India Trip- Arrival in India

We will label this one "Part One". I debated on how to write and what to include in my retelling of the trip as I want it to be both interesting and informative for those travelling behind us. Bill and I agreed that chronological would be the way to go. Those of you adopting from India will likely read a bit closer than friends just interested in our trip and experience, but here we go...

We left Springfield around noon on Thursday, April 29. This was the teeny airplane we flew to Atlanta in:




Our baggage included one big suitcase and one duffle bag full of donations for the orphanage. Those were both checked. On international flights, you can check one bag each for "free" and have one carry-on each as well as a "personal item". We had one carry-on (between us) as well as the backpack and diaper bag (backpack-style) that we kept with us. My best advice is to pack as lightly as possible. Remember: whatever you take, you will be lugging around. I felt like we packed appropriately, really. With the baby things, it is hard to pack too light.

Here we are "all smiles" leaving our hometown. Notice my sweater... very good choice for the plane. You can't see my shoes (little slip on's) BAD choice for the plane. BRING SOCKS!

Anyway, we left Springfield for Atlanta and boarded this AirFrance plane:

This was such a nice plane. They "accidentally" thought we had an infant with us the ENTIRE trip there. It seemed impossible to the French people that we would NOT have an infant going to India, but would have one coming back, SOOO... we always got a "bulkhead" seat meaning we had extra legroom the entire trip:) NICE! AirFrance was very wonderful. I did discover that my 4 straight semesters of French in college were LONG FORGOTTEN! Couldn't understand a word... seriously... not a word.

We finally arrived in Delhi via Paris where many rude people reside, apparently. Bill pretty much got "frisked" in Paris. The men were much more abrupt and flat than the women. I won't mention the air fresheners that the flight attendants would go up and down the aisles with before each flight, either. WOW. I thought the French were known for their perfumes. That must be the people who stay in France because the ones venturing abroad on our airplane... woof! That is neither here nor there... moving on...

We arrived in Delhi and took the shuttle over from the international terminal to the domestic one. We were told to get a taxi to go over there, but the guy at the taxi counter told us to take the shuttle because it was free. I thought that was very honest of him. We rode a nice air-conditioned bus over to the domestic terminal in the middle of the night with 6 other people. It was 1:30 am when we got to the Delhi Domestic terminal. It wasn't open yet, but many people were waiting in the ticketing area with us. We thought we would have to wait until at least 3:00 am. We called home and talked to the boys and I journaled a few minutes. Then, at 2:30 they let everyone in! We went inside and looked like this:

The domestic terminal is quite nice. It is clean with lots of places to walk around. We should know... we were there from 2:30 am until our plane left LATE at 11:00 am! Yes, we could have gone to a hotel room, but why miss all the fun??!! Looking back, it was a good opportunity to begin to acclimate to the situation a bit. We were the minority there and it was a clean, safe place to experience that before landing in Kolkata. We weren't THE only "westerners" there like we were about to be in Kolkata. We were shuttled onto the plane in this little bus. It struck me that I was THE ONLY woman on the bus jammed with people and we were the only Americans. It was uncomfortable, but we never felt unsafe.

Our plane finally left Delhi. When we arrived in Kolkata (late), there were several drivers at baggage claim with signs waiting for people. We looked and looked for our sign and it wasn't there. Bill went to the line to prepay a taxi to take us to the hotel. We were SOOO jet-lagged and all we wanted was to have a ride to the hotel. As I was waiting with our bags for Bill to get a taxi for us, I happened to look outside the terminal and there was our name!!! The driver was waiting for us OUTSIDE the terminal. We were thrown by all the signs inside at baggage claim! We have never been so thankful to see our name!! (Hey, Dillon families:THE DRIVER WILL BE WAITING OUTSIDE THE TERMINAL!!)

Our car ride to the hotel in Kolkata was surreal. We were overwhelmed instantly by the sheer number of people and the poverty. Jet-lagged and emotional anyway, the images were almost more than our hearts could bear. You can see pictures, hear stories, watch movies, but nothing can prepare you for looking out your car window at the everyday life we witnessed. It felt wrong to take pictures, to be in an air-conditioned car, to be so privileged. I will say that it will take a while for us to process what we saw and felt in Kolkata. To comment further at this point would be in error. What I will say is that the people there are beautiful and gracious. In the midst of what we would consider a desperate situation, the people were demonstrating fortitude and resourcefulness. It seemed to me that there were just too many people in the area and that they have simply devoured the land and exhausted their resources. I did manage to take a few photos (being careful not to show faces):



I like the top photo because the women were ALWAYS dressed up! They could be walking through mire or riding on the back of a scooter, but they were dignified and gorgeous. The bottom photo is indicative of a storefront in Kolkata. The other thing that struck us was the fact that there were no obvious traffic laws and the horns were CONSTANT. Somehow, people got where they were going. Again... uncomfortable, but not unsafe with our driver.


We finallly arrived at our hotel and felt incoherent. We checked in and I know those people were wondering about us. They would have to ask us the same question three times before one of us would register and react. So thankful for the Kenilworth in Kolkata. It was a lifesaver that day and the entire stay in Kolkata. I can't imagine a better place to stay while there. Now, it is Saturday late afternoon Kolkata time for travel time in the 30's (hours). Guess what we did Saturday?! ZZZZZZ... and ...


ROOM SERVICE!! The Chicken Korma was "out of this world" delicious. I'm not exactly sure where Bill was going with the whole "Indian pizza" thing, but he liked it. We were pretty much all about the food there... yummy!

We did call Ms. Roy on Saturday and she gave us hope that she would bring Joseph to us on Sunday and asked us to call back on Sunday to make plans. We were delighted to get him a day early, but it was the first hint that she would be bringing him to us instead of us going to the orphanage. More to come on "Gotcha Day". I want to close with a list of things you don't want to forget when going to India:

1) Socks for the plane
2) Spoons for your baby (we were always hoarding plastic teaspoons the entire trip)
3) Oatmeal and nutrition bars
4) washcloths (the hotel in Kolkata didn't have them)
5) Your own shower gel (you'll want to smell like yourself-- I thought theirs was stinky on me)
6) Water (they give you 2 free and then you can order more, but I liked having our own. We used 24 bottles in 4 days... that is a lot of water)
7) A variety of nipples for your bottles. I will explain more later, but slow, medium, and fast flow to be on the safe side.
8) A little notebook to journal everything into. You think you won't ever forget, but I've been home one week and the details are already fuzzy without the journal.
9) YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR!
10) Your "spiritual eyes". We saw God's fingerprints in every situation and bump we encountered in India. KNOW that He is God and REST in that the entire trip. Couple that with #9 and you'll be in business.

I will close for now.... more to come... stay tuned:)