The Never Ending Day of Travel

So after shopping and spending my rupees, Deride and I took an auto back to XIME. I then showered and changed into my travel clothes before dinner. We then brought our luggage down to the van. It all fit in the back row, which left 9 seats open. Unfortunately to go to the resturant we had 11 people. So we had to squeeze in. We went to a bbq place and the president of XIME joined us. The food was delicious. The tables have grills in the middle of the table. They kept bringing out kabobs and we kept eating. Then they tell us that was just the appetizers and the buffet is dinner... we were all full. We ate a bit of the buffet to be polite. We then got back on the bus. Luckil there was only 9 of us heading to the airport since Matt and Kanti were heading back XIME. It was a good thing thought since it was a two and a half hour trip to the airport and we needed our own seats for such a long trip.

When we finally got to the airport (seriously traffic in this city is CRAZY), the security gaurd didn't want to let some of us in. Apparently you have to have a boarding pass or find your name on the manifest to be let in. Since some of our flights were at 4, our manifest hadn't been printed yet. He let us in when we showed him our itinerary. Pouria, Kim, Margret, and I had the latest flight at 4 so we couldn't check in until 12:30. We found seating upstairs and just sat around. Finally we went through security. We spent our last few rupees buying stuff. Then Pouria and I sat around waiting for our flight to board. We finally started boarding. Pouria and I got upgraded to BUSINESS CLASS!!! We were super happy. In business class they give you drinks while economy class is boarding. It was freaking sweet!! We also got better food in business class. I had an omelet and champange (yes real champange, and not the cheap stuff). I have fallen in love with business class.

We finally landed in Abu Dhabi. Since we had 3 hours until our flight, we bought a few gifts. We then had to go through security again (big on security here and in India). We got to the gate and clearly we weren't being upgraded. We then got on the plane. I was ready for this flight since it had been over 24 hours since I had slept. I got on the plane, ate, and fell asleep. When I woke up I though I had been asleep for like 10 hours and we would be landing in the next few hours. Instead I had been sleeping for 4 hours and we still had 10 hours. No matter what I tried, I couldn't get bck to sleep. I gave up and just finished reading my book, writing, and listening to music. Near the end of the flight I finally managed to fall asleep but I was woken an hour later since we had to prepare for landing.

We FINALLY landed at JFK (over 20 hours in the air combined, over 10 hours in airports). I was eager to get through customs (while texting with my aunt so I could stay updated on the Ravens game. Go Ravens, beat Brady!). I got through customs pretty quickly and got my luggage. I then got picked up by Jordan to spend the night in New York. I finally got a salad (something I have been craving since we couldn't eat fruits and veggies in India). I can't wait to get home to my own bed and room along with all my stuff.

Well this journey seems to be over. Hopefully my next adventure will come soon.

Much love,

KP