It's hard to say when Day 1 actually began since we were enroute at 6 a.m. on December 26th (Albuquerque time) and arrived in Bangalore at 6 a.m. on December 28th, which is 11 and a half (yes, a half) hours ahead of Albuquerque time. All three of our flights were smooth and relatively painless except for the lack of inflight entertainment on the 10 hour flight to London (can you!?!) and the three unhappy children who were seated 4 rows ahead of us and screamed their heads off (not in unison, I might add) throughout the night. Oh and there was the case of the torrential downpour of water from the overhead compartment during take-off out of SFO, but it didn't affect us aside from providing some distraction from the lack of official entertainment and brief amusement.
Arriving in Bangalore was nothing like I expected. We breezed through customs, picked up our bags without any waiting and headed for the exit where Champaka said she'd be waiting. Stepping outside in the early morning darkness, I was struck by the modern design of glass and steel portico, the cool air, and the quiet crowd of hopeful greeters quietly waiting beyond the "passengers only" zone. It was nothing like my entry into Johannesburg or Delhi several years back. I heard a familiar voice call out my name and I spotted Champaka waving on the far edge of the crowd. Greeting her felt like a slow motion movie moment, except there wasn't any music. It was such a great feeling to finally be able to see such a good friend after so many years. When the moments of disbelief wore off, we made our way past the endless lines of tiny white taxis and found our designated taxi. As we headed into the city, the reality of Bangalore's traffic and transportation rules officially greeted us to India.
