Backing up....

Alps on Austrian border
Mountains in Turkey?






Flying to India just wasn't so bad. Perhaps its the delirium that accompanies sleep deprivation, but all in all, the trip seemed really quick. Strangely quick, even if it did take 24 hours (6 hour layover- 3hrs of which was spent soundly asleep in Richmond care of 12 Jocelyn and Mr. Will Hutchins. What follows are a few key moments of the trip....


Modern- efficient (mostly) arrival. Could have been anywhere until you took your first inhalation on the jet bridge-- the universal, unmistakable scent of burning trash, accompanied with slight mildew overtones. ING is a big sponsor at the airport.


Baggage claim wouldn't ordinarily be so interesting to me, but this one drew me in. Primarily because of the quiet hum of the carousels-- I've spent a good bit of time at the AA baggage claim at Logan lately and the clack, clack, uhm boppa, clack, clack, uhm boppa or hte carousel there seems amazingly outdated in comparison....




Yet, unfortunately a good looking baggage carousel cannot make up for incompetent airline baggage handling depsite a 6 hour layover......




Twas not to be..... no bag for Cassandra (who runs the entire program). As a result we had an unexpected non tourist shopping experience-- Loose one- win one. Bag did show up today thanks to an army of helpers.... It takes a lot of people to do a lot of things here in India. More about that to come....

Day 1 48 hours

Jet-lag can be lethal.... After all the steps one goes through to protect oneself from any hint of consumption of water, what happens at 10PM after you've brushed your teeth with bottled water? Well, one moves on to washing one's face and then splashing a nice good rinse.... and swishing it all around with total satisfaction that yes, in fact you've nearly made it to bed after nearly 48 hours without more than a 2 hour nap.... whoops! Wait, was one's mouth open..... ;-) While not devastating.... it just serves as a reminder that one tiny misstep and whammo! A happy few days can be all over.... But if that's not so bad, there was the hunger that hit mid day yesterday. All set for pizza, my dazed colleague and I dove into one of the 3 hotel restaurants. Buffet only ma'am, please sit here. Lured by the thought of delightful scrambled eggs and toast, we sat and then our first course arrived. Yes, ma'am, here are the salads-- this one are beans, and this one are sliced veggie- tables, and this one are curried eggplant. Next we will bring your dimsum, and you may get up to serve your sushi from the sushi bar.... no joke- we walked smack dab into a Chinese/Japanese buffet at India's only Asian fusion restaurant..... Zen. Having pledged not to eat anything raw, with legs, or from the sea, immediately we had before us a conundrum. Too tired to do anything about it, we submitted, save the Sushi thanks to a recent Parisian mishap care of Monsiuer Swiz. Alas, this is a five star hotel and they do cater to Westerners..... Well. So far so good. And more about the Leela Palace later.... More about everything later, though blogging time is tight! After all this is a business travel blog.... so I'm off to do a bit of business with my team..... one initial interview and our first team dinner. The go button has been pushed!

Heading out...

Just under 7.5 hours until lift off.... 20 years ago the SS Universe deposited me on the shores of Madras India (now Chennai). Vivid memories of an experience that changed me from the core persist from an adventure that unfolded over 7 days. Traveling as a student, India awoke me to my senses and the wonder of what I might do and who I would become when I grew up. Sunday morning, I'll land in Bangalore courtesy of British Airways- 4:40AM for a little added flavor, on a week long business adventure. Join me as I hope to capture the unknown!