Air India Flight 102

“Attention, now boarding Air India Flight 102; direct service from JFK International to New Delhi.  All zones, all rows.”  Oh shit, that’s me; here we go.  Put the remains of my massive sandwich back in my brand new brown leather Kenneth Cole Reaction Messenger bag, my older brother Ian got me for Christmas, and made my way towards the point of no return.  Beep, rrrip, went my boarding pass in the hands of the Air India attendant. That is all it took.  A beep and rip, and I was on my way to India.

I made my way through the three-leveled boarding path until I made it to the threshold of the enormous Boeing 777.  “No turning back now”, I muttered to myself as I boarded the plane.  The plane was immense.  I walked through business class, back through almost three sections of economy class until I reached 45J, my home for the next 13 hours. 

I sat in the middle seat between an older to middle aged Indian woman on the window, and a young Trinidadian business associate on the aisle.  Unfortunately, neither the Trinidadian nor the Indian woman made very good conversation friends.

After eating the second half of my sandwich for second lunch, some Lamb and potatoes for Dinner, I switched off between reading a few chapters of my Indian guide book and watching Something’s Gotta Give on my personal screen.  I don’t know why.  May it was the adrenaline coursing through my veins, maybe it was the crazy family in the next row going to meet the family of the Indian boyfriend, but I did not get a wink of sleep the entire way to India.  Shortly after breakfast, the captain came on.   “Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking.  Due to a favorable tail wind, we will be landing in Delhi, India an hour and a half before schedule.”  So, after about twelve hours and thirty minutes after wheels up in New York, we touched down in New Delhi; 1:45pm local time January 3, 2012.