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They say adopting a child is adventure enough, and you shouldn’t make it any more difficult than it already is. On the other hand, it is hard to turn down a generous offer of buddy passes for the flight, since it drops the cost considerably. The catch is, you fly standby.
We got to San Francisco on Wednesday, the night before our departure. The plan was to take a 9:10 am flight to New York and then a direct flight from there to Mumbai (Bombay). If the 9:10 flight was filling up, Vicky (the donor of the standby passes) would call us and we’d change to the 6:55 flight. When we hadn’t heard from Vicky by bedtime, we decided to get up early for the 6:55 flight, just in case. At the airport the next morning, we were told there was plenty of room on either flight, so we chose the earlier one, just to have one leg done. Vicky had indeed been monitoring the situation, and when we got to New York called to help us with the next part of the trip. That was how we found out that the 9:10 flight had been canceled! Yikes! And yes, there was plenty of space on the flight to Bombay, with two of us getting seats in business class and Jia and one of us in coach, 5 rows back. We did a lot of seat-swapping, but those business class seats laid flat, and helped us get some much-appreciated sleep on a 7,000 mile, 15 hour flight.
Stacy teaches Jia the limbo in the New York airport
The taxi ride to the hotel reminded us that we really were in India. It wasn’t so much that the taxi had a 2-cycle engine, or that our gear was lashed to the roof, or that we had difficulty passing a bicycle while going downhill. No, it was more that we went through nearly every red light without stopping (although with liberal use of the horn), that the lane lines superfluously marked on the street were universally ignored, and that on the dimly lit streets our driver chose, for reasons not entirely clear, to leave the headlights off for the majority of the 30 km/45 minute trip through really busy city streets. Other markers of our location included people sleeping on the edge of the road or on top of open trucks, paving equipment with open fires keeping the tar hot, and the hot moist night air that made it a relief to get in to the air-conditioned hotel at around 11:30 pm on Friday evening.
Today we are adjusting to the time zone and seeing a little of Bombay. We’ve seen the Gate of India and one of the main shopping districts. Kim is finding out that she hasn’t forgotten all of her Hindi, and she still knows how to bargain. Jia is learning that India is hot. Right now most us are napping, while outside our frosted-glass hotel room door a construction crew is using a grinder/sander of some type to try to prevent this activity. Thankfully they started after Jia had already fallen asleep. Other than that, our reception here in Bombay has been very warm and gracious. Later today we plan on a movie or the swimming pool, depending on when Jia wakes up. I wonder how we are going to deal with competing naptimes.
Jia shops for a sari in Mumbai
The ladies at the Gate of India
Tomorrow is a train ride to Pune, and Monday we meet Saloni for the first time!
We got to San Francisco on Wednesday, the night before our departure. The plan was to take a 9:10 am flight to New York and then a direct flight from there to Mumbai (Bombay). If the 9:10 flight was filling up, Vicky (the donor of the standby passes) would call us and we’d change to the 6:55 flight. When we hadn’t heard from Vicky by bedtime, we decided to get up early for the 6:55 flight, just in case. At the airport the next morning, we were told there was plenty of room on either flight, so we chose the earlier one, just to have one leg done. Vicky had indeed been monitoring the situation, and when we got to New York called to help us with the next part of the trip. That was how we found out that the 9:10 flight had been canceled! Yikes! And yes, there was plenty of space on the flight to Bombay, with two of us getting seats in business class and Jia and one of us in coach, 5 rows back. We did a lot of seat-swapping, but those business class seats laid flat, and helped us get some much-appreciated sleep on a 7,000 mile, 15 hour flight.
Stacy teaches Jia the limbo in the New York airportThe taxi ride to the hotel reminded us that we really were in India. It wasn’t so much that the taxi had a 2-cycle engine, or that our gear was lashed to the roof, or that we had difficulty passing a bicycle while going downhill. No, it was more that we went through nearly every red light without stopping (although with liberal use of the horn), that the lane lines superfluously marked on the street were universally ignored, and that on the dimly lit streets our driver chose, for reasons not entirely clear, to leave the headlights off for the majority of the 30 km/45 minute trip through really busy city streets. Other markers of our location included people sleeping on the edge of the road or on top of open trucks, paving equipment with open fires keeping the tar hot, and the hot moist night air that made it a relief to get in to the air-conditioned hotel at around 11:30 pm on Friday evening.
Today we are adjusting to the time zone and seeing a little of Bombay. We’ve seen the Gate of India and one of the main shopping districts. Kim is finding out that she hasn’t forgotten all of her Hindi, and she still knows how to bargain. Jia is learning that India is hot. Right now most us are napping, while outside our frosted-glass hotel room door a construction crew is using a grinder/sander of some type to try to prevent this activity. Thankfully they started after Jia had already fallen asleep. Other than that, our reception here in Bombay has been very warm and gracious. Later today we plan on a movie or the swimming pool, depending on when Jia wakes up. I wonder how we are going to deal with competing naptimes.
The ladies at the Gate of IndiaTomorrow is a train ride to Pune, and Monday we meet Saloni for the first time!
4 comments:
Wow!!! you're really there!! I'm so excited for you all! You were SO smart getting to the airport early. What an adventure you are having, you guys are amazing! I know God's hand in on you all and that He will continue to do amazing things on your trip to get your daughter. I can't wait for Monday!
You all are often in our thoughts and prayers.
Love,
Jenny
Hi kids, so sorry, my last message showed send from Kathy Tucket but I am sure you figured that out but I am just so excited!! Great Blog! Love Mom, Grandma
Yahoo! We are eagerly following your journey through India as you anticipate receiving Saloni soon!
Jia looks cute in her new Indian attire. Praying for safe travels and
smooth transition!
Blessings,
Wanda
Why do we leave the headlights off? There are at least two competing ideas about this.
First: we have little control over our longevity (or yours), but we do have control over the use of our headlamps, and we think that the bulbs wear out due to total hours of use rather than on-off cycles. Are we right? We don't know, but at least we feel like we are doing what we CAN to influence what we MIGHT.
If we're wrong, then it's a bit like downshifting in a stick-shift; we feel useful and use a costly engine to save on cheap brake pads. If we're right, then we're right, and we are saving our souls, our food, and the planet. In either case, under the conditions of the limited information that we have, it is completely rational.
Second: There is some conjecture that this driving cultural practice originated in wartime conditions in various countries in response to concern about aerial surveillance and bombardment. We doubt it, but we do agree that it feels good to be a useful part of our community, something bigger than ourselves.
Plus it looks cool and it's really attention-getting when we flick them on.
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