My Send Off…popping pills…roller coaster ride…30+ hours travel time…and finally INDIA

Oh man, where do I start?! I left for Hyderabad with a wonderful send off. It started off with many goodbyes at work. It was the first time I felt like I was going for a while. I left work early to pack my bags, do my laundry, my taxes, etc…and all the last minute stuff that I had left to the very last day. An hour before I left for the airport my high school friends came over to say goodbye. It was soooooooooo sweet. They went through a thorough list to ensure that I had not missed a thing and left for home as I left for the airport. My grandmother, uncle and brother all came to the airport to drop me off. My cousin and nephew were at the airport about 10 minutes before I got there to bid me farewell as well. Just as I got to the airport…Emel and her husband landed up there to say bye to me. I feel SO loved.

I was a bit under the weather so I was taking as much as I could so I wouldn’t feel horrible on the plane. I never take medicine unless it’s a last resort! Man o man, the amount of pills I took was more than I’ve taken over the span of a few years. Anyhow, the first segment of the flight was by far the longest. There was a lot of turbulence – one of the airline hosts was saying that it was a ‘roller coaster’ ride. That comment made me laugh because it wasn’t far from the truth.

Long story short – after arriving in HK, Heather, Adam and Lauren (HAL – I like the acronym) all left me for their connecting flight. Oh yeah, did I mention that HAL (co-workers) were on the same flight as me? Well, after waiting in HK for hours, I flew to Singapore and after some more hours I met up with HAL and we embarked on the final segment of our trip – Singapore to Hyderabad. Once we landed we went through immigration and then customs where they singled me out and took me aside to question. Kirti has a theory that they only single out the Indian people. Who knows. Anyhow, after several hours of traveling we finally landed in Hyderabad. We had the warmest welcoming EVER. Gorgeous (aka Chris), Kirti, Saamra, Brian, and Shadie all came to greet us at the airport. They had these huge garlands that they welcomed us with. Mine almost hit the floor. My aunt and uncle were also there to greet me which was so nice. It was the nicest warmest greeting I could have ever imagined. (My mom’s sister and brother-in-law flew from Delhi to meet me at the airport but their flight was delayed. Instead they stopped by apartment to say hi.)

We all arrived at our apartment complex soon after. DUDE, our apartment is awesome. I thought they would be really nice but it exceeded all my expectations and some. I believe we have the nicest apartment out of all the folks that are here. It’s huge. We all have out own rooms and bathrooms. It’s a 4 bedroom place. Heather, Lauren and I will be sharing a place and Regina will too when she comes out here. I have a few pics to show you guys. I’ll have to post them all somewhere so you can see them w/o getting this blog cluttered. I have MUCH more to add...but I'm tired.