But not to an auspicious start.

If this morning is anything to go by then our trip may be jinxed. Despite saying the following sentence aloud not 10 minutes before check in

“I’ll give you my winter jacket when we get inside and you can take it home.”

I completely forgot to hand over said jacket. By the time I realized I was still wearing it, I was 1/2 way through the customs line. A bout of mad packing and unpacking occurred and I’m now carting my winter jacket with me in the space I had previously dedicated for bringing back gifts.

Upon arrival at Seattle airport, I discovered that I didn’t have a gate number listed on my pass. This is also when I discovered that there are nice TSA agents and there are really rude ones. Since it was 4 hours until my flight boarded, the flight info wasn’t up on the screens yet. I stopped a female TSA agent who really didn’t seem to want anything to do with helping me find my way. Instead, she sent me on a wild goose chase throughout the airport looking for the NWA gates. After much airport speed walking, my feet were getting tired and I was becoming more and more frustrated. I finally gave up and asked two mail TSA agents for help. After declaring myself lost, the first one immediately told me he knew exactly where I was – right here! After that, they pointed me towards the train and told me how to find the TSA gates. Since the flight info still wasn’t posted on the board yet and I had some time to kill, they suggested I get breakfast in the central court as there was more selection before heading off to the “S” gate area. I don’t know their names, but they certainly made my day.

Landing in Amsterdam was like visiting a whole other world. Wandering through the airport, I kept smelling heavy cigarette smoke and kept looking around for a smoke room. Instead, I found people lighting cigarettes beside my gate. There was a small coffee shop outside of it (no separate ventilation) and people were smoking away at will. Odd that this would be such a culture shock since I can recall similar situations in Canada only 15 years ago. It’s amazing how fast you can become accustomed to the “new way” when the old way is outlawed.

I had a 3 hour layover in Amsterdam – not enough time to enjoy the city – so I checked out the Rejk’s Museum. It’s the world’s only free airport museum and they had a display of Maritime artwork interspersed with some portraits and landscapes. Not a bad way to kill some time when you’re waiting for a flight.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a trip to India without something happening to my luggage. One of my bags was ripped open at the side and I have to go hunting for a new bag on Sunday. Rest in pieces little Windriver, you were an excellent traveling companion for many years.

Ted, my traveling companion who arrived in Delhi the day previously, met me at the airport. He had come with a driver from the “luxury hotel”, but the driver didn’t wait for my flight to arrive. After much searching for the driver in the parking lot (over an hour), we called the hotel. They promptly informed us the driver had never left and was waiting outside. So, outside we went.. and waited another 45 minutes for the driver who was supposed to be parked in the lot in front of us to appear.

The hotel needs a post all of it’s own…

Quite an eventful night. I’m off to go pass out now.

Technorati Tags: India, flights, travel, luggage

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.