The India Journals, Ch. 4, Getting There is Half the Fun

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.­—Franklin D. Roosevelt, first inaugural address

With all due respect to your quote, Mr. President, you left something out:  JFK International Airport in New York.   That’s what I fear.

Now, thanks to being temporarily adopted by a nice couple on New Year’s Day, I have almost conquered that fear.  

It all began this morning when I got on an American Airlines plane (after paying the detested  $25 baggage fee) bound for New York.  Then I fell asleep multiple times, each time awakened by a different complaining body part)  for almost the duration of the 5-1/2 hour flight during which time some of my things tried to stow away on-board. 

Poster at Sea-Tac.  King penguins all dressed up.

Too much glare, but this is another of Alaska Airline's paint schemes.  I think this one has "Cars" characters and Disneyland on the tail

Alaska Airline's Eskimo with a lei around his neck--the Hawaiian scheme.

AA assisted in this mutiny, I discovered later, by disguising the seat-back pocket to look like a seat-back pocket, when in actuality it’s a slot.  What else would you call a flap fully attached at its bottom but attached at the sides by an 1-1/2 inch band of elastic, making the perfect receptacle for things that want to disappear out its sides.

I woke up on the final approach to JFK and began checking my pockets and day pack for certain things.  I located everything but by eyeglasses and point and shoot camera.   I was not getting off that airplane until I'd located both.  A search revealed the sneaky seat back pocket, which led intuitively to the floor, but checking the floor was impossible until I had the airplane almost to myself.

It was a successful hunt.   Both the glasses and the camera were on the floor.   The glasses were directly below me, but were it not for the bar that stretches across the width of the seat near the floor, the camera might have wound up on the flight deck.  As it was, I had only to go to the row in front of my seat to capture the camera.

Then I left the airplane, almost the last one off.

I took this shot with the camera that tried to go walk-about.  I think it was still pouting about being found.   That "Welcome to New York" sign is, I think, in Broadway font.  Funny.

I walked and walked and rode moving sidewalks, took numerous escalators up and down, and waked and walked and walked some more. I think I might have been in New Jersey when I finally found baggage claim.  Then I waited about 45 minutes for the bags to arrive.   An elderly gentleman correctly interpreted the look on face and drew lines on a map brochure that showed how to get in the vicinity of the hotel courtesy van pickup spot.  That was his job, by the way.

I followed “Air Train” signs until I dead-ended at an elevator.  A bunch of people got on and, hestitating before the open maw, I asked, “Does this go to the Air Train?”

A kind, nice-looking fellow said, “Yes.  Is that were you’re going?”

I stepped aboard and said, “I don’t really know WHERE I’m going.”

Whereupon I was adopted by the man and his wife who were going almost to my destination.   The wife led the way while the man brought up the rear, making certain I didn't get lost.  Sure enough, they got me on the air train, put me off at the correct stop, and pointed out the way to the hotel vans.   There followed profuse thanks and many "Happy New Years."

Then I stood in the cold and wind for a half hour until the van showed up and deposited me at a Best Western hotel where I am now.

My hotel room in Seattle didn't have Fox News Channel--the 24 hours cable news station--because its programming is delivered by Dish TV which is in a carrier dispute with Fox.

Nothing fancy, but clean and serviceable.  It's 2 in the morning local time and the guests in the next room are still up and going in and out of their room.  I think there's a kid with them, too.  No Fox News here, either. 

There's no food service in this hotel and none nearby.   At check in, I was handed three menus from restaurants that deliver.  One is an Indian restaurant and I am taking that menu with me because it gives the Indian name of the dish and then describes the dish and lists the ingredients.  Can you imagine how helpful that is going to be?

In the meantime, Julie L.'s blueberrry walnut bread has been a part of several travel meals, along with some tasty mandarin oranges.   All gone now, though.   And that reminds me, I went looking for a McBiscuit/McSausage/McEgg at Sea-Tac this morning and didn't find a single McDs.   Imagine.  Is it a McD-free zone?  There were a number of restaurants open at 4 A.M., though, a far cry from the Sea-Tac of old when we dreaded getting stuck on a night lay-over for several hours and nothing was open.

Late Friday morning, I will leave this hotel and return to JFK to attempt to conquer the balance of my fear, that of negotiating the correct ticket counter for Air India, correct concourse, and correct gate.  Having accomplished all that, I expect to find other people with Vantage Travel ID tags hanging around their necks.  Then I'll be safe.

Next will be a 14 hour flight to New Delhi, India, followed by a two hour flight to Kolkata (Calcutta), then boarding a riverboat.  

After four-plus days travel to get there, let the fun begin.

The India Journals, Ch. 3, Off and......slopping through rain and snow

Rain and a hellacious windstorm accompanied me from Moose Pass to Anchorage, with a nice helping of sloppy snow thrown in to make things fun.   Ah, but I got through it and spent the night in Anchorage at my friend Patti's, after we saw the movie Wild, based on the book by Cheryl Strayed.

But first, I had to get there to do that.  I saw a bald eagle sitting on an island in Tern Lake and it occurred to me that is the same spot where I frequently see eagles sitting.

Had to stop two miles from home and take a photo of Jerome Lake.   Someone (single to plural?) had rolled snowballs across the lake.

Cool melting patterns on the lake.

Rain near Turnagain Pass.

Just as I turned the corner in the distance of the above photo, I caught up with three vehicles going quite slowly.   Up ahead of them were two highway department trucks with belly blades, scraping off new snow.   I know, there's no snow here, but there was around the corner.

So, for the next six or seven miles, we all followed the trucks at 40 mph. until they pulled off in a turn-out.   By then we were lower in elevation and the snow had turned to rain.

That white cloud is snow from the plow trucks.

 I am not tailgating.   I used the zoom.   Anyway you can see how nasty the conditions were.

I saw five bald eagles at the upper part of Turnagain Arm.   Can't imagine what they were after this time of year.


Got to Anchorage and went right to a car wash to get the silt and salt off the truck, then to Costco to gas up.

!!!!!

Then I hit the movie.

This morning, it was off to Seattle on Alaska Airlines.    AS I boarded the plane, I saw a large sign on the fuselage that noted Alaska Airlines has been ranked No. 1 in customer satisfaction seven years in a row by J.D. Powers.

Cloudy in town, but the sun peeked through layers in the clouds as we climbed out.

Nice pleasant flight, landed in Seattle late afternoon.   Wake up call for 3:30AM.   Will fly to JFK in New York tomorrow and overnight again before my Jan. 2 flight to India.   Four days of travel!

If this is Seattle, that must be Rainier.

All the little airplanes, all in a row,

That light-weight suitcase I was so proud of?   I'm already wishing I'd left half its contents at home!

The India Journals, Ch. 2, Preparing for Lift-off

Ch. 2   Preparing for Lift-off

"When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money.  Then take half the clothes and twice the money."  - Susan Heller

I posted a note on Facebook bragging about my luggage weighing only 24 lbs., and that includes the 8 lb. weight of the carry-on-sized suitcase itself for my upcoming four-week trip to India.  I not only impressed a bunch of friends, but I impressed myself as well.   This is the lightest I have ever traveled and I’m still taking too much.

There will be two interior flights in India, to and from New Delhi and Kolkata, with a checked bag limit of 33 lbs., thus the necessity of traveling light.  These two flights are at the first part of the trip, so expanding my suitcase after that doesn’t matter.

The toys—cameras, laptop, and their accoutrements, along with other stuff I’ll need/want on the airplanes—will go in the day pack that I take on the airplane, or I will put them in my special vest-of-many-pockets.   That vest is handy; it prevents over-weight baggage when need be.

Patty T suggested on Facebook that I reveal my packing secrets, so they are as follows.  I thought that was a good idea and decided to post it here on my blog.   If a bag goes missing, or something in that bag, I will have ready access to what it was.

I dress casual and for comfort, but I will be spending seven days on a brand new fancy riverboat that encourages somewhat dressy wear for dinner.

In the suitcase:

6 Tee shirts, including my Seattle Seahawks shirt to wear on game days.

4 Pants, two casual hiking/convertible, two a bit more dressy

4 SPF long-sleeved shirts to wear unbuttoned over tees

2 Tops, long-sleeved, somewhat dressy to wear over misc. tees in various combinations

2 Blouses

6 Pair sox, all black

1 Pair sox, white

6 Panties whose wearing life can be extended with panty liners

1 Pair sneakers

1 Umbrella that’s been all over the world with me and never yet used

1 Clothes hanger for drip drying laundry

1 Pkg. wet wipes

1 Bra, extra

1 water-resistant windbreaker
1 Bra

1 Pair of $5 white cotton pants I bought in Auckland, NZ, for lounging in my room.

1 Large envelope for collecting receipts, brochures, etc.

1 Bag lamb's wool and paper tape for complaining feet 
Visor

Misc. toiletries, and extra plastic bags
Purple shoulder bag for day trips.   It comes from the Lavender Farm on Maui.

Folded or rolled and packed in Zip-locs

Sneakers full of panties, sox, umbrella, and some York mints

Lambs wool and paper tape, dental stuff and name tag

In the backpack:

Surface Pro tablet, charger, USB mouse
Kindle and charger

Envelope with flight and hotel info and maps of terminals

Envelope with misc. info

Passport, vaccination record, etc.

Camera (another goes in my pocket) wrapped in a tee for sleeping

Toiletry bag with a hook for hanging in bathrooms

Small toiletry bag for use on airplane

Cases for glasses

Meds, including malarial and intestinal tumult pacifier

Neck pillow

Goodie bag

Cell phone

Travel clock

Electrical adapter for India

Journal and mini-notebook

Extra Zip-loc bags

The tech bag:

4 2 GB SD cards, plus each camera has a new one

4 4 GB SD cards (just in case) I shoot over 5000 photos on each trip

4 extra camera batteries and charger, and connecting cord

4 AA batteries for larger camera

Surge protector

Flashlight

Sharpie, pen, pencil

Cell phone charger

Lens cleaning kit

2 USB thumb drives

SD card reader

I still have to decide if I will wear a pair of jeans or a pair of the hiking pants with zipped pockets.   I will wear a long-sleeved tee, one of the SPF shirts, my vest-of-many-pockets, a lightweight jacket, and a pair of slip-on shoes.

This was a good idea, Patty T.   Now if something gets lost, I’ll have a readily available list of what was in the bag.

This afternoon I folded/rolled all the clothing on the dining room table, close to Pablo’s cage.  Then I got really brave and brought down the suitcase and packed it—right in front of him!  He hasn’t caught on yet that I’m leaving, so he and I are still besties.

Usually, to save my skin from multiple punctures, I use my spare bedroom for packing central, hiding everything until the last moment.   It tends to keep peace in the house.

 

About that silver suitcase with the blaze-orange duct tape stripes.   I bought it at Costco and expected there would be many silver suitcases showing up on luggage carousels.   I thought about a bright luggage strap, but they tend to come off.   Duct tape it was!   Easily identifiable, easily spotter on a carousel, and one other benefit:

Years ago when people bought new skis, they would spray them with paint and make them too ugly for people to steal.   Same idea.  Would you steal a suitcase that looked like that? 

Packed, ready to go.  NOW I’m getting excited!

The India Journals, Ch. 1: A Hitch in the Git-along

Ch. 1:   A Hitch in the git-along

If you are going through hell, keep going.—Winston Churchill

It is with some apprehension that I approach the departure day for a trip to India, a country I have never visited and which seems quite mysterious to me.   What has me nervous isn’t India’s mystery.   I look forward to exploring that.

No, what has me troubled are all the stumbles and mulligans and pratfalls involved in signing up for this voyage.  They are:

1.      The trip offered a pre-extension to Kathmadu, Nepal.   That definitely that got my attention.   Except, it isn’t available on my departure date and subsequent departures are sold out.

2.     The single supplement wasn’t available either as someone had already taken it.   Vantage Travel offers one free single supplement for most of their trips.  It means a person traveling alone does not have to pay double, as in “based on double occupancy.”

3.     As a solo traveler, I could not book the lower-cost cabin for the week we will spend on a riverboat.    $$$!

4.     I asked if it were possible for me to fly from the West Coast to New Delhi, rather than flying to the East Coast to get to India.   I was assured I could.  I like letting the travel company make my air reservations because it’s so much easier, and having them do it means all airport transfers are included in the price and any problems will be solved by the guides.

5.     When my air itinerary was e-mailed to me, it had me flying from Seattle to JFK in New York, overnighting there, then flying to India the next day.   When I contacted the company that does the flight itinerary, I was told that flying from the West Coast was impossible because I would get there after the boat left.   What?

6.     “After the boat left?”   What was that?   The program itinerary said we were to stay in Delhi, recover from all that time in the air, and tour around there for two weeks.  Then we would fly to Kolkata (Calcutta) for a week-long cruise on the Ganges River.  Ah, but it turns out the itinerary will run in reverse on my departure.   So, after flying 3-1/2 hours to Seattle one day, overnighting, flying 5-1/4 hours to JFK, overnighting, and flying 14 hours overnight to New Delhi, I get to get on another airplane and fly 2 hours to Kolkata.   Aren’t I lucky?   Will I still be able to walk?  Will I be conscious?

7.     Then there was the visa that India requires.   Again, this is subbed out to Generations Visa, a company that has handled my visa requirements in the past.  I filled out the form and mailed my passport with the required documentation.  Then I got a message stating the company needed something with my street address, like a utility bill.  All my bills had my mailing address—a post office box.

8.     By the time I found something with my street address that was acceptable, the embassy had already approved my visa.  

9.     Besides me, only one other person signed up for a four day post-extension to Varanasai, so Vantage canceled it, requiring me to change my return ticket from Seattle back to Anchorage and change my hotel reservation in Seattle.   By this time, I was beyond expecting everything to flow smoothly, so all this did was mess with my composure.

So, yeah, I’m walking on egg shells here, waiting for the next hitch in the git-along.   In the meantime, please don’t tell Pablo I’m packing my suitcase or that he and Julie will be having some quality time together while I’m gone.

PS:   About that seven day trip on a riverboat?   It's billed as brand new for 2015.   Would my trip be its maiden voyage?   What could possibly go wrong?

Don't pay too much attention to this as everything changed (see above), but it gives you an idea.

Merry Christmas to you all

Turnagain Arm in the Fog

Guess who knew I was going somewhere and wasn't happy about it?

Early morning

Late afternoon

In the rear view mirror.