BOM... BOM BOM BOM

Start: April 12, 12:00pm
End: April 13, 10:00pm
Transit Time: 24 hours 30 minutes
Time in Air: 17 hours 50 minutes

This trip was a bit of a challenge to pack for (explaining why I procrastinated until the day of my flight to do it), and I won’t know if I did it well until it is through. India and Switzerland. Switzerland and India. Strikingly different climates, yes? Especially since in India I am going first to Ahmedabad, nicknamed Gardabad or “City of Dust.” Plus, I have to have enough dressy clothes for my meetings in DC, as I go straight there from Switzerland. This contrast in conditions, and the new international limit of 50lbs per bag, have thwarted my efforts to pack light. See, I can get it all in one suitcase, but it will be over 75lbs by itself. So, I have a large suitcase with items sloshing around in it (but weighing in under 50lbs) and a stuffed-to-the-gills medium sized backpack (same one I lived out of for a year in Central America). That, plus the usual carry-ons: small backpack and camera case. Still, I am proud to say I handle it all without using one of those infuriating trolleys, and still have a free hand (used for shoving slow people to the side, beating away airport and street pests, and handling the local currency). Damn I’m good.

First leg, I hop to Boston – my first actual sight of this city everyone keeps telling me I’d love. I’m sure I’ll get to experience it soon, as one of my good Southville buddies, Nick the Night Goat, is from there and soon moving back. I hope his parents have room in the basement for both of us (I kid, Goat. Get it? Goat? Kid? Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha). In the airport I break down and get some Micky D’s. God, I’m pitiful.

A wonderful thing happens on my next flight. I get upgraded. First time ever. I don’t even have many points with this carrier. I think the guy assigning seats took pity on me, being 6’3’’ and flying all the way to Mumbai. Well, at least as far as Zurich, he hooked me up with Business Class. God bless this man.

After BOS-ZRH, I wait an hour or so and hop on ZRH-BOM. My brain now refers to all cities with an airport by their three-letter code. Luckily, this flight was not full, so even though I didn’t get the Business Class hook-up, I didn’t have anyone sitting next to me either. Life is satisfactory. Some interesting scenery rolled below (how many times now have I flown over Bulgaria, Turkey, and Iran? When can it count as a visit? Hey, I’ve “seen” the country, right?), but clouds covered most of it. I know I’ll get awesome pics of Switzerland when I return on the second segment of this trip.

Just before the flight ended, I finished the paperback I picked up in Southville Airport. This is Separation of Power, my second novel by Vince Flynn. Very entertaining. I needed a good no-brainer to get me going before embarking on the real meat I brought along – Theodore Rex, part two of Edmund Morris’s bio of TR, and The Creators by Daniel Boorsten.

Mumbai (BOM) again – my second home nowadays. This time I am just staying one night, in a new hotel for me – the Hyatt Regency, just outside of the airport. This is because tomorrow I wake up to catch another flight to my final destination – Ahmedabad. It is a very nice hotel, very new and modern. From my window, I can see all the other high-end airport hotels. Quite a little cluster.


Airport hotel and surroundings

My favorite thing about this hotel? When you dial the automated wake-up service, you hear the sexiest female voice ever recorded. It’s amazing. I actually heard this same voice in the hotel I stayed in last fall in Mauritius. And I thought I would never hear her voice again. Ah, must be fate. Or I’m deranged. I think I might call back and adjust my wake-up once or twice before I go to sleep.