!!!!!!!! Where to begin? I suppose I'll start with the trip here...Wednesday afternoon I caught a flight out from Pittsburgh to Newark which ran mostly on time. It was uneventful, but then again, I was still in the states :) I arrived at Newark not knowing that there were several concourses for flight check in, but eventually I figured it all out, transferred to concourse B, and checked my bags/got my tickets etc. While the man at the counter was pulling up my information, I took a glance at his desk and saw a seating layout of what looked like an airplane. But I had never seen an airplane like this. I had "seats" that looked like they were at a slant and diagonal to the aisle, I couldn't figure it out. My excitement for the flight doubled.

The TSA people treated those going through security very poorly. I don't know whether it was because I was at Newark, whether they were having a bad day, or whether they just didn't like foreigners, but they could've been much more pleasant. They expected people who didn't speak English to know exactly what they were saying and got noticeably upset if they didn't do what they wanted. I've seen that happen before at Pittsburgh too actually now that I think about it.

I expected the gate area to have tons of eateries and stuff, like the main area in Newark; maybe it was because I was in the international arrivals/departures, but there were only a few gates past the security check in and only one small food stand. But a huge store that sold alcohol spanning half the waiting area. Go figure. When I wasn't staring in awe at the huge planes outside (having for the first time seen a two story airplane) I read and built my anticipation even more for the flight. An hour or so before boarding, the flight attendants came on board...there were at least two dozen of them, and they were all in uniform; they were deep blue/black and yellow in color and made them look so proper and important...I couldn't wait.

Stepping onto the plane I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The seats were indeed diagonal, and each one had row access, they all had space to fully recline too. The floors appeared as wood too...the whole deal looked like the inside of a decked-out and multi-million yacht interior. Those seats were higher class, but even the economy section offered more than I expected (despite my expectations that had had ample time to build). It was in a 3-3-3 seating arrangement and the seats were a deep red color. Each seat had its own touch-screen system and remote and such and were really comfortable. Aromas of curry and spice lingered, and the ceiling faded in and out with different colors. The man sitting next to me noticed my astonishment and chuckled; I asked him what all the buttons did, along with what everything on the menu meant. Yes, we got a full menu for the flight, and we were allowed anything on it at no extra charge...try to find that on an American-run airline. Right after take off, the attendants came around with refreshing warm/moist towels (I love that) and mints. I couldn't tell you what I had for dinner, even if I knew how to pronounce it, but of course it was delicious. I love airplane food. I love Indian food. Put the two together. Not only was there an entree but also an appetizer, dessert, and after-tea. The entertainment system was astounding. There were hundreds of songs and movies offered, as well as the news (global/local), information about the airplane (including outside environmental conditions and a map showing exactly where the plane was on the globe), and games. The games included a program that literally taught you how to speak foreign languages (numbers/days of the week/important words and phrases etc.), and it was here that I probably spent most of my time, going through the Hindi program multiple times as well as German, Thai, and Mandarin (it looked like at least 30 or so languages were offered).

I also spoke a lot with the man sitting next to me. He lives in India but was visiting his wife and children who live in Landsdale by Philly; he lives with the rest of his extended family at home in India. He has an immigrant visa, which took him 6 years to get, and has to at least be in the United States every 12 months for it to be in effect, so he visits the US every year. He works as a gas-station pumper (people pump the gas like in New Jersey for you in India) and his wife is a medical technician. We also talked about the food, whether, traveling etc.

I was woken up with breakfast which included a crossoint, and I knew then that we were near Brussels! It was an amazing experience just to be in the Brussels airport. All the memories of my trip last year came back to me which was triggered by the way the people in the airport looked and acted, looking at the food and souvenirs offered, noticing that everything was astronomically expensive, and even going through a door. The doors there are thin, but very heavy and strong. They slam solidly when you close them, and have knobs that don't turn.

I needed to go through security again before waiting at the gate (Jet Airways was very picky about their security, there were even people with metal detectors inside the terminal that scanned you right before you got onto the plane). I walked around the airport some, recalling things from last year's trip, and when I got back onto the plane (same one), everything was cleaned and packaged like before, every seat having hygienically treated blankets and pillows, magazines and headphones put back into their bags and such. The food was at least as good if not better (I accompanied it this time with fine Belgian beer). The flight to Brussels was 6 hours, and the flight to Mumbai was 8, and I must have fallen asleep for a while because it didn't feel that long. It was midnight on Friday when we arrived there. Mumbai airport either didn't have terminal ramps like I was used to, or it was too crowded there because we stepped off the plane by walking down steps onto the airfield. Although the steps had a covering, the rain blew in from everywhere as I waited for the bus to pick me up. My customs paper was immediately soaked before I could get it underneath my shirt. It sure was monsoon season.

The airport looked like it was under major construction, we walked through dry walled corridors to get to customs and only one of the 4 or 5 luggage belts was working. I waited at least an hour for my bag (which I had to get and recheck to Hyderabad even though the representative at Newark said it would go through to Hyderabad, whatever the case was, Jet Airways reminded me about it with their signs that guided its passengers through the airport...yes, I can't speak highly enough about Jet Airways) but that was fine because I met someone about my age and we got to talk for a while. His name was Paul and he went to Carnegie Mellon for business. Although he had a job (doing something, I forget) he left it to travel for a while. He did not know what he was going to do in India, but this was someone who I'm certain would have no trouble filling his time. He had a hotel booked for the night, the extent of his plans, but was staying for three weeks before heading off to Thailand. We exchanged emails before he left for his next flight, and after I got my bag I headed through security again. I couldn't quite figure out what to do, but after the whole Mumbai experience I can say these things: I was supposed to push my way into line, I was supposed to actually take my luggage after it went through the scanner, I was to check my bag with Jet Airways after, I was to then to go to the domestic airport via bus and go to concourse 1B, I wasn't to check in at Jet Airways again at that time, I was to wait until my flight was called to go through security for my carry-ons, and lastly, I was to listen CAREFULLY for my flight (I learned that after needing to hurry through security, having only heard the second announcement for my flight).

Evidently I had initially arrived at the international airport (under renovation/construction like I mentioned), and the bus to take me to the domestic one was ill-lighted and and floor was unsturdy, but the domestic airport itself looked new, having recently opened after renovation. the floors and walls were clean marble, and even the bathrooms were walled with this beautiful blue marble; there weren't western toilets though, I had never seen the hole in the ground for the toilet before and was eager to try them. Waiting for my plane, I was so tired, but couldn't really fall asleep, so I talked to my Indian friend (from the airplane) some more who I had met up with again after arriving at the domestic airport. I also met another man from South Africa who worked as a representative for an energy company. He told me all about how where he lived (by Johannesburg?) there was a lot of racism (including white vs. black) and Indians weren't given the work opportunities that they should despite all the hard work they do. By 5 in the morning, the airport was already bustling with people. All of the "gates" were doors onto the airfield where buses would take people to their planes. I had never quite seen something like that before; on the bus, we zoomed around planes, trucks moving supplies, and other buses to get to the plane. There were lot of planes, and they seemed to be parked scattered about; how efficient it was I couldn't be certain (I even saw two commercial jets that were nearly touching and perpendicular to each other). It also seemed that how big you were governed your rights on the airway (whether or not you needed to get out of the way), planes had priority over trucks, trucks over buses, buses over luggage movers, and those over individual people.

Of course the Jet Airways flight was amazing, serving tea and a delicious breakfast (despite the short 44 minute duration of the flight), although there was no individual entertainment system :) The ground from the airplane looked kind of barren, with towns scattered about and green squares that were probably farms. The Hyderabad airport that we flew into is new (opened in March) and far from the city. There was a terminal walkway this time. Right after getting my luggage (ecstatic that it wasn't lost or anything) I spotted the CIEE representative waiting for me. Another student, Tes was already there too and we talked while others arrived. She has been to Senegal and France and all around...it seems like many of the 20 or so people in the group are well-traveled and cultured, and it probably takes a certain someone like that to decide to come here in the first place. As students trickled in, we all talked about flights and such (none of which seemed to go as smoothly or were as fun as my own; additionally, I asked about prices and no one said they paid less than I did for my ticket! Jet Airways is like a gem that no one knows about I guess, only one other student flew it, and she was as excited about it was I was). Travis, my now-roommate, unfortunately left his bags in Mumbai and the airline was demanding he return to claim them. It was unclear whether or not we could convince them to send the luggage without his presence, but it wasn't really his fault because, like in my case, the bags were "checked" through to Hyderabad, but you needed to get them in Mumbai, probably because that was your port of entry. His airline didn't remind him of that like Jet Airways did for me.