Leaving and Arriving

or: In Which Megan Spends Way To Much Time Around Airplanes And Is Very Tired Now

 

It's been... 48 hours since I've left? I don't know anymore. Lots of international travel = way to many time changes = a very disorientated Megan. Well, however long its been, it has been exhausting.

I left for Chicago the afternoon f the 24th. Reily, Kylie, and Rod Kreie were lovely enough to come and see me off, along with my family.

They're wonderful, aren't they?

 

The flight to Chicago went smoothly, as did Chicago to Doha. I had a whole row to myself on Chicago to Doha, which was lovely. In fact, that flight was really awesome.

You know all that lovely stuff you can get on airplanes like peanuts and movies and it costs about $800? Well, on Qatar airlines it was all free.










(I also watched Star Trek Into Darkness and The Avengers, but I didn't take pictures of those.)

 

And the airport was really nice. And really easy to navigate. The only issue I have with Qatar is that the flight attendants know who Megan Fox is. Getting checked in: "Alright, can I see your passport? Go down that escalator, Miss Fox... Miss Megan Fox? What are the chances!" I can't escape my name, even in the Middle East.

my first view of India. Worth posting, even though its a crappy picture.

 

 

The only airport I had any real trouble navigating was the Mumbai airport. But then, the Mumbai airport is really confusing. Once I got off my plane there, I had to go through immigrations (the third time I had to go through customs, if anyone is counting) then grab my luggage - or actually watch as an old guy runs in front of me and grabs your luggage off the conveyer belt, watch as he pushes to the domestic flight (which was about 200 yards away), and then give him a couple of bucks because he won't leave until you pay him for his unasked for service (this happened three times, by the way) - then go through domestic flight customs (fourth time through customs).

At which point I realized that I didn't have a ticket for my flight, so I had to get on a bus with a whole bunch of creepy guys with mustaches, leave the airport, come back in, and check in: where thankfully my ticket was waiting for me. Then customs again (that's five) where I got pulled over and made to go through the line again (six), because the lady running the machine thought my flat iron was a knife.

By this time, I had about 15 minutes to get my gate and board my flight. Except when I got there, the gate was boarding for a different flight. After a couple panicked minutes, I realized that I had moved my watch to far forward, and I actually had about an hour before my flight even began to board.

Another creepy bus ride, and I was safely on my last flight. I have no wish to repeat that particular experience.

Bye-bye Mumbai.
 

When I was on my flight to Mumbai, the guy I was sitting next to shuddered when I mentioned that I was off to Calcutta next, so I was pleasantly surprised how nice the airport was. I found my luggage easily, and I found Surinder and Sanjay (district youth exchange coordinator and my host father) right off.

We ate lunch at a restaurant right across from the airport with another Rotarian, who I'll be staying with in Calcutta later on. They had a long and involved conversation about the different places I needed to visit and people needed to meet (which I only understood about a third of) which culminated in the collective promise that they would "make this the experience of a lifetime." which was nice.

Sanjay is in the pink shirt, Surinder the turban. They are both almost
 exactly as I imagined them, except I thought Sanjay was bald. 

SRK greeted me as we left the airport

Surinder and Sanjay and I then drove to Durgapur, stopping for coconuts along the way.

After three hours, we arrived at my new home.

I can't believe that this is happening!