The Amazing Race to Bangalore!

In Bangalore, on Friday July 1, at 1:48pm

I decided to hold off on writing about the rest of my flights until some downtime in Bangalore largely because nothing too exciting or out of the ordinary took place over the course of the flights. However, I would like to summarize my overall impression of each flight.

Detroit – DC: An extremely short flight of around 90 minutes on a United ExpressJet with 1-2 seating. Fortunately, I received the single, window seat which allowed me amazing views of the Detroit area upon take-off, and the DC metro area prior to landing. The flight served a complimentary beverage.

DC – Dubai: The longest leg of my trip consisted of a 13 hour flight, trans-Atlantic, trans- Europe flight. Prior to boarding, security at Dulles went smoothly and quickly with many counters open to speed the transit. Upon boarding, the crew informed us that the flight was full. And that was most definitely the case. The crowd was largely desi families transiting through to South Asia and the flight service reflected this demographic. Two meals were served on the flight. Dinner service included curry and rice, and a pre-landing breakfast service was more curry and rice for vegetarians or a hot turkey and swiss sandwich – I clearly opted for the latter.

On a positive note, on a flight of 13 hours, getting along with the passenger next to you is much appreciated. I introduced myself to a tall, young Indian guy named Suresh. His destination was Chennai and his reason for traveling to India strengthened my confidence in the situations depicted in typical Hindi films.

He had apparently come to the US six months ago to work for the North Carolina government in Raleigh. Before coming to the US, he had promised his fiancee that he would return to marry her. And this summer, he was traveling back to Chennai for 15 days for his marriage. I told my friends that I hoped to sit next to someone interesting and profound on my long flight to Dubai. I guess this is the closest you can get on a flight of Indian families...

I want one...real bad!!

Dubai: I want to include a short note about my brief layover in Dubai. I loved the transit through DXB. Security was quick and very stress-free compared to that at US airports. The airport's interior itself is gorgeous and very characteristic of the city. I loved being able to read and understand the signs in Arabic. I felt very “at-home” in the environment. The diversity of the people passing through Dubai is stunning – truly a confluence between Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. I'm really hoping to explore the city sometime in the future though I feel there are some much grittier truths to Dubai under the visible blanket of gold and posh skyscrapers.

Dubai – Bangalore: An excellent flight. 3-3 seating. The superiority of these new Indian-owned airlines over traditional American carriers is stunning. I sincerely wish I was on a 13 hour long IAD-DXB flight with the Kingfisher crew rather than with the grumpy attendants on United. The cabin crew were attentive and welcoming, there was a generous amount of food and amenities (for a 4 hour flight), and the flight arrived earlier than scheduled.

Right now, I am happy to be off the plane and at my destination. Hmm...I am very excited to see what the next two months have in store...