Picto Diary - 27, 28 January 2017 - India Trip Summation

Above: British Airways A380. Heathrow Airport. London, UK. 27 January 2018.

This aircraft was to be our connection from London to Dallas after having flown via BA from New Delhi.

I hadn't flown on an A380, so I was looking forward to flying on this one.

It was not meant to be. The A380 shown here had to be taken off line because of a faulty bulkhead in the luggage section.

Our flight was not canceled. BA substituted a 747 aircraft which departed five hours later.

There was no change of seating. We were in 19J and 19K on both flights. We used the same boarding pass. I am perplexed as to how this was possible considering the seeming need to configure seats differently for the two different aircraft.

Above: Sunset over Oklahoma City. British Airways, London to Dallas. 28 January 2017.

Considering the five hour delay in London, I thought we would surely miss our Dallas to SLC flight.

I thought we would likely have to spend the night in Dallas before connecting to SLC the next day. My sense was that American didn't have many flights to and out of SLC.

TIMDT called the Aadvantage desk from Heathrow and they put us on a late AA departure from Dallas to arrive in SLC after midnight.

So... we arrived safely back home early morning of the 29th, six or so hours later than we had anticipated.

All's well that ends well.

Travel Difficulties

Things didn't all go well for TIMDT on the trip, however.


Dehydration

I've written about her dehydration and need to be hospitalized overnight for a series of drips in Sawaimadhopur. She has come out of the ailment nicely and now wonders if the sickness was from a virus as opposed to food poisoning.


ATT

Margaret and I both had problems with our overseas phone service.

We buy voice and data plans when we travel overseas which, within certain usage limits, keep the usage costs fixed.

My phone worked fine for the first day in Mumbai. Next day voice and data stopped working. I called ATT on Margaret's phone, then working, and had to be kicked up two tech levels before the tech found some block on overseas roaming. He removed the block and the phone worked fine for the rest of the trip. Still the resolution of the problem took an hour and a half of my time better used for something else.

TIMDT's phone stopped working in Aurangabad, our second stop in India. She waited to get to the Rambagh Palace Hotel in Jaipur to call in for a fix. After two calls, ATT said the tech on the first call made a mistake in looking for a fix, and the service could not be restored until the phone was within reach of a US signal.

TIMDT's phone problem had something to do with the tech looking to solve TIMDT's phone problem erroneously "sending out a ping" to find Margaret's phone. The search "ping," as it was described, was now going from cell tower to cell tower across the US and the India signal could only be revived when the US ping search was stopped. The US ping loop, according to ATT tech service, could only be stopped when TIMTD's phone was in reach of the US signal. Catch 22.

TIMDT and Mwah use our phones quite a bit to communicate with one another when we are overseas together. This process was disrupted with the immobilization of TIMDT's phone. For example, we had to use other peoples' phones, at their inconvenience, to talk to one another when TIMDT was in the Sawaimadhopur hospital. Also, I went to the literature festival alone in Jaipur. I was unable to contact TIMDT, as I would have done one or two times, while we were separated at that time.

Disappointed with ATT service big time on this trip. Next time... to be forewarned is to be forearmed.

Summary of India Trip

I love traveling in India. This trip only confirmed that love further.

India has warts. Multicultural tensions seethe under the service as the BJP Hindu nationalists push the Hindu nationalism envelope. Two thirds of the population still live in villages, mostly at the subsistence level. Bureaucracy, which erstwhile socialist Indians "improved" upon from the Brits, still stultifies.

Yet, there is evidence of forward momentum. India's GDP growth rate is 7%. There are 800 million cell phones in India which provide a platform for on line education, payments facilitation, not to mention the benefit of India having leap frogged the need to install a wire grid. When we lived in India over forty years ago, the wait time for a telephone line was several years. International calls had to be scheduled.

The progress shown in India contrasted with the enormous problems, brings with it a palpable sense of forward energy, chaotic though it may be. Spirituality, which strengthens common cultural bonds, is rife. There are no "snowflakes" in India. Everybody seems to be working to move ahead.

This is in contrast to the depressing feeling one gets from traveling, for example, in Cuba, where totalitarianism constrains the people from attempting to realize their human potential.

All our stops were fabulous. We saw and dined with old friends in Mumbai and New Delhi. I loved the literature festival in Jaipur. The Ellora and Ajanta caves are a must see. Seeing a tiger in the wild and attending the Republic Day Parade were lifetime highlights.

Addendum:


Looks like you are having a great trip. Wish I could have gone on one of your trips but Golf isn't thrilled with India. It is a fascinating place but one needs a strong constitution to go.

Bridge,
Palm Beach, FL


They know how to put on a parade-- I know you were looking forward to this.

Montage, Marina del Rey, CA