6/4/12-6/6/12
My flight was due to leave for India at 6:15pm from Detroit. I woke up early and packed all day long because, well, I'm not an early packer. By the time lunch came around, my mom was running last minute errands for me, printing papers, and helping me remember items to pack while I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. But, alas, I made it out of the house "on time," got to the airport in plenty of time, and then got to relax at the gate. This is my first international experience (other than Canada, when I was 8 or so), so I really didn't know what was involved at the airport even though I've been flying all summer (1 trip to Florida, 1 trip to Virginia).
First thing I learned: I had no idea how often you need to show your passport! If I lose that, I'm toast for sure!!
Our flight left Detroit at ~6:15pm and landed in Amsterdam, Netherlands around 8:00am Amsterdam time (~2:00am Detroit time). That's an 8 hour flight. On that flight, I got NO sleep and was very disappointed because I really wanted to sleep during what was normally the night for me. But, the movies, games, and music kept me busy during flight. I watched Moneyball and Big Miracle (about the whales in Alaska) and played Texas Hold-'Em on the TV screen. The plane was 2x4x2 seating and I was isle seat of one of the 2's, so not too bad. Just had to get up whenever the guy next to me wanted to get up. And, he TOTALLY hogged the window when we were landing...I wanted to see some of Amsterdam! But otherwise, it was an ok crowd and somewhat empty-er flight. There was one baby crying on and off, however, which wasn't very fun. We got a dinner shortly after we took off, and I had the vegetarian pasta which was pretty good! I was very surprised by the amount of food (variety on your plate) that they provide for the meals. And they come by like every half hour it seems with some sort of drink option if you'd like. I haven't taken advantage of the complementary wine and beer on international flights (mostly because I wasn't sure that I heard them right when they said that), but I plan to on the way back home! Breakfast was a gross microwave breakfast sandwich of "eggs" with peppers on an English muffin. That, plus frozen orange juice and a frozen banana. The breakfast sandwich made a few of our tummys hurt, so I only ate like half of it.
We had a layover in Amsterdam for about 2 hours. I felt EXTREMELY non-world-traveller-ish when I walked off of the plane and there were signs all over and I was like, "woah, they speak a different language here?" Duh. We did some walking around and got on the internet for a little bit which was nice to be able to communicate back home to my parents who, I'm sure, are just worried sick if they don't hear from me very often.
To get on our next plane, we had to go through security again. In Amsterdam, each gate has it's own security and certain times that they will start letting people through security. Something very interesting was that we didn't have to take off our shoes! But, I got the bottom of my bra patted down because it had an under wire. It was by a female, but still...that's never happened to me in the US! We left Amsterdam around 11:30 Amsterdam time (~5:30am Detroit time) and arrived in Delhi, India around 10:50pm India time (~1:30pm Detroit time), making it another 8 hr flight. On this flight, I was more tired since I hadn't slept at all, so I got tops 2 hours of sleep on and off. For lunch, we had our choice of chicken or vegetarian Indian. I went with the chicken, since I don't know how often I'll get it, and I'm not sure that an airplane Indian meal is going to give me the proper appreciation. Overall, it was good, but I found the rice very spicy, so I couldn't eat much of it. The salad had an odd dressing...not sure what it was. We also had a "snack" meal, kind of for dinner but not. It was a fruit cup, a salad with a strange fruity dressing that I didn't like much, and a strange vegetarian burrito thing. That was definitely more spicy than I was thinking, so I couldn't eat much of it. Plus, I had no clue what it consisted of, which scares me. I guess, welcome to India! Going to have to get used to that sooner or later! On the plane, I watched 2 movies purely for the hope that they would put me to sleep and they did relatively well, watched an episode of Glee, and read some of a book. LOTS of screaming children on this plane, but they settled down by about halfway thru the flight.
We now have a 12...yes, 12...hour layover in Delhi. Since it's the middle of the night here, we can't really go out and explore, so we're stuck in the middle of the airport. We did a little exploring, exchanged our first dollars for rupees, and played some Taboo. We all got showers at this little spa thing in the airport, and we got 2 hours in comfy chairs with Wi-Fi. I am now about to say goodbye to my Wi-Fi. It's about 5:45am here (8:15pm Detroit), and our flight to Chennai leaves at 10:00am, getting to Chennai at 12:45pm. Here's to (hopefully) getting some sleep on the tile floor of the airport!! Next post, I should be in Chennai!
P.S. In India, we are 9 1/2 hours ahead of the time in Michigan. It's weird, because that means when you read what I write about a certain day, I've pretty much already lived out the day when you're just starting. I'll probably only post times from now on in Indian time, since I'm supposed to be adjusting!
My flight was due to leave for India at 6:15pm from Detroit. I woke up early and packed all day long because, well, I'm not an early packer. By the time lunch came around, my mom was running last minute errands for me, printing papers, and helping me remember items to pack while I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. But, alas, I made it out of the house "on time," got to the airport in plenty of time, and then got to relax at the gate. This is my first international experience (other than Canada, when I was 8 or so), so I really didn't know what was involved at the airport even though I've been flying all summer (1 trip to Florida, 1 trip to Virginia).
First thing I learned: I had no idea how often you need to show your passport! If I lose that, I'm toast for sure!!
Our flight left Detroit at ~6:15pm and landed in Amsterdam, Netherlands around 8:00am Amsterdam time (~2:00am Detroit time). That's an 8 hour flight. On that flight, I got NO sleep and was very disappointed because I really wanted to sleep during what was normally the night for me. But, the movies, games, and music kept me busy during flight. I watched Moneyball and Big Miracle (about the whales in Alaska) and played Texas Hold-'Em on the TV screen. The plane was 2x4x2 seating and I was isle seat of one of the 2's, so not too bad. Just had to get up whenever the guy next to me wanted to get up. And, he TOTALLY hogged the window when we were landing...I wanted to see some of Amsterdam! But otherwise, it was an ok crowd and somewhat empty-er flight. There was one baby crying on and off, however, which wasn't very fun. We got a dinner shortly after we took off, and I had the vegetarian pasta which was pretty good! I was very surprised by the amount of food (variety on your plate) that they provide for the meals. And they come by like every half hour it seems with some sort of drink option if you'd like. I haven't taken advantage of the complementary wine and beer on international flights (mostly because I wasn't sure that I heard them right when they said that), but I plan to on the way back home! Breakfast was a gross microwave breakfast sandwich of "eggs" with peppers on an English muffin. That, plus frozen orange juice and a frozen banana. The breakfast sandwich made a few of our tummys hurt, so I only ate like half of it.
We had a layover in Amsterdam for about 2 hours. I felt EXTREMELY non-world-traveller-ish when I walked off of the plane and there were signs all over and I was like, "woah, they speak a different language here?" Duh. We did some walking around and got on the internet for a little bit which was nice to be able to communicate back home to my parents who, I'm sure, are just worried sick if they don't hear from me very often.
To get on our next plane, we had to go through security again. In Amsterdam, each gate has it's own security and certain times that they will start letting people through security. Something very interesting was that we didn't have to take off our shoes! But, I got the bottom of my bra patted down because it had an under wire. It was by a female, but still...that's never happened to me in the US! We left Amsterdam around 11:30 Amsterdam time (~5:30am Detroit time) and arrived in Delhi, India around 10:50pm India time (~1:30pm Detroit time), making it another 8 hr flight. On this flight, I was more tired since I hadn't slept at all, so I got tops 2 hours of sleep on and off. For lunch, we had our choice of chicken or vegetarian Indian. I went with the chicken, since I don't know how often I'll get it, and I'm not sure that an airplane Indian meal is going to give me the proper appreciation. Overall, it was good, but I found the rice very spicy, so I couldn't eat much of it. The salad had an odd dressing...not sure what it was. We also had a "snack" meal, kind of for dinner but not. It was a fruit cup, a salad with a strange fruity dressing that I didn't like much, and a strange vegetarian burrito thing. That was definitely more spicy than I was thinking, so I couldn't eat much of it. Plus, I had no clue what it consisted of, which scares me. I guess, welcome to India! Going to have to get used to that sooner or later! On the plane, I watched 2 movies purely for the hope that they would put me to sleep and they did relatively well, watched an episode of Glee, and read some of a book. LOTS of screaming children on this plane, but they settled down by about halfway thru the flight.
We now have a 12...yes, 12...hour layover in Delhi. Since it's the middle of the night here, we can't really go out and explore, so we're stuck in the middle of the airport. We did a little exploring, exchanged our first dollars for rupees, and played some Taboo. We all got showers at this little spa thing in the airport, and we got 2 hours in comfy chairs with Wi-Fi. I am now about to say goodbye to my Wi-Fi. It's about 5:45am here (8:15pm Detroit), and our flight to Chennai leaves at 10:00am, getting to Chennai at 12:45pm. Here's to (hopefully) getting some sleep on the tile floor of the airport!! Next post, I should be in Chennai!
P.S. In India, we are 9 1/2 hours ahead of the time in Michigan. It's weird, because that means when you read what I write about a certain day, I've pretty much already lived out the day when you're just starting. I'll probably only post times from now on in Indian time, since I'm supposed to be adjusting!
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