The Daily Diary of a Wandering Restaurateur
February 8 - Farewell to Rajasthan
Today is a travel day ... a very long travel day. We had the morning to relax before we caught the 1:30 Jet Airways flight to Delhi. OK, so it left at 2:30 but that is travel in India. Our flight from Delhi to Amsterdam was not scheduled to leave until 1:40 ... AM! ... and nine hours is a depressing layover, but I had been thinking that we would just wait it out in the Business Class lounge. Silly me.
The drill in Indian airports is that you are not even allowed to enter the terminal until the security screening for your flight has been announced. On domestic flights that happens about an hour before departure time, internationally it is about three hours ahead. This meant that we were in limbo for about six hours. They did have a Visitors Lounge with food service across from the terminal (30 rupees each to get in). It was hot and crowded but when the only choice is "take it or leave it" ... we took it.
The whole trip we had been very cautious about what we ate and drank, knowing that there were all sorts of strange bacteria that could raise hell in the un-acclimated. We almost made it out unscathed but about eight hours before the flight was scheduled to leave, the intestinal bug latched on to Margene with a vengeance! I will spare you all the details, but suffice it to say that she was a hurtin' puppy, eventually so weak that she was barely able to walk. Thankfully, I was untouched by whatever this critter was or it would have really been a disaster. At least it hit at the end of the trip rather than at the beginning ... a bit of positive news that meant little to her at the moment.
At one point she actually said that there was no way she could make it onto the flight. I called the airline and confirmed that we could change our tickets over to the following day ... but ever the trouper, she said she would give it a try. We got her a wheelchair for the trip through the airport gauntlet -- tickets, immigration, customs, security -- and we finally settled into the Business Class lounge for our last few hours in Delhi. I got caught up online and she slept ... and moaned ... and stumbled to the loo ... and slept some more.
But she made it onto the plane and at 5:00am we were getting off in Amsterdam. Security is very tight in Indian airports. Certainly the Mumbai attacks of last November have everyone on edge but it might always have been this way. Among the rules is that photography is strictly prohibited anywhere around the airport. I had thought about taking a picture of a "No Photography Allowed" sign but did not want to take the chance of ending up in a small room as a suspected terrorist! As a result, all I have to offer you today is this rather depressing dissertation.
© 2009 Restaurant Doctor
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