As I prepared to travel back to India with my 78 pound bag, I checked in at the airport early. However, quite a few of the 50 passengers behind me were running late or had arrived “just in time”, so, I was not a popular “person in line” at RDU this past Sunday. I knew the 78 pound bag was heavy. I did NOT know it would be a problem. I thought I would just pay overage fees and move through the line. I was informed that, yes, I would be paying an overage, but also, I would need to remove some items, as there is a 70 pound weight limit. Oh dear. Well, I was taking back Bath and Body Works lotions for people in India, and could not just LEAVE these in the airport. However, I could not check my computer bag, as it had my work laptop and IPAD in it, as well as my entire NIKON camera bag and lenses. Normally, people working for airlines just “leave this up to you to figure out”. This was not Mr. American Airline’s problem that I was unaware of the weight limit rules. How the heck did I even get all of these heavy bags to the counter on my own, anyway, in thinking back?!? When you encounter a problem like this, you quickly realize that the person behind the airlines counter is one the following: 1) Burned out, yet sympathetic. 2) Irritated, and this is clearly not their problem, as in “Move your bag to the side until you figure this out, Next customer please!” or 3) Energetic, Customer-friendly, and ready to help! I believe that if you see 3 lines, you are lucky if you find that 1 extra-special customer-friendly, ready-to-help kind of guy. I can’t say that I would not be burned out myself in dealing with what goes on at these counters every day. I was lucky to get the coolest guy, G. Davis, working for American Airlines, who “made my problem, his problem”. He offered several solutions, one being that I could buy a second small bag and check it (as that 2nd bag would be checked free), OR I could re-pack my bags...checking my computer bag, and carrying on the Nikon camera bag, placing the IPAD in my purse, and hand-carrying the laptop under my arm. It ended up working well in the end. Of course, in the meantime, I had stuff from each bag lying ALL OVER THE FLOOR of RDU, and was bending down, re-packing, with people either laughing or silently swearing, haha. G. Davis, Mr AA, was, fortunately, a logical man, who kept his judgment in check, and laughed with me. He kept asking “What is so heavy in that bag?” as he wanted to drill down to the root of the problem and solve it as quickly as possible, (as we pulled out paperback book after paperback book, which happened to be the items on top). It was all too funny, and luckily I was early, and not running late.
The trip to Bangalore from RDU is long, as there is a lengthy layover in Heathrow. However, the Heathrow layover is the only “1 stop” from RDU that I know of, and I am a fan of 1 stop or less flights. The thing is...Heathrow is the most awesome airport “in itself”...LOTS of upscale shopping and neat places to eat...Gordon Ramsey’s restaurant “Plane Food”, and Chanel cosmetics shopping, etc. However, if you have woken up at Sunday AM, and boarded the US flight to Heathrow at 6:10PM that same evening, and then flown for 9 hours overnight, Heathrow is suddenly not fun. It actually becomes, the exact opposite of fun. Heathrow is the largest airport I have ever travelled through, and when you arrive from an overnight, you are ready for “a bed and a biscuit". Yet you literally walk ¾ of a mile to get to the central part of the airport, to gear up for the next 9 hour flight ahead. You go through a partial customs and then a security check, again. It is the most walking I have ever done in an airport, and Heathrow, due to various reasons, is one of the tightest airports on security, so you have to be prepared. Don’t forget I have my laptop “loose” in my hand, with 2 other bags in tow. Then, the layover between flights is 7 hours + or minus, prior to the 9 hour flight ahead. By that time, you have been up for 24 hours unless you slept on the plane. Heathrow is one airport of which I am aware that offers "bunks" for sleeping which I may need to check into for subsequent flights such as this. They are a great offering...if I can find them! (You need to fly through Heathrow London on at least 2 occasions to see how BIG it truly is.)
In waiting for that 2nd plane (to Bangalore) to take off, I saw the take-off time on the board change from 2 to 3 PM, a delay, but no one over the loudspeaker saying much. Closer to 3PM, the airlines announced there was a “pilot shortage” at the exact same time I saw a pilot “hustling in”. He was “very aware” that 250 Indians and some others were anxiously waiting to travel to Bangalore, haha, and this was demonstrated clearly in his jog towards the gate. They stated he was now here (hooray!), and had been called in from another flight that he was due to take. He had graciously abandoned his scheduled Singapore flight, to command our Bangalore flight. In the hours waiting for all of this to transpire, I had been constantly hearing of British Airways “last calls” for other flights, and in this time, heard another specific flight delay that was quite interesting. I realized 2 things during this period where I was not in a place where I could sleep, yet too tired to do anything but sit and listen: 1) The British accent can literally put you in a trance. It is soothing, and I think the person over the loudspeaker could have announced "Ladies and gentlemen, the plane you are about to get on was just on fire, and yet, we have it under control”, and we would all march onto that plane without hesitation. Something about that British accent...Also, 2) The airlines have become extremely transparent in communicating exactly what is going on “behind the scenes” with the public. I heard earlier that one plane (one gate over) was delayed due to a power shortage and everyone was “in the dark”, with 2 “real time” updates on this situation. I am sure these type of updates cut down on passengers wondering exactly what is going on, but I also wonder what else is said in addition to the several hours worth of “informational” updates that I heard. It has to be interesting, quite dramatic, at times, and makes you wonder what is said in the airport on a daily basis!
So...I made it back to Bangalore uneventfully, and once I got in the car...heard the horns...saw the motorcycles, I knew for sure that I was back in India! Seeing the street culture here is so interesting to me. I passed a man on a motorcycle (alone) carrying a TV. It makes you think of what you can do when you “set your mind to it”. I saw a van that had gotten stuck trying to pass “something”, with a wheel stuck, and his vehicle could not move. 3 or 4 people had jumped in to assist him, and were having so much fun, laughing, trying to get him freed. Being in India is so adventurous and exciting to me, for so many reasons. It relaxes me a bit, for one, in just watching and observing my surroundings. Things don’t “get to people”, as much as in the US. If someone has a flat tire, or is stuck, you certainly don’t see a group of people “having fun” in the moment, as you will see in India. It makes me think more carefully about my responses and what they “could be”. I am, naturally, a Type A person, impatient...and yet if I could have some fun “in the moment” during a car break-down, I would certainly live a lot longer. haha Definitely "Easier said than done."
It was a great week back, actually. Seeing people at work I have gotten to know and missed, eating at the awesome cafeteria where I work, and seeing the people where I live during the week who are dying to catch up on things. Between June and this visit in October, I dodged a hot and humid (yet not blockbuster hot) summer in NC, and will dodge a cold winter in NC, for the (basically) constant sunny and 80s temps in Bangalore (except for a couple of hot months). Not a bad trade-off!
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