carryon bag that Tim lets me use and we struck up a long conversation while we waited to depart.
I snoozed on takeoff (I think it is bumpier in the nost of this plane) and as soon as possible, I recined my seat into my bed, turned on my side, stretched out, covered up, and I was out asleep for at least 5 straight hours. I never head the dinner service or announcement or anything.
I awoke over Prague for a great airline breakfast (this was Lufthansa). On arrival in Frankfurt I went to the Business Class lounge and got on a list for a shower room. I finally got a table to sit since the lounge was packed and Vivek joined me for coffee. We had a great time catching up on the frustrations of working for DuPont these days. Sounds to me that it has gottenworse and reinforces my decision to leave DuPont in 2001.
My name was called and I got my shower room and it felt so good. The temperature had been 124 and was still over 103 at 1 am in Delhi so I wasn't the best thing to smell I'm sure. So I got all cleaned up and hung out in the lounge for this long layover. I also explored the airport and did some duty free shopping (Tim - got new Boss jeans and a Boss shirt!). I watched the Painted Veil on the plane coming in and it had beautiful scenery of Guilin where we had just been in China.
We finally loaded on the South African Airlines flight for Cape Town - loaded early even though they had posted a delay. I got Row 1 again with another seat that fully reclines - so wonderful - especially for this overnight flight. They did a great job. They have a camera in the tail of the plane that shows the plane taxiing and taking off - had never seen that before from that vantage point. The amenities and food were excellent. Once I gotmy seat into a full recline, the flight attendant covered me up and tucked me in with a wonderful full comforter - this is the most comfortable I've ever been on a flight. They even had a window in the First Class bathroom. It was an 11 hour flight of over 6,000 miles and I slept soundly for almost 7 hours and arrived in Cape Town somewhat rested.
Larry
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