A little more detail...
Feb. 20th, 2007 09:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
litheraOkay. So. The flight from Seattle to Chicago... Easy. Not even a bother. O'Hare is O'Hare and it hasn't really changed much at all since the last time I was there. It is a decent airport - a lot of air in it, which is always nice. We flew out over the lake on our way to landing. It was very cold there outside.
Chicago to Frankfurt - This was a flight with issues. It is never pleasant flying over the North Atlantic in winter. Of course, I've never had a good time ever flying over the North Atlantic. We all but flew over London - I could see it from the windows of the plane. The movies didn't work until almost the end of the flight. I got to see Gridiron Gang, which was okay but I really wanted to see Marie Antoinette but apparently that was broken.
We got into Frankfurt and everything was either a) under contruction or b) broken. So, this airport, which already seems to look like a bunker (grey concrete everywhere) was looking even more like something like that. The airport was far too warm and getting from one end of it to the other in 40 minutes wasn't the closest I've ever been to missing a flight but it was closer than I'd like. (Note to self - $44 to upgrade on an overseas flight? Worth the investment.)
Lufthansa really does earn awesome points. They had good food, had more room on their plane and was generally good time. We, again, went from day to night. It was night flying over Saudi Arabia and I got to see an oil well on fire. At least I think that is what it was. I've never seen something that bright and that huge from that high up in the air. It was honestly the only think I could think of it being, though if anyone else has any ideas.... There were a lot of strange formations of lights in the desert as well. It probably wouldn't have been anywhere near as interesting in the day.
Chennai.... My bag was the absolute last bag off of the plane. Traffic here is crazy as lanes are only a general suggestion. It is more and less crazy than the traffic in Italy. In Italy they go faster than they do here but here they generally don't seem to care where they end up driving on the road as long as they can keep going forward. There is a very strange disparity at staying in the hotel I'm staying at. Or, I guess, any hotel of the level I'm at. The room is the nicest hotel room I've ever stayed in in my life. If I could take the massage chair home, I totally would. But right outside, in fact, almost right next to the hotel, there are people in a sort of shanty lean-to. It is really strange to see the so very poor and the so very wealthy right next to each other in such a drastic way.
It is hot here but for some reason it isn't bothering me as much as I thought it might. Then again, I'm not outside in the hottest parts of the day. It might be different when we head to Pondicherry to spend some time on the beach. I haven't just had beach time in years and years. It will be strange. One thing I've noticed is that there is music everywhere here. One of our drivers put in a CD of 'American music' when we got in his car. (His name was Elvis.) He, however, seemed to think all American music was Backstreet Boys and N'Synch. Oh, and 'My Humps'. Of course, we do export that a lot.
It is bizarre to have someone always waiting for what I need. There is a person who is here to serve me tea and to serve me lunch and someoen to open the door and someone who goes in and folds my clothes in my hotel room. (So weird.) And 'Hips Don't Lie'? That song is popular everywhere. It amuses me that I first got hooked on it in Amsterdam almost a year ago and I'm hearing it here. Right now. As I'm sitting here in the office. (And Shakira - hot to everyone all over the world? Maybe it is the bellydancing. I bet it is. Mmmmmm. Shakira.)
What else... I don't know. I have to train people in stuff here in a few. I'm learning more about my companions and generally having a nice time, all told. Even if I am working.
The food is excellent. I'm not sleeping well in the worlds largest freaking bed, though the pillows are entirely awesome. I have too much room in the bed, though. The TV (and DVD player) in my room are nicer than what I own... It is just strange. I'm taking a lot of pictures and tonight we're going to see if we can walk out to the ocean. The Bay of Bengal is impressive and the beach is really long.
The colors here constantly remind me of Holly.
Hrm. The clock on my laptop says it is 9:42 PM which means that here is it 11:13 AM.
I'll have more to say later, I'm sure but for now, I should probably go back to preparing to train people.
Chicago to Frankfurt - This was a flight with issues. It is never pleasant flying over the North Atlantic in winter. Of course, I've never had a good time ever flying over the North Atlantic. We all but flew over London - I could see it from the windows of the plane. The movies didn't work until almost the end of the flight. I got to see Gridiron Gang, which was okay but I really wanted to see Marie Antoinette but apparently that was broken.
We got into Frankfurt and everything was either a) under contruction or b) broken. So, this airport, which already seems to look like a bunker (grey concrete everywhere) was looking even more like something like that. The airport was far too warm and getting from one end of it to the other in 40 minutes wasn't the closest I've ever been to missing a flight but it was closer than I'd like. (Note to self - $44 to upgrade on an overseas flight? Worth the investment.)
Lufthansa really does earn awesome points. They had good food, had more room on their plane and was generally good time. We, again, went from day to night. It was night flying over Saudi Arabia and I got to see an oil well on fire. At least I think that is what it was. I've never seen something that bright and that huge from that high up in the air. It was honestly the only think I could think of it being, though if anyone else has any ideas.... There were a lot of strange formations of lights in the desert as well. It probably wouldn't have been anywhere near as interesting in the day.
Chennai.... My bag was the absolute last bag off of the plane. Traffic here is crazy as lanes are only a general suggestion. It is more and less crazy than the traffic in Italy. In Italy they go faster than they do here but here they generally don't seem to care where they end up driving on the road as long as they can keep going forward. There is a very strange disparity at staying in the hotel I'm staying at. Or, I guess, any hotel of the level I'm at. The room is the nicest hotel room I've ever stayed in in my life. If I could take the massage chair home, I totally would. But right outside, in fact, almost right next to the hotel, there are people in a sort of shanty lean-to. It is really strange to see the so very poor and the so very wealthy right next to each other in such a drastic way.
It is hot here but for some reason it isn't bothering me as much as I thought it might. Then again, I'm not outside in the hottest parts of the day. It might be different when we head to Pondicherry to spend some time on the beach. I haven't just had beach time in years and years. It will be strange. One thing I've noticed is that there is music everywhere here. One of our drivers put in a CD of 'American music' when we got in his car. (His name was Elvis.) He, however, seemed to think all American music was Backstreet Boys and N'Synch. Oh, and 'My Humps'. Of course, we do export that a lot.
It is bizarre to have someone always waiting for what I need. There is a person who is here to serve me tea and to serve me lunch and someoen to open the door and someone who goes in and folds my clothes in my hotel room. (So weird.) And 'Hips Don't Lie'? That song is popular everywhere. It amuses me that I first got hooked on it in Amsterdam almost a year ago and I'm hearing it here. Right now. As I'm sitting here in the office. (And Shakira - hot to everyone all over the world? Maybe it is the bellydancing. I bet it is. Mmmmmm. Shakira.)
What else... I don't know. I have to train people in stuff here in a few. I'm learning more about my companions and generally having a nice time, all told. Even if I am working.
The food is excellent. I'm not sleeping well in the worlds largest freaking bed, though the pillows are entirely awesome. I have too much room in the bed, though. The TV (and DVD player) in my room are nicer than what I own... It is just strange. I'm taking a lot of pictures and tonight we're going to see if we can walk out to the ocean. The Bay of Bengal is impressive and the beach is really long.
The colors here constantly remind me of Holly.
Hrm. The clock on my laptop says it is 9:42 PM which means that here is it 11:13 AM.
I'll have more to say later, I'm sure but for now, I should probably go back to preparing to train people.
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no subject
Date: 2007-02-21 05:51 am (UTC)Oh, did Holly ever tell you what color of sari that she wanted? She said black.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-21 05:56 am (UTC)I'll see what I can do about black. It isn't that popular of a color here. She might have to just suck it up and deal with what I bring back. *grins*
This trip is excellent for birthday shopping.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-21 05:59 am (UTC)I'd be curious to see what different varieties of curry powder that you could find there.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-21 06:01 am (UTC)And black... well.. Like I said, we'll see. I did some shopping already and black is not...Well, saris don't seem to come in it so much. Shirts? Sure. Saris, not so much.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-21 06:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-21 06:31 am (UTC)Ha ha!
no subject
Date: 2007-02-21 06:35 am (UTC)Sounds like things are positive overall. Yay! I hope training goes well.
If you are wanting to bring back something for me, the only thing in particular I might want is some honest-to-God garam masala. Though a little Ganesh statue would be pretty awesome, too.
Looking forward to pictures!
no subject
Date: 2007-02-21 06:46 am (UTC)Hey, by the way, I get to bring a cleric in for the Monday night game. Corinna was not able to get herself out of the Abyss. Good times!
no subject
Date: 2007-02-21 08:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-21 02:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-21 03:02 pm (UTC)Remember the foodie I mentioned that spoke at Ignite Seattle? Here is an essay version of his presentation on making the most out of eating out - especially on business trips.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-21 08:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-21 09:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-21 09:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-22 03:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-22 03:45 am (UTC)