Hi Everyone

I made it safely, although I can hardly say my flight was pleasant....I just realized however that I really shouldn't complain because I am watching the news in my room right now and they mentioned an Air India flight that was delayed on the runway in Delhi (and the heat) without food and water for something like 3+ hours! Ok, so nothing that bad for me. I had a layover in LA for about 4 hours and then took a 9 hour flight to Frankfurt. There were some non-Indian passengers...I realized it only because truth be told, Air India (maybe for the reasons I am about to detail as well as the experience of those in Delhi today) does not really attract non-Indian customers. I was stuck sitting next to a very nice woman with two kids, one only 9 months old. This was made worse by certain smells (which I need not detail here) wafting over from the malfunctioning bathroom next to us. I wasn't about to deal with that for 9 hours and then another 8 hours to Mumbai so I asked to switch. There was just enough room on the plane...so I did. My new seat (while not next to screaming babies and smelly lavatories) was technologically deficient. The on-flight entertainment didn't work. I wasn't about to complain about that though after dodging the bullet I did. The food was sub-par - but funny moments were when the non-Indians who were seated right in front of me were asking the flight attendants what "pappadum" (the crispy wafer thing sometimes served in indian restaurants before meals) was and how it should be eaten and then the other comments about the food being tasty but spicy. Unfortunately, I can say that for these people, their foray into Indian food (if this was their first which it seemed to be) was a bad one. Well, my suspicions that the non-Indians were not headed for India proved true when they all deplaned in Frankfurt. After a small wait in Germany, we were off to Mumbai. This time I was able to stretch out and get the sleep I hadn't gotten the night/day (or whatever it was) before. The food was still "eh" and new parts of the plane weren't working (obviously not the essential ones) like the video screen in front. After landing in Mumbai I went through the security clearance to check-into my next flight (Mumbai to Chennai which I learned was via Hyderabad) and then was told the gate had changed and we would have to go through security all over again. Still, I pretty much slept through the rest of the flight. I was a little nervous about my luggage not keeping up with all the plane changes but it persevered. I went through a practically non-existent (and refreshing) immigration process and then picked up my one checked bag and came out to the arrivals area. I always feel a little let-down and silly when I see all the people waiting in the arrivals section for their arriving loved ones and I'm looking around as if I'll find someone :) Well that's been my last two days; Lost waiting in lines, being canned like a sardine in a smelly container, and attempting to convince myself that sleeping with my neck turned 90 degrees from my body is actually comfortable...

Lessons learned: Air India is far from the best way to travel to the subcontinent...although I have a feeling none of you needed me to tell you that :)

More to come....