Back in Delhi - Back in Action

Back in Delhi - Back in Action

I'm happilly writing this post from the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf at Select Citywalk in Saket. It is all very Perez Hilton of me, I believe he got his start posting the from the CBTL at Hollywood and Vine. Somehow - that sounds more glamorous right now.

But I digress. Sally and I have arrived back in Delhi after a long detour through France, Germany, America, Istanbul & of course the UK - three times... As I mentioned in an earlier post, my passport was stolen/went missing in the UK the evening of the Terrorist attacks in Mumbai. Since then, I've been living the life of a vagabound bouncing from hotel, to friendly couch, to an airmattress (or two) & of course several airport lounges. But, it was all worth it. Returning to India was so much sweeter given the circumstances of our previous 6 weeks of travel. I'm truly glad to be back in our home.

Returning was quite and adventure as winter has arrived (it is a frigid 65 degrees today). With winter's arrival, the fogs have descended on Delhi. The fog wrecks havoc on everything related to transport. Airports close, trains get delayed & the highways slow. As a result, Sally and I spent New Years Eve in the Turkish Airlines Airport Club with three Germans & the disgruntled Turkish staff. We watched the ball drop in Istanbul while sipping Effe beer and watching the major network's choicest belly dancers. It was all very anti-climatic.

In hindsight, we should have gone into Istanbul - or at least bought a good bottle of Champagne from the Duty Free Shop. However, we were supposed to have left Istanbul 7.5 hours earlier - except for that pesky fog. When we did finally make it onboard the plane - I wished we hadn't. Whomever allowed Turkish Air into the Star Alliance with the ancient A310 in their fleet should seriously reconsider. The inflight movie was projected onto the bulkhead wall & desperately needed someone to play with the "tracking" on the VCR. Yes... you heard me right - VCR.

Finally, 8 hours late (we added an hour of circling in Delhi) we arrived in Delhi, went home & got on with 2009. I hope you and yours had a wonderful New Years & I look forward to the next year.

Best -
SEH