If anyone ever has the chance to fly Jet Airways, do it! The flights to India were my first really long international flights. We left San Francisco on Wednesday night on a 13.5 hour flight to Shanghai, China, then connected to Mumbai on a 7.5 hour flight, and then a quick 1.5 hour jaunt to Bangalore. Prior to these flights, my longest flight was to Hawaii (~6 hrs) so I was a little nervous about having to sit still for such a long period of time. We were blessed with a relatively empty flight and each of us (Kristen, Jon, and I) all got our 3 seat rows all to ourselves! If the on-flight entertainment hadn’t been so intriguing I might have even gotten some sleep! Instead, I watched movie after movie, checked out the games, and even played a little with the seat-to-seat messaging (Jon and I were trying not to sleep so we could adjust to the 12.5 hour time difference). There was a huge selection of both Hollywood and Bollywood movies (Lindsey – I totally thought of you the whole time!) so, of course, I couldn’t shut my eyes.
I watched Step Up 2 (what a way to start a dancing trip… I was so inspired!), 21 (hmm… a little dull, but a neat true story), Horton Hears a Who (my best chance at inspiration to sleep), a fantastic Bollywood dance movie (Ajanta, or something like that), and started the Bank Job.The food was also pretty darn fantastic. We were served dinner, breakfast, and supper. Now I haven’t figured out exactly what the difference between dinner and supper are, but they were all fantastic meals. I had the Indian vegetarian selection for 2 out of the 3 meals (Jon – You would have been quite satisfied!).
I haven’t seen much of India yet so I guess there isn’t much else to say. When we got off of the plane in Mumbai, it was pouring rain. Yep, definitely monsoon season! We got through customs really smoothly, turned some cash into Rupees, and are now waiting for our 1.25 hour delayed connection to Bangalore. I also haven’t really slept much since we left SFO 25.25 hours ago (It’s now 10:00p Thursday night (8/14) in San Francisco and 10:30a Friday (8/15) here in Mumbai. The time difference is actually pretty convenient. I’m not even changing my watch! All I have to do is add 30 minutes to the time and ignore the am/pm. It’s so strange having a .5 hour time difference!
Culture notes:
- It’s always fun to see the Bidey in the bathroom, but I’m not really a fan of the squat toilets. We’ll see how that goes!
- I love having the yummy tea selections at the regular coffee shop (thinking of Jon and Lindsey the whole time!).
- Even though I got advance warning (Thank you, Johanna!) about the head side bobble, I still burst out laughing after one of the security guards waved me through customs check bobbing his head enthusiastically side to side. Instead of nodding, they wiggle their heads with side-to-side movement. I’m still not sure what exactly the gesture means, but it seems similar to our front head nod to signal agreement or that we’re following along in the conversation. It will be so strange if all the dancers we train stand there bobbing their heads side to side when we talk. It’ll be tough to keep a straight face!
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