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MUMBLINGS December 8, 2005
Study in traveling 101. I have just returned from a long,
but highly interesting trip to India, which was my 101st country visited in my
life.
My traveling partner, Matthew Metcalfe and I left
Pensacola November 15th at 12:05 p.m. for a two-hour flight to Chicago in one
of the snug seated 50 passenger planes. After a four-hour wait in the windy
city we got on the American Airlines inaugural flight to New Delhi, India.
Before boarding the plane, Mayor Daley of Chicago gave a
speech commending the airline for inaugurating the direct flight, commented on
how it would increase friendly association with the second largest country in
the world with a population of 1,200,000,000 people. It was quite an occasion
where dignitaries from India spoke and where Mrs. Daley was one of 226
passengers on the Boeing 777.
The importance of the flight was featured in a big write
up in the US News. The article went into detail about the difficulty of the
airlines trouble in obtaining permission from several different countries and
agencies in getting the right for the daily flight, with two choices as to its
route. One route goes farther north and circles the North Pole, Iceland,
Russia, Siberia, south through Pakistan into India and New Delhi.
Their problem was getting permission from Russia to fly
over their borders. Then they had the choice of the southern route that goes
through England then across Europe to New Delhi. This non-stop flight is one of
the longest commercial flights in the world.
Leaving Chicago, we climbed to 34,000 feet and 13 hours
and 30 minutes later we landed. It also gives you the ground speed the plane is
flying, at one time over 710 miles an hour. The tailwinds were at times 200
miles an hour; thus the sound barrier was not broken. However, on our return
trip with the winds becoming headwinds, the plane was making less than 500
miles an hour and it took us 15 hours and 46 minutes. A long time, even though
the first class facilities were elaborate and the food good, it was still long.
American officials even had difficulty in working out
menus. For example, the Hindus do not eat beef, thinking that cows are sacred,
and the Muslim eat beef, but do not eat pork. The Hindus do eat pork. Of
course, we Americans eat most anything.
After another long wait in Chicago on our return trip, we
arrived in Pensacola and home the day before Thanksgiving. Tired, yes! Actually
the worse part of the trip back home was getting in the American Eagle and
flying from Chicago to Pensacola because the seats are so cramped. After a good
night’s sleep I felt fine and the jet lag really didn’t bother me
until the second and third day home when I didn’t feel like doing anything
except resting.
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