Tuesday, September 13, 2011

The journey home...

Planes, boats, and automobiles...

Our journey home began at 7am Monday morning, catching the ferry to the airport. I had some anxiety about how this was going to pan out with my foot, but Kelley and Kate were fantastic helpers and I managed it without a problem. At check in, I was offered a wheel chair. I was mortified to be wheeled around, but it was nice not to have to hobble. My other leg muscles are getting a workout.

We took off for Sri Lanka, which I am intrigued to make a future trip to Sri Lanka...add that to the travel to do list! Again, I have to note how impressed I am with Sri Lankan air. Their planes are all new and clean, and service is fantastic.

After a layover, we were off for Delhi. Delhi has a nice airport, but some things are just a bit strange. Since we didn't book our flights all together we had to go through immigration and check-in all over again. The guy at immigration was a bit confused with what we were doing, so it took some time to explain and get through. The check-in part was another hassle. We went up to departures and had to pass through a security check point to enter the departure check-in. He asked us for our tickets, but clearly we didn't have these since we hadn't even entered the check-in area.  Luckily, Kelley and I had print out itineraries and were able to pass through. Kate, however, had a bit of a struggle but finally found her confirmation on her phone.  So then we proceeded to walk a couple feet to another guarded entrance, where we were stopped and had to go through the same process.  Mind you, the other guard was in visibility. It made no sense why we had to do this again.  And this time around I had a bit of a struggle but finally made it through, as for Kelley and Kate, they had to go find someone with a printout of all passengers and show it to the guard (this happened when we were flying to Male too, but not as many checkpoints).   I know it's good they are trying to be secure, but some of this could really be streamlined!  Efficiency doesn't appear to be a strong suit!  If you find yourself traveling to Delhi, make sure you print off all your tickets first.

After all that frustration we were able to take advantage of Kate's dad's airline status and chill in a swanky lounge. This worked out well since my flight was two hours after Kate and Kelley's. I was able to catch up on free internet, and enjoy a cocktail before my fifteen hour flight back to Chicago.

Over 24 hours of travel, and three modes of transportation, the trip has come to an end....SAD FACE!


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