Day 1 - Orlando to Newark to Delhi

When I arrived at the Orlando airport, Alex noticed my suitcase and said, "Travelling lightly I see, way to go bro." I saw he had a larger suitcase. I didn't think much of it, until he put it up on the scale. It clocked in at a svelte 75lbs, weighing more than any of our equipment luggage we were checking. It seems he decided to bring his apartment. I listened for a 'meow' wondering if his cat came along. The black brick was even over the allowable limit, so some shoes and batteries became gifts to put in our bags. He paid the $50 overcharge and we all headed to our gate. Alas, some of the weight was candy for the little children of India.

Security was almost a breeze considering we were carting the techie gear. Phil, Dr. Rani, Dawn, Alex, and I made it through like warm ghee. And then there was Reuben. He followed orders and was escorted over to the TSA booth. But I'm almost sure they stopped him for his tuxedo printed T-shirt. It even has red jewel buttons. They asked him if he was going to be sitting in first class.

On the flight to Newark, a ten year old, Jake W., sat next to me. He was very sleepy. His head appeared on my shoulder once. I tried not to move too much so the kid could rest. But mostly he attempted to lay on his sixteen-year old brother to his right. When not sleeping, they played and joked around with each other during the flight. You could tell they were a close family. Jake's dad, Dr. John W., was going to India to present research findings for his NSF funded project about aircraft mounted lasers that recently mapped the Mayan ruins. Inarguably, lasers mounted to sharks would be better use of government money, but the data did find some incredible new discoveries like hidden ruins not previously known to archeologists. And that almost all of the land where the Mayans lived was stepped for agriculture. Coincidentally, Dr. W is a UCF biology professor who was Phil’s first choice to be our talent for this trip. He told Phil he was busy, because of his own trip to India, and to ask Dr. Rani.

Dr. Rani is our highly educated Hindu ethno-botanist, talent leading the broadcasts, and vegetarian. She politely asked the woman wheeling the cart down the isle for a vegetarian option. I thought all flight attendants were as polite as the English, but Cheryl was rude like sandpaper. “We don’t have vegetarian. What? I can’t hear you.” she said. Dr. Rani took the Turkey sandwich meal and ate the carrots and bread.

Newark airport. I’m sipping a Dos Equis and crunching Fritos in the Continental Airlines President’s club lounge with Darin A. He is our man from Tracstar Cobham, the Orlando company that has graciously provided their portable satellite dishes for Utah, Bermuda, and now India. They have some nice perks, so we are taking in some last-minute luxurious calm before the curried storm.

The 14-hour flight went something like this… Taxi to runway. screaming baby. take off screaming baby. free headphones. look at in-flight movies. flight map. read book. play Spanish game. talk to Indian man. start watching Gandhi. fall asleep. continue Gandhi. fall asleep. paneer dinner (spicy). continue Gandhi. browse TV channels. watch Ganges documentary about Tigers. read book. bathroom. read book. sleep. begin Duplicity. turn off Duplicity after 10 mins. (bad). sleep. snack. watch full moon rise out window. take pictures of moon. read. breakfast. begin Paris J’taime. put seat in upright position. look at lights of Delhi. screaming baby. land. screaming baby.

We walked down the stairs to the tarmac. It has been a long time since I have departed the plane like that. Customs was a breeze. The only major item we didn’t ship weeks ago was the video mixer. It was on Phil’s luggage cart as we approached the final gate before the taxi stand. A man looking like a Naval officer rushed over. “What’s in that box? Please come with me.” We didn’t see Phil for a while then he randomly appeared outside the terminal near the taxis. He had been put out through some side door.

We loaded up about 15 bags in the two Toyota Innova mini-vans, with driver, that we will have for the entire trip. Dodging auto-rickshaws, cows, motocycles, and lots of people, we arrived at the Young Women’s Christian Center. Sleep.