India

I was recently sent to India for work. This was two months ago. I figure I haven't posted in here for so long, what is two months? I will be copying my emails that I sent to family. I should have typed in here originally, but didn't think of it at the time. Here goes.

Day 1: Flight to India
I have not made it far, only about 1900 miles. There are still many more miles to cover, I have some time free before boarding the plane. My flights are not on partnering airlines, Delta and Emirates. At first I thought I would have to collect my bag after the flight from SLC to JFK and recheck it in with Emirates. Luckily that was not the case. Delta has a bag agreement with Emirates so I would not have to get the bag from baggage claim and recheck the bag in for the Dubai and Bangalore flights.

First class from Salt Lake City to New York was nice. I was not able to sleep which will make the rest of the flights very interesting. I sat next to a girl who currently lives in Salt Lake. Something very interesting about her, she works at Goldman Sachs in Salt Lake City! What are the chances of sitting by someone on a flight to New York and the person works at Goldman Sachs? I guess GS does send people to New York all the time for training. Her stop was NY for 2 - 3 weeks. We chatted for a while during the flight, but she was soon able to fall asleep to be rested for her day in NY.

Movies are different in first class. The movie to watch was more of an on demand. A list of movies were given to me and I then had to select which movie I wanted to watch. There were probably 15 options available. I started watching Avatar and soon felt my need for sleep rising. I stopped the movie about 40 minutes after starting and decided to try and sleep. I must have fallen asleep as the flight did not seem to be four hours.

Once we arrived at JFK we were about 30 minutes early and the gate was not ready for us. We then had to sit on the tarmac until a team came to guide the plane in and move out the unload dock (I know there is a better name for this but am unable to remember). I then had to switch terminals to move to my Emirates flight. When I got into the terminal, which by the was is terminal 4, there was no one available for check in. I joined the line of those waiting to check in, I was about fifth in line.

As we were standing a lady came and asked us all to move away so they could set up for the day and that they would be opening at 7. I had an hour to wait until I could check in for my next flight. At least I did not have my large checked bag. As they were setting up I saw that Business class was going to be in a different queue from Economy class. When they finally opened, about 7:05, all the other people waiting to check in were Economy class. I did not have to wait long in the Business Class line as I was the only person.

The lady printed my boarding passes for both the Dubai and Bangalore flights so I would not have to check in again. One thing I noted on my boarding pass is that I was invited to the Emirates Lounge. I was starving and said I would check the lounge out after I had some breakfast. I stopped at Au Bon Pain and got an egg and sausage bagel. It had an interesting taste that I believe I know why. I am on Malarone to prevent me from getting Malaria. When I started taking this pill yesterday I started having a salty taste in my mouth. It has remained ever since. A salty 30 days is a head.

I ate the bagel and decided to find the lounge. I had to cross security and found the lounge upstairs above my gate. The lounge is very extravagant! Not only are the chairs much nicer to sit in than the regular gate chairs, there are computers, places to hookup laptops, and food. The food looks very good with fruits, breads, danishes, and much more. The spread is much better than what is available at any hotel.

I am now waiting to board the Dubai flight. It is only 8 AM and boarding is not until 10:10 AM. As I am certain everyone in SLC is still asleep I won't be calling anyone to wake them up, I still want friends and family when I get back. It is a good thing I brought a mini DVD player and the Kindle with various books on it to keep me busy.

Robert

P.S. I was bored and checked how long Google maps thinks it should take to WALK from Salt Lake to New York. You should be able to accomplish this in 29 days and 23 hours.