Trip to India – Day 15 – My Longest Day of Travel

I checked out of the hotel before midnight and headed for the airport. The ride was bumpy but uneventful. Since I still have quite a bit of Rupees left, I decided to change them back to dollars. I stood in line at one of the foreign exchange booths. There will be a hit on the exchange rate but there is nothing I could do with Rupees anyway. The process was extremely slow. Since I wasn’t in a hurry, it didn’t really bothered me. But watch the 2 men in front of me shifting and looking at their watches made me cringe. The distains on their faces were unmistakable. And I wonder am I like that when I’m in a hurry? Would they show more grace if they were not in a hurry? I guess we are still selfish animals after all.

Bengaluru airport doesn’t have fixed checkin counters. Instead, the airlines share the counters and whoever has flights will use it. Took me wandering a few minutes and asking an airport personnel to figure it out.

Unlike US airports, the security is a lot stricter. I passed through the checkin desk out front, immigration, carry on scanner with the machine, a body scanner (the detector frame you walk through), then a personal scanner (a security use a wand), and another guard before able to enter the concourse. Every single stop checked for passport and boarding pass. As we board, there were another passport/boarding pass check, and another personal scanner check right before entering the plane. The last one was interesting as the men and the women are separated and the scanning area for the women is screened.

The flight was uneventful. I spent most of the 4 hours either sleeping or watching a little rascal nearby struggling to get away from mom so she can roam the plane. She looked so happy the couple times she got away.

The layover at Dubai was only supposed to be 1 hour 15 minutes, meaning I only have 30 minutes to get to the next gate. My experience at O’Hare gave me nightmare about short layovers. But in this case, the first flight arrived really early so there was actually plenty of time. Another carryon check later, I arrived at the concourse. It is now past 6 am. This place is absolutely packed. With 30 minutes to burn, coffee seems to be in order. This end of the concourse didn’t have a Starbucks but any will do.

More check points (passport boarding pass, another passport, and another carry on check) later, we were finally boarding. While I was in Bengaluru, I was able to select seats for this flight. My strategies worked and I was able to get an isle seat at the absolute last row of the plane without someone next to me on a 4-seat row. Yay me!

One of the coolest thing about these long range Emirates flight is their entertainment system. They have cameras in front and in the bottom of the plane and you can watch them throughout the flight. I was poking around when we were flying over the polar region and the sky was clear enough I can actually see the ice cap. I don’t think this is one of those things I will ever see in person so this is as close as I’m going to get aside from watching Discovery channel.

Now if only they have free Internet access, it would have been perfect.

There were a surprising number of kids on the plane. Of course, once they got comfortable, they start to run around. One of them is a 2 year old named Isha. I had talked to her and her mom before take off. This time around, she saw me with a headphone and the computer and she took an interest. Burn Notice isn’t exactly kid-friendly so I showed her some of the kiddie movies I had. She was first fascinated with the earbud headphone, moving them closer and farther to her ears. And then she pressed them to her head and said that’s too loud! LOL. One thing good about the Dell Mini 9 is that it is small enough to move every which way, even on an airplane tray table. She turned the keyboard to face her, proceeded to start moving her fingers on the keys, and proclaimed that she was typing. I guess her parents do it so often that she already knows the act.

This is the generation that is born into a world with computer. There is no reason for us to not encourage them to explore. People often asked why I’m not worried about them damaging the computers but playing on them. My take on it is that if our computing environment is that fragile, we are doing something wrong. We should know what to do, what not to do. We should have backups and know how to restore thing if necessary. If something on it is important, we would keep them safe. If we were to provide an environment where our children can learn using modern means, doesn’t that also mean we as parents, educators, and just grown ups in general need to learn the same so that we can watch over them and guide them. I could never understand the parents who are not willing to learn so they can teach their own children. I mean, we are willing to die for them, what’s so hard about committing to learn new things?

16 hours later, we landed at San Francisco airport. Unlike the trip leaving the U.S., this was much more complicated. First we need go through U.S. Custom which is a very long line. Then we have to pick up the luggage. Those two took a good hour. Then we have to re-check-in the lugguage in the next room which involves another line. As I continue to walk towards “Connecting Flight”, I found that I was effectively outside of the airport and had to go through all the security check again! Really? No, seriously, really? I just got off an airplane and went through all the security. *sigh*

Anotherr long line. At that point, I have 30 minutes before the next flight starts boarding. I guess it was a good thing that I had a 3-hour layover. My original itenerary only have 2 which means I would have missed the flight home. When I got to the gate, the flight was already boarding. From now on, I should insist on having at least a 4 hour window when making International to Domestic connections.

When I was at India, I had a chance to talk to a few executives. One of the casual conversations revolved around airlines and tourism. We agreed that U.S. airlines and their counterparts from other countries have very different approaches when it comes to their bottomlines. U.S. airlines’ focus is on cutting cost. The planes are old, very little perks, the flight attendants are primarily there for the passengers’ safety (yes, the pilot actually said that over the PA). On the other hand, airlines from other countries like Singapore, Korean, Japan, and Emirates focus on better services. The planes are continually refitted, lots of perks and goodies, and the flight attendants are there to make your trip comfortable and pleasant. I’m forced to conclude that traveler fly domestic only because they have no choice. When there is a choice, non-US airlines are almost always more pleasant.

As this was fresh in my head, I observed several things in this flight (United 77). The attendants don’t check the cabin or the passengers. They come out when it is time to serve drink or sell snacks. The rest of the time they are no where to be found. I can’t help but to recall that conversation. Domestic flights are nothing but bus rides with wings. There is nothing enjoyable about them. That is a dangerous thing to do. All it takes is some savy airlines elsewhere to jump into the U.S. market with premium offering. Even at a price difference, those who seek better experiences will flee from US airlines. The like of United, Continental, etc. will turn into Grey Hound. It is a shivering thought.

The flight landed safely at Honolulu International Airport. I was greeted by my family and thus ended my trip to India. It was an enlightening trip. And we always learn new things when faced with changes and new experiences. As I have come to learned, I do like India and I would not mind the opportunity to go there again… but not too soon.