Safe Arrival

Well, we made it safely to Delhi and this is our first post from that fair city. Our company authorized us to fly business class, so I can't complain about the flight. For long flights like this one, there is a HUGE difference between flying coach and flying business class. Plus, on the last leg (Frankfurt to Delhi) the airline upgraded us to first class and we flew on the upper deck of a 747. It was really cool and we all loved it.


Becca says the first thing she saw was two men holding hands. It is a common site over here to see two friends (men or women) holding hands. However, it is very rare to see a man and woman holding hands. Since that is the way Michelle and I usually walk, it is hard for us to remember that it isn't really done in India.


We knew we weren't in Kansas (or at lest Seattle) anymore when we got to the hotel. We had to take two cars from the airport. A small one for the people and a larger one for all the luggage. When we got to the hotel, we had about 6 people who greeted us. I've never seen so many people opening doors, grabbing luggage, welcoming us, etc. Of course we had to go through security screening (think a lite version of what you get at the airport, minus taking off the shoes). Then we were met at the door and a person holding a bowl surrounded by flowers met us, dipped her finger into the bowel and placed a red dot on our forehead. Then, instead of standing in a line at the check-in desk, we were escorted to our rooms by two people (one of which was the manager of the hotel), and shown the rooms. One of our escorts had the paperwork all ready for the room and all I needed to do was sign. Others brought our luggage in and after about a thousand good byes and thank yous, we were safely in our room getting ready for bed. I note that all this took place at about 2:30 AM.


On Saturday morning we ate breakfast, were met by our temporary driver, and went over to our flat. While we were eating breakfast, it started to rain. And I mean RAIN. It was a real gully-washer. Apparently this is only about the third time during the monsoon season that they have had this hard of rain. The streets were flooded and all the walkers, bicyclers and motorcycle riders were huddled under the flyovers to get out of the rain. I tried to take a picture, but it didn't work. Think of about 50 or 60 motorcycles, tuk-tuks, bicycles, etc. with all their riders standing around and you have a pretty good idea.


We showed Becca around the flat and she picked out her room. She also said she really loved the flat and the terrace. Here are a few pictures from our terrace of all the water still in the streets.




We then went down to one of the local markets to get pictures taken. You need passport photos for just about everything, from signing up for cell phone service, to turning on your electricity, to registering with the government. Not sure what they do with the photos, but there will soon be lots of pictures of us sitting in various filing cabinets around the city.

Catching Up

Well, it has been a long while since I've posted here. In fact, this is the first 'new' post on our 'new' blog. We decided to move our blog from Wordpress to Blogger mainly because Blogger lets you post video clips and that is a $65 option on Wordpress. I actually like the Wordpress tools for designing, layout, editing, etc. a lot better. I find myself editing the raw HTML code a lot in blogger and I never had to do that in the Wordpress tools.

It has been a hectic few months getting ready to leave the US. As I write this, I am in the Marriott hotel in Redmond Town Center. Our home is mostly packed and will be completely packed and on a truck by tomorrow. It is both sad and exciting to see us at this stage. Sad because we know we will be leaving the US. Exciting because we are looking forward to our new adventure.

We sold both our cars and our boat as well as a few other things. This is the first time in Michelle's and my married life that we have not owned a car. In some ways it seems weird. In others, strangely liberating. We have a rental car that the company got for us until we leave the US. After considering all the options, I decided I wanted to keep my motorcycle, so we still own one motorized vehicle. We also have a utility trailer. One big problem: The rental car is no where big enough to get the three of us and our luggage to the airport. We are still working on that one, but there are definitely options available.

Sorting our house so that some of it stays, some of it goes to storage, some of it goes by sea and some by air was tough! Most of the time when you move, almost everything moves from one place to another. This time, we feel like we have stuff going every which way. It will be interesting when we get to Delhi as stuff arrives to see what actually made it where it was supposed to go and what we really needed that ended up somewhere else. Look at the adventures that await!

By now most folks should have received the cards we sent out with our new contact info (and the new blog address). Keep in touch!