Our Whirlwind Adventure

Part I – To Atlanta

When we flew into Kathmandu in August, there were no problems, in fact we were out of customs and on our way almost too soon! Flying out of Kathmandu airport, however, was another story entirely. The good news is that we got to the airport in plenty of time. From the time we got to the airport until the time we got on the plane, all we did was stand in one line after the other. (Although I guess that’s like most airport experiences?) First there was a long line at ticketing, about 20 minutes wait. Then we had to go through emigration, another line. Then there was a line to go through security, separate lines for men and women. Then there was a post-security checkpoint, and then we had to wait in line to get into the waiting room, one big room for all the outgoing flights. It was almost completely full of people. We waited there for a while, having sat next to some old man who tried to give Leela a Snickers bar, and put his finger to her lip (is it rude to just yank your child away?), and watched a Bollywood musical on mute. Suddenly (and with no prior announcement that we could hear from the back of the room), all these people started heading for the gate. Is that our flight? Let's just go see . . . Look, those people were in line at ticketing with us . . . Turns out it was our flight, because the next thing we knew we were on the plane!

The flight to Abu Dhabi was uneventful and relatively short. When we arrived and tried to get a taxi to our hotel, the first driver we got didn’t know how to get there, and several different people tried to explain the route to her, to no avail. Finally, we got into a different taxi and it was fine. The hotel this time was nicer (and more expensive) than the one we stayed at before. The wireless Internet didn’t work when we first got there, so we went to sleep. I awoke the next morning (4 or 5 hours later) to Dave freaking out! He had gotten 2 separate emails from our travel agents in Ann Arbor: “We need some information (age, sex, and address of the passengers) and if we don’t get it, your reservation could be affected!” Well, I’ll spare you the panic attack, and skip to the part where we got to the airport even earlier than we originally planned, and everything was fine. The next flight was back to Chicago and it was long, but uneventful. Our flight attendant got us an entire row to ourselves. It was very thoughtful, but the armrests didn’t go all the way up for some reason, so it wasn’t as great as it could have been. I got to watch a couple of movies while Leela was sleeping, “Cyrus” – pretty good, actually; and the first 30 minutes of “The A-Team” – not great, but entertaining.

Once in Chicago, we had no problems in customs or with rechecking our luggage, which was great. As we had a 6-hour layover, we went to the children's "museum", really just a big play area. There was this Swedish (or some sort of Scandinavian) family there who seemed to have about 6 kids. When we arrived, they were running all over the place and whaling on each other with these block cushions that were there. As you could imagine, the biggest kid reigned.

We got grilled cheese and a beer at an airport bar. We then got on the plane to Atlanta where Leela had her first and I think only major meltdown of our journey. We were in the back of the plane where all families get relegated. We got to Atlanta around 11:00 and took the Marta to our hotel. Leela’s first train ride!

Part II – Atlanta

Our hotel was pretty nice, and not very far from the Marta stop. We ended up watching Invictus until 3 am, and when I woke up the next morning I was sick with a sore throat. My parents and sister arrived around 1 pm, and Tammie and I went shopping while my parents napped and Dave went to the conference. I know I must sound incredibly lame, but I missed Whole Foods. Leela did not miss being in a car seat, though; because she screamed from the moment we strapped her in until she got out of the car. That night we went out for dinner with my brother and his family. A party of 12 on a Saturday night! We ended up driving to this big mall place (Atlantic Station), which turned out to be a bad idea because there were too many options and too much walking involved. After some standing around and hemming and hawing and bitching and moaning, I took the initiative and finally found a place close by that could seat us right away (the first restaurant I went to had a 3 hour wait). It was pricey (probably why they were so empty), but it was good and I think everyone enjoyed it. Tammie and I stayed up late drinking beer and chatting, it was great to hang out with her. On Sunday I was sicker than the day before – achy and feverish, so I ended up sleeping most of the day, and spending the night in the hotel while my family did Halloween up in Woodstock at my brother's house. We did at least manage to get Leela in her panda costume. The photographs show that she would not have worn her costume for very long had we gone to Jay’s. (Turns out I got everyone sick. Sorry!) Monday was mellow – we said goodbye to my family and spent the day at the Olympic Park where there was a nice playground and grassy areas for sitting (or in Leela’s case, crawling and walking around). Then we had dinner at a local brewpub (the beer was just ok) before heading to the airport.

Part III – The worst decision I ever made (or close)

We got to the airport about 2 1/2 hours before our flight was scheduled to take off. Plenty of time, right? Wrong. We got stuck in line behind 50 (give or take) missionaries on their way to Africa and who were on our flight to London. Of course there was only one ticketing agent for all of them!! They were all wearing blue polo shirts and most of them had their travel neck pillows attached to their backpacks. It was clear that this was the first time flying anywhere for most of them. I saw one teen get to the desk only to turn around and ask some adult for his passport and flight info. What also took so long was that each of them was checking in a big Rubbermaid bin full of their missionary supplies (whatever that means). At one point, I was wandering around the line area, and came across one of the missionaries with her family. Two of her boys were just fascinated by Leela, and the mom said to me, "They just love babies! They're always asking me to have another one, but I have seven already!" At hearing this one of the boys, about 6, said, "Yeah, Mom, you should have another baby!" And the mom said, "I don't know, son, I think I'm too old!" And then the son said, "Well, I guess I'll just have to keep praying!”

Anyway, I think we were standing in line for over an hour. By this time we had to rush to get to the gate on time. In going through the security line, I had set down Leela’s and my passports and boarding passes in order to unwrap her and go through the metal detector. We had gotten all back together and were on board the train to take us to the gate when Dave asked me if I had our boarding passes. Oh shit! I forgot them at security! We had to get off the train at the next stop. Did I mention that Atlana's airport is like 2 miles long or something? Dave took Leela and I started running back toward security. Did I mention that I was still sick? After dodging and weaving through lots of cranky and dazed passengers, I got to the end of the moving walkways. I saw before me 3 down escalators, an up escalator with a sign that said, “To Baggage Claim,” and an elevator, which also said, “To Baggage Claim.” In a moment of panic I thought, “Oh shit, I can't take the elevator or it will take me to baggage.” This left me with no choice. I had to go up the down escalator. Little did I know that this was to be one of the worst decisions I have ever made. Did I mention that it is a two or three story escalator? I had already run probably half a mile at this point, mind you, and did I mention that I was still sick? I got about halfway up (I'm gonna make it!). I go for another few minutes and I was starting to get tired (I better make it!). I got to about 5 or 6 steps from the top and by then, I was struggling. It was all I could do just to maintain my position (Oh shit, I'm not going to make it!). By then Dave and Leela had caught up, and were cheering me on from the bottom. I could see the floor getting farther and farther away; I was literally crawling at this point. At this point I spotted a security man. “Help!” I said, “I need to get back to security!” “Well,” he said, “you could take the elevator.”

I sunk down and rode it to the bottom. It was all I could do just to put one foot in front of the other. Somehow I managed to get onto the elevator, and we got our passports and boarding passes back. Thank God they were still at the desk. We took the escalator back down to the train, and I realized, “wow, this is a big fucking escalator!” Of course a train was waiting there about to leave, and Dave said, “Jill, quick! The train!” Quick?! I could barely walk! Somehow I managed to walk a little faster and we made it. I immediately laid down on the bench. The train ride was not long enough to recover, but some kind woman gave me a small bottle of water. When we got to the gate they had started pre-boarding (First Class passengers and people with small children, or those who need extra time), so we just went right up and got aboard. It wasn't until we were about to take off, that I had recovered enough to say to Dave, “That was a bad idea.” I then proceeded to pass out for the first hour of the flight, and thankfully, so did Leela. Dave woke us up by getting out of his seat. I don't think Leela or I slept for the rest of the flight! (About 7 hours.) We landed in London at 10:30 am and booked a bus to take us to Cambridge. We had to wait in the airport for about an hour. I was looking forward to checking out the scenery on the bus ride, but I was too tired. I couldn’t keep my eyes open! When we got to Cambridge it was 2:00 and our host and friend, Enzo, made us some lunch and then Leela and I napped until dinner!

Part IV – Cambridge

Cambridge is beautifully situated on the River Cam (hence the name). It was just lovely, and I wish we had more time there. Between Leela and my sleeping and napping, and Enzo's busy schedule, we barely spent any time with him. Dave had more time with him, which was good. To get around in the university, you must either pay visitor’s admission (separate for each college), or be with a student or faculty. Thus, I didn't get to see much of the university, but did manage to walk about the town. There is a nice river walk near Enzo's house that you can take into the historic part of town. There are lots of nice shops and restaurants. We went to a really good French bistro for lunch on Thursday, and a terrible pub for dinner the night before. I ordered a "gourmet" burger, which turned out to be a thick slab of gristle, well done. The chips were good and the beer was ok. I should have had my burger comp-ed, but I didn't want to be thought of as a picky American, so I didn't complain. One great thing about going to Cambridge was that we got to experience fall weather, and we got to see some beautiful fall foliage. But our stay was over too soon, and we were off to the airport early Friday morning. We spent a few extra pounds and hired a car instead of taking the bus. Well worth the extra money!

Part V – Delhi and Home

We got sat next to a nice Indian family on their way to visit family in Delhi. There was the mom and dad, a sister, and a grandma, and of course their daughter, who was 14 months old. She was very cute and just as fascinated with us as Leela was with them. Neither of the kids nor me or the grandma slept much on that flight. Actually, Leela was quite taken with the grandma, who held both girls on her lap a few times. I had to walk Leela up and down the aisles a bunch, and let her sit and play at the foot of our seat (thank god we had the bulkhead!). We got to Delhi at 1:30am, and headed straight for the international transfers desk. Evidently, an agent from the airline you arrive with has to “hand you over” to your next airline, but no one seems to know anything at all. Perhaps they do, but it’s hard to know. So despite the fact that when we arrived there were 5 or 6 agents at the desk, we ended up having to wait nervously for a couple of hours for someone from British Airways to show up so they could deal with our transfer. Actually, BA had a no-nonsense woman in charge, so things happened expeditiously for us. We only had to wait for 2-3 hours. Apparently, it’s a toss up as to when agents show up at the desk. While we were there, there were several passengers who had apparently been waiting for 12-14 hours and had missed their connecting flights waiting for someone. In the end, we got through and to the gate with plenty of time to spare. The flight to Kathmandu from Delhi was very short, only a little more than an hour. When we arrived in Kathmandu, we got all of our luggage and through customs without any problems. It was definitely a different feeling arriving in Kathmandu this time from the first time. For one, I knew what to expect, and despite how crazy it is here, it felt kind of like home!