Yesterday is the longest I have ever spent on airplanes with a 5 hour flight from Boston to Paris and a 9 hour flight from Paris to Bangalore. I had kind of psyched myself up for it, though, and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Especially since the flights weren't even close to full and we had room to spread out.
I highly recommend Air France. For one, they are very nice and won't mock you if you don't understand the simplest questions in French. For two, in-seat TV screens with 12 movies to choose from. Not good movies necessarily, but movies nonetheless. For three, Camembert and mini baguettes with 3 out of 4 meals.
I am a world travel novice and felt a little thrill watching the route map on the TV screens as we passed over Romania, Turkey and Afghanistan and just skirted north of Baghdad. Shortly after we took off from Paris I spent a good half hour staring at the Alps just south of us.
Today we spent the morning laying about. Actually, I thought I had escaped the jetlag thing by staying up during the 9 hour flight (I wasn't really that tired) and getting to bed by 2 AM last night. Pretty good considering that it was 12:30 PM Boston time, right? Then I woke up this morning with a smashing headache and feeling woozy. After a few hours I felt well enough to head out on the town, but I think my body and my brain realized they had missed a day on the way over.
Today we ate great Indian food at one restaurant in a shopping district, and another restaurant just around the corner from their apartment. Our whole dinner cost about 9 dollars. India is probably about the only country left in the world with a decent exchange rate against the dollar. We poked around some shops and looked at curios, bought a couple of presents, tried on some clothes.
Observations thus far:
- Bangalore traffic is INSANE. However, auto rickshaws are pretty awesome. I wouldn't want to ever drive in this city, but I'm okay with being shuttled around. I think I surprised both Jason and Sarah by not being completely freaked out. I figure the drivers know what they're doing. Pretty much. Despite the craziness and one vehicle's proximity to another and the continual cutting off and the constant horn beeping, everyone is remarkably civil about it all. Traffic like that in Boston, or anywhere in the US for that matter, would also include shouting and heated arguments and nasty hand gestures.
- I think Indian fashion needs to be adopted by American women. Seriously, the clothes are beautiful and comfy and would make us all feel like princesses every day. Sarah and I did a little shopping today. She bought herself a salwar kameez in a beautiful teal color. I actually tried on a kameez (the long shirt) in a pale yellow with embroidered white flowers that was lovely, but I just couldn't justify buying it since I knew I probably wouldn't be able to wear it anywhere really. I'm just not cool and funky enough to pull it off. I did buy another, shorter top with beading and embroidery that I will be able to wear with jeans or a skirt. On the way home from the shops I enviously looked at the Indian women on the streets in their beautiful clothing. Anyone want to start this fashion trend with me?
1 comment:
I think those clothes would be nice and comfy, plus the added benefit of feeling like a princess!
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