so ... after returning from greece and spending some quality time with grandma joyce and ginny and bob exploring londontown together, i prepared for my trip to idia. packed up all of my things, moved them with the help of csm friend jen to her place, and waited for the time to arrive. took a cab to the airport. got my ticket, went through security, ate a crappy sandwich and and overpriced orange juice, and then boarded the plane. smooth sailing to helsinki, finland where i was scheduled for a 2 hour layover. from there it would be a short 6 1/2 hours to delhi.
as most of you already know, things did not go quite as planned.
helsinki finland. approximately 14:00. quite. uneventful. boarding begins.
'passport and visa please.'
'here's my passport.'
'visa?'
'no. i'm only a tourist.'
'visa?'
'no ... i'm only a tourist.'
'no. you need visa. can't let you on.'
'what? ... umm ... is there any way ... umm ...'
shit. yeah. a 'slight' miscalculation. and so it began.
the women at the airport were incredibly helpful ... rescheduling my flight for free ... getting my luggage off the plane before it took off ... finding me a 'relatively' inexpensive hostel ... getting me into a cab. they pretty much held my hand. they didn't have to ... but i wasn't about to turn away free help. a couple nights in the hostel (hostile? ... haha) a can of nuts, and some fancy work with the indian embassy to finland ... and i was back on track. i guess that is the slightly simplified version. aside from the mental freakout inside my little head ... everything was under control. if you are ever flying across the world and have to get stranded somewhere i recommend helsinki. clean. quiet. safe. even a few things to do. great photo booths as well.
and so i was off yet again. a little hesitant, but ready to get to delhi. really ready. it had been almost three months since i had seen franz, and at that point making me wait three more days was just not cool. after giving me a bit of a hassle at the desk because my bag was a little too heavy i made my way to yet again through security ... another crappy sandwich ... a little light reading ... and an hour of waiting for something to go wrong.
nothing did. the flight was smooth. the food was surprisingly good. and then i was there. it was hot. and i couldn't find the guy that franz had sent to pick me up (he was in ranchi for the weekend ... of course i was supposed to be with him) i decided at 2am that it was time to just get a hotel room and sleep. finally sleep. so i did. it was overpriced, but safe. and there was a phone. it was beyond weird to be laying in a 'swanky' hotel in delhi ... and have franz be somewhere else. but this is how franz and i travel. the highs and the lows. there's a history.
since then it has been blissfully uneventful ... aside from the whole 'being in india' thing. it has been greater than great to be here with franz ... over 2 months into his stay here he has things figured out which takes an immense amount of stress out of the simplest situations. from mosquitos to bollywood films, cows and rickshaws, good food and bad food, gurgaon to jaipur, hot as hell to ac, 5 1/2 hour bus rides to historic forts ... this is only the beginning.
