Sat 13th Feb 1999

As usual, there was the last minute shopping - to get a suit for the trip ahead (okay! company sponsored!) Still, there was time to spare, when I left home (accompanied by Uma) at 4.50 PM to catch the 6 PM Jet Airways Flight to Bombay.

Needless to say, this was going to be the first flight of my life. The flight was 20 minutes late, and it was at 6 PM, when I bid goodbye to Uma, and passed the Security. I met Gopi (my colleague, with whom I was travelling) as we boarded the flight.

The Jet Airways Bombay plane was small and rather cramped (the latter, I discovered was a "popular" feature on all planes!). The air-hostesses made the demonstration for emergencies, look like the "News for Hearing Impaired" on Doordarshan (so inanimate and bland)!

The flight took off at 6.30 PM. Having got the aisle seat (my flight had 3 seats on either side of the aisle), didn't have much scope to watch the proceedings through the window. I was seated next to a 40+ year old foreigner (lady), who closed her eyes tightly when the plane started taxiing.

For the first-timer, the take off is rather "exciting". You feel as if there is a force holding you back, even as the flight takes off to the air. It lasts for a few seconds utmost, and soon you are back to normal. There is the persistent engine sound which can get on your nerves, unless you think about something else.

The welcome drink (no booze!) was served before the flight took off, and there were some snacks during the 75 minute journey.

We landed at Santa Cruz Airport, Bombay at 7.45 PM. I'd a pleasant surprise when I got to the Exit. Chandran uncle (my dad's brother) and his family were there! As my US flight was only at 3 AM, I decided to go to my uncle's place and spend some time there (read, have dinner - my last decent Indian meal for the next 2 weeks)!

We took an auto and were home in 40 minutes. Spent some time chatting with my relatives. Had a lovely dinner (simple and tasty).

I left at 11.40 PM, my cousin, Vinay, accompanying me to the Airport.

Sun 14th Feb 1999

It was Sahar International Airport this time, and I was there by 12.15 AM. (What a start to Valentine's Day! There is some conspiracy which keeps me away from Bangalore during this day - last year, I was in Madras on this day!)

Once inside, Checked-in for the Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt. Filled out a form and went through Immigration and Customs. (I was asked the purpose of my visit - and gave the "statutory" answer - business and technical discussions!) I was also told that my flight would be delayed due to a "Go Slow" agitation by the Air Traffic Controllers.

Well! the waiting wasn't pleasant to say the least. It was night, but you could not sleep. All the seats were filled with people, awaiting their flights.

Lufthansa had a complementary "snacks" in an in-house Restaurant. But who would have appetite at midnight! There was enough and more time to kill! I managed to sit for some time in the restaurant, then for a while on some steps, and finally managed to get a seat. Even dozed off for a while.

Gopi finally appeared around 3.30 AM. Still, it was 4 AM, when we cleared Security. There was more waiting time, before we could board the flight.

Now, this Lufthansa flight (Boeing 747) was a much larger one than the Jet Airways'. Each row had 11 seats (3 - 4 - 3) and I think there were 40 such rows in "Economy" class. Besides, there were the Business and First Classes.

When the flight finally got off the ground, it was 5.50 AM - nearly 3 hours late!

I dozed off even before the first round of drinks (here, you are served liquor)! It was an 8 hour flight. There was a giant TV screen, where the position of our plane was shown against a map. The speed, altitude and outside temperature were also indicated. This gave an idea of the route which the flight was taking. (I don't remember the places now - being in a half-sleepy mode most of the time!)

Some food was served during the journey and I was fortunate to get the vegetarian dish. I slept through the movie "The Mighty" (a lousy movie for all I know, though I remember seeing Sharon Stone in the credits ;-). Each seat has provision for attaching a head-phone, through which you can hear the movie sound track. (There are 12 channels accessible through the head-phones, most of them having some music). There is a panel similar to the TV remote, but with just 4 buttons - 2 for channel, 2 for audio control.

Okay! we landed at Frankfurt at 9.45 AM local time (2.15 PM IST), and only 45 minutes before our connecting flight to San Francisco departed! So we had only enough time to do a quick brush of teeth, before checking-in for the flight.

The Frankfurt airport is supposed to be large and beautiful, but there was no time to appreciate all that.

We boarded the flight by 10.15 AM, but believe it or not, it was 11.40 AM when it departed - the reason - one passenger apparently sat in a wrong seat! (So much for world-class airlines)

It being another Lufthansa flight, the seating was similar. There was no giant screen TV in this flight, but there were small TVs every 10 rows or so. For both the flights (Bombay-Frankfurt and Frankfurt-San Franciso), I had the window seat. Now, before you say "great!" you must remember that it is a 3-seat arrangement and if you want to take a walk, you have to ask two others to get up! (There is no leg space, which allows you to move, when the others are seated)

This time, I was awake to have a "drink" (more details on request). But as for food, my request for "Vegetarian" had, apparently not been passed on by the Travel Desk of my Company, and I had to end up having non-veg (no harm done, anyway, thanks to "prior" experience)! There were 2 meals - a "lunch" on leaving Frankfurt and a "dinner" before reaching San Francisco! (The food is okay, but not if you have strong tastes!)

There were 2 movies - it being a 11 and a half hour flight - "Rush Hour" starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker (?) and "The Mask of Zorro". Saw the first one in full, and the second in parts. (The second movie reminded me of the first time I'd seen it - a memorable experience ;-)

The flight status this time, in addition to the altitude and maps, also contained the time to destination and the local time at the destination.

After 11 hours of flight, when we touched down at San Francisco Aiport, it was 1.45 PM local time (though 3.15 AM IST on 15th Feb). The Customs and Immigration in USA was cool and we were out in 5 minutes. (There is an I-94 and Customs form which are supplied in the flight itself, and which needs to be filled and handed over to the Customs authorities in US)

A cab driver accosted us near the Exit and we asked him to take us to our hotel (Courtyard Marriott) in Cupertino (around 40 miles - 60 km?) from the Airport.

We reached our Hotel and checked-in without much ado.

The Return

Thur 25 Feb 1999.

We checked out of the Hotel at 10 AM, and took a cab to San Franciso Airport. The driver was an unturbanned Sardarji! We were at the Airport by 11.15 AM, easily 3 and a half hours before our flight!

We waited till noon, before Lufthansa began check-in for our flight. Once our luggage was checked-in, we could roam around the airport. We did window shopping in the several duty free shops. I had to make do with a "chicken filet" for lunch, in the absence of better alternatives!

I took a couple of snaps of planes through a glass window. (God knows, how they are going to turn out!) Finally at 2.30 PM, it was time to board the flight.

The flight departed by 3.15 PM. Since it was the same airline, they had the same TV programmes. Fortunately for me this time, I got vegetarian meals. Another good thing was, my colleague and I were in adjacent seats.

I guess we slept through most of the trip, except to have food.

Fri 26th Feb 1999

It was 10.30 AM local time when we touched down at Frankfurt airport. This time we had more time to go around the airport. The airport is huge and beautifully designed. Though there are several terminals, the directions to each are prominently displayed. There is no likelihood of your losing your way.

There were lots of duty free shops which we checked out. As usual, Frankfurt halt was for brushing teeth!

The boarding for our Bombay flight was at noon. Here we found several Indians. This flight, unlike others, wasn't full, and there were several empty seats. The flight was uneventful, save for the fact that the food got better as we neared our Motherland (or was it just my feeling?). Here again, we slept through most part of the journey, until it was 10 PM (Indian time). From then on, there was no sleep, and when the flight touched down at Bombay, it was 1.30 AM.

Sat 27 Feb 1999

The Immigration queue was rather long, and took some time to move. (I know, we were back in India). But the customs was a surprise to me. A Customs official took one look at my luggage and waved me through the Green Channel, without even passing it through X-ray. (Maybe, I was lucky or maybe, they know whom to catch!)

We took the Courtesy Shuttle of Jet Airways to the Domestic Airport, around 10 km away. We were there by 3 AM, and we had 3 more hours to "kill"!

Generally, idled the time till 5.30 AM, when I called up home (waking up everyone!). To add to it, I tried my Bombay relatives. I got one of my uncles and spent some time discussing the cricket match, the budget and the like - this when, the call for Security check for our Bangalore flight was on!

Jet Airways Bangalore flight left at 6.45 AM, and in no time, we were in Bangalore. As my colleague's wife had got their car, I got a lift home too.

For the statisticians, for the international flight, the average altitude is 10000 metres (33000 feet) and the average speed is 1000 kmph (600 mph).

During the San Franciso - Frankfurt leg, our flight went North through Canada, into Greenland and then descended south through Scotland, through Amsterdam into Frankfurt. From Frankfurt to Bombay, it flew mostly over seas, went over Dubai, Muscat, then over Arabian Sea and finally entered Bombay, made a turn and landed!

During the descend to Bangalore Airport, ITP is visible!