The race is on

(Jan 26)

After my flight from Kansas City to Dulles, Washington D.C.'s airport - I knew I was going to have to book it.

I had 49 minutes to get from the plane, through the airport, onto the shuttle bus, to the other side of the airport, taking the next tram to terminal C, finding the gate, to the next plane: Air India.

Please don't dismiss the minor detail of hauling ALL of my luggage while navigating to my next destination. Let me tell you, I was not conditioned for that much running with that much extra weight! Looking back now, I would like to tell the former me to "Buck up, sister! It's gonna get a whole lot more interesting in the next 5 weeks, and your luggage is going to get a heck of a lot heavier!"

There it is. Gate 38...almost there. As I arrive, it's completely empty. The only people there are two employees in charge of boarding passengers.

"Excuse me, I'm to board Air India 102, here's my boarding pass and passport."

"I'm sorry, that's not possible. We stopped boarding at 11:15, it is now 11:50."

Well, after trying to convey my point that my last flight hadn't even LANDED at 11:15 to no avail I was getting thoroughly upset. This employee is now appearing to text message, or maybe call somebody, on her personal cell phone. All I could think was "Really? I'm having a meltdown, and you're calling somebody on your cell phone?"

She was calling somebody to help me. Looking back now, I would've noticed this cell phone escapade as 100% normal. Culturally, the people of India use cell phones for everything, it's not only personal it's business. Rather than picking up the land line phone sitting in front of her provided by the airport, she turned to her little purple cell to contact somebody related to either Air India, or Dulles Airport.

She explained my dilemma on the phone, in some language I could not even begin to comprehend. Soon after, a man came from the terminal connected to Air India 102 to help me.

"Did you check your luggage?"

"No!" (This turned out to be a good thing, they're going to let me board the plane because I had everything with me.)

"Come with me. What was your delay?"

At this point, I was completely and utterly exhausted. After trekking what seemed like 100 miles through an airport, walking uphill both ways in snow without shoes, and carrying all of my luggage - the last thing I wanted to do was tell this random man what exactly was the delay, and how it was NOT my fault. Thank you 49 minutes.

None of it matters, I am officially on the plane. Nevermind the 37 flight attendants and passengers that are scorning me and asking me, "What was the delay with your flight?"

JFK, here I come. New Delhi, here I come.

Namaste.

Where you book matters.

(Jan 26 5:00am)

It's true-where you book DOES matter. What they don't tell you is, read the fine print when booking flights.

I'll skip the long saga of trying to book my tickets to India, including the not one, not two, but THREE times my bank shut my debit card down for trying to book them. To make a long story short: Bank of America has a really great fraud protection program, they thought I was an imposter trying to book tickets to India.

When I was standing at MCI Airport, in Kansas City, none of that mattered anymore. I had finally booked my tickets - much thanks to Kelly Scott and Judith Reagan and others for the help! I had my tickets, and my "lightly" packed bags and I was ready to go.

Until, that is, the man behind the desk for said "Uh-oh..." followed by "We have a problem."

Come to find out, the policy for my particular airline says you have to have at least ONE hour between connecting flights to check baggage. Between Dulles, Washington D.C., and JFK, New York, I had 49 minutes.

What does that mean?

All of my baggage will have to be carried on. There I stood, 6 a.m., with one duffle bag inside of a giant suitcase, one duffle bag that contained another smaller carry on bag that was going to be my "purse". Immediately I nixed the giant suitcase. Originally I had planned to take this along to pack all of the things I was to acquire over the next 5 weeks.

Down to two oversized bags, my next task was to convince the security guys at the airport that my things could fit in the overhead compartment. You know those obnoxious people you see on movies, and sometimes (unfortunately) experience in real life, cramming their enormous luggage into the overhead compartment, and all you really want to say is, "Seriously? That's not going to fit, my friend."

That was me. Hello, nice to meet you. I'm the obnoxious traveler.

In the end, my bags managed to fit - but all of the liquids I had that were more than 3 ounces had to go. Apparently, I am a serious threat with my shampoo, conditioner, hairspray, mousse, and toothpaste. Let me tell you! After parting with my lovable liquids, all I really missed was my toothpaste. I'm finicky about my toothpaste - I've used the same type for at least the past 6 years that I can remember.

Moral of the story: where you book matters. I sincerely blame this entire incident on the online booking website for not informing me of this discrepancy in time. Sure, as the picture shows you above - they guarantee you the best price. The price you pay in the end, is a small token of your sanity, and a lot of fatigue hauling your 60 lbs of luggage through busy airports for the next 36 hours of travel.

Namaste.