Travels Woes

I think I ended my last post by saying that my flight to London was an hour late. And it was, unfortunately my layover was only for an hour and a half. I had to sprint through the airport to get to my flight. And of course, my bags didn't make it. Luckily they were delivered to my aunts house, about 16 hours later. In time for my next flight to Trivandrum. We showed up at the airport, maybe a little late, but flights in India never leave on time. When we went to check in they said. No. There were no seats left on the plane. After a little shock, awe and dsibelief we were escorted to the office of the airline manager on duty.

My brother and cousin (Raj) proceeded to yell in a combination of Hinid and English. My brother simply told him we were getting on that flight. It was sh*t show, but really amusing. It was like there were intense negotiations going on. They kept pulling up different options on the computer and pointing to the giant map of India behind them. The would pick up thier phone, office phones and walkie-talkies and offer our deal to their supervisors, who counter with something else. Random people kept coming in and out of the office with different messages. By this time our departure time our departure time had passed, but the plane did not leave yet..

Finally, they negotiation three seats on the plane. So Vinay, Tori and Barb went on that. (Oh we were all meeting Vinay's g/f Adrienne there, so that might have had something to do with his tone. But in India you almost have to yell at anyone to get anything done. And yeah, I forogot to Introduce her in the lat post. Adrinne rocks. )

Raj went with them to calm down Barb and Tori and I was tasked with getting us on the plan B flight that got us into a nearby town at 1:30am. I walked up to the desk and the first thing the dude does is try and pacify me. I'm not even worked up or anything, but we chat a little. He makes me speak Hindi, even though he obviously speaks English. I use a mix and get by. And I didnt really want to get into a town 3 to 4 hour away (depending on the road or lack of their of) And successfully negotiation our 4 remaining seats on the next flight to Mumbai, two hotel rooms there for the night, dinner voucher, and seats on te 5:30 am flight to Trivandrum. Not too shabby. The hotel in Mumbai was right on the beach, nothing spectatcular, but maybe thats a good thing. When I asked what beer they had, they responded with "Mild" or "Strong" Obviosuly I got the Strong.

The beach here is ridiculously awesome. The resort is pretty small, so there are about 50 or so of us on the beach. And the rest of the beach is full of fishing boats and fisherman. The Seafood is pretty much caught that day. It's awesome. And spicey.
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Family Ties

I just wanted to take a moment to introduce all the characters in the next few chapters of the subcontinental adventures.

The main reason I'm venturing back so soon is to celebrete my aunt and uncles 25th wedding anniversary. My aunt and uncle are like my second set of parents. I have always stayed with them in India. If my parent buy a house in India, I would still have to stay with my aunt and uncle ...

This is more or less turning into a family reunion. And, they throw the sickest paties. This celebration is going to be bigger, badder, and more extravagent than their wedding. Plus we wont have to sit through multiple days and hours upon hours of ceremony.

This will be the first time I'll be in India with my mom since 1992. I was 13 the last time we traveled to India together. For those of you who didnt knoow me back then, I was a pretty darn good kid. I was well behaved. Now that I'm 29, I probably act more like a 13 year old.

The last time I was in India with my brother was 2001/2002 when he was filming Personality. We took at 21 hour train ride from Delhi to Bombay to set up what has now become Dakoit Films...out of this one bedroom cockroach infested apartment.

Also joining us on this trip is my cousin Raj. Raj is very close to our immediate family. He lived with us in Jersey when he and my mom worked in the same hospital in Philly. I was suppose to be the ring bairer in Raj and Barb's wedding ... but I flaked out. It is one of my three regrets in life.

Their kids will be joining us too. Gabe (18), Isaiah(16), and Tori(13). Gabe's been to DC a bunch of times this past summer. We went site seeing, tubing, and to a few concerts. He just finished his first semester at the University of Delware. Isaiah is mini-me. Except he isnt so mini anymore. He came to India with me 4 years ago, and the customs offficials thought I was his dad. Scary. I dont know who thought it was good idea for me to take care of a 12 year old. Scary. And Tori...Tori is the youngest, and is daddy's little girl. Nuff said. And the only little girl that I know that likes to eat sushi.

My mom is already in Delhi enjoying retired life. My brother and the rest of the gang are in the air as we speak(as I type) They left out of NYC at 6PM on Friday. I'm suppose to leave at 10 out of DC, looks like the flight is about 50 minutes late. They have an 111 hour layover in Finland (Helenski?) So even though I leave later, I'll beat them there. I arrive at 1am on Sunday morning. They arrive at 6am. We have to be at my other uncles 78th birthday party at noon on Sunday. That is going to be rough...

Then on Monday niggt, we head SOUTH. We will be on the BEACH for Xmas. Spending a couple days at a nice little resort on the Indian Ocean/Arabian Sea, where they have yoga and meditation clases. Then a couple days on a house boat. And then a couple days in he back waters (I have no idea what that means, I guess we'll find out!) The regions we will be visitng are Karela. Key words: Trivandrum, Kerala, Cochin, Backwaters.