Taking Off

It was immediately clear that this was not going to be a typical vacation trip. Even at check-in at JFK, the lines of people waiting to check their bags and get their boarding passes did not look like the lines of people you see when you're headed to, say, Disney World. These were people who looked like they called India home, or at least, homeland. Our clan of Disney-looking tourists immediately stood out in the midst of these travelers.

The first flight set the standard for contrast and contradiction that I imagined would characterize a lot of our trip. We flew Emirates to Dubai, one of the most opulent and exotic destinations in the world, yet our final destination would be much humbler. 

I'm guessing that very few of our fellow travelers, at least not many of those traveling with us in economy, were staying in Dubai. Most seemed to be destined for connecting flights to India. An inordinate number of our fellow travelers were families traveling with babies and young children. Sarah and I were surrounded on all sides by a family with a baby. I think all of us warily take note of the proximity of babies when we board a plane, but when you're embarking on an 11 hour flight, finding that you have 5 babies seated within three rows of you strikes real fear in your heart. I had been told that India was an assault to the senses and it appeared that the auditory assault would begin immediately. I am so glad Alida suggested bringing some Tylenol PM for the flight!

Emirates is a decidedly un-American airline, and I mean that in the most flattering way possible. There were pillows and blankets on every seat and they gave every passenger a little kit with socks to keep your feet warm, an eye-mask to help you sleep, and a toothbrush and toothpaste to freshen up from the long flight. Before take-off, the attendants greeted passengers with a warm wash cloth served from a silver tray, and during the flight they served three meals and unlimited beverages - at no extra cost! Emirates serves parts of the world where the class system is deeply engrained, yet this airline has built its business model on a philosophy that all their customers deserve exemplary service - interesting!

Perhaps the most popular amenity for the folks in our group were the seat-back TVs and telephones. Sarah entertained herself briefly by making seat-to-seat calls to the other kids in our group before trying to get some school work done. I settled into a Friends marathon before knocking myself out with the aforementioned Tylenol PM. Throughout the flight we were serenaded by crying babies. Sarah had no patience for this and could not understand how a parent could be stupid enough to bring a baby on such a long trip. Perhaps I was positively influenced by the medication I had taken, but I admired these parents. To me it was an extreme act of bravery to bring a baby on an 11 hour connecting flight.  Even if my family lived far away, I would never have attempted this. Pictures would have had to do. 

We had a brief lay-over in Dubai before we boarded our connecting flight to Hyderabad. There wasn't a tremendous sense of being in a foreign land. The gift shops featured items like hookahs and stuffed camels, but the rest of the airport was pretty generically cosmopolitan. Men in kaftans and turbans were really the only tip-off that we weren't in LA or Vegas.

Our second flight was just 3 hours, but I must point out that Emirates still served us hot towels, drinks and a meal. The teens traveling with us thought the second trip was interminable. By this time they were done with planes and just needed to run around. 

Finally, after leaving Greenfield Hill at about 6:30 pm on Sunday, February 12th, we arrived in Hyderabad at 3 am on Tuesday, February 14th. It took us about an hour to fill out all the necessary forms, get through customs, and claim our luggage. All of this went smoothly, there were just lots of people and very long lines. As it turns out, this was an appropriate introduction to India.

We put our luggage on carts and made our way outside to meet our host, Sagar, the principal of the Astrid Rowe Memorial High School, which is named after David Rowe's mother and supported by FOCI. The travelers were separated from the greeters by a big fence and people were lined up 3 or 4 deep along every inch of the fence. Walking out of the airport and being stared at by all those people must be a little like what it feels like to walk the red carpet - except that I was bedraggled and exhausted after 24 hours of travel and they really couldn't care less who I was. 

Our greeting party, Sagar, his daughter and his son-in-law,  were warm, friendly and efficient, even though they had gotten up in the middle of the night to come meet us. Sagar told Alida, who has been to Hyderabad 10 times, that a member of his church's congregation had a job re-fueling airplanes and had been assigned to re-fuel the plane we came in on. He immediately recognized Alida as she walked off the plane and had called Sagar on his cell to let him know we had arrived. This story was both a reflection of their excitement about our visit and an indication that if you were blonde and fair-skinned, you were really going to stand-out here. That was reinforced for us many times during our travels.

We packed our luggage onto a mini-bus that was waiting for us and made the 45 minute drive to the hotel in Hyderabad. It was still somewhat dark out, so we didn't get a real sense of our surroundings. We arrived at the Green Park Hotel which was a very nice hotel, catering predominantly to Indian businessmen and families. The lobby was quiet and empty because of the early morning hour, so we were checked in quickly and efficiently. We got up to our rooms at about 6 am. It was time for power naps, showers and clean clothes. Sagar was coming back for us at noon and our first day in India would begin in earnest!