India Day Two

January 7 largely disappeared somewhere over the Arctic Ocean and Europe as the flight arced past Greenland and down over Russia on our way to Delhi.

I kept myself entertained by watching movies and keeping an eye on flight progress via the screen in the back of the seat in front of me. It was nice to have a choice of fairly recent releases, so there were plenty of things I hadn't already seen.

I managed to get a seat in a row that had only two seats on my side of the aisle, so I had only one manspreading fellow traveler to contend with. Some seat poking too. I didn't get much sleep; the travel pillow I bought felt like it was choking me. But otherwise it wasn't exactly the 14 hours of pure nightmare I'd dreaded going into the experience. I certainly wouldn't let fear of a flight like this deter me from future travel.

The Delhi airport was an interesting experience. Customs was chilly but brief. The walk through the duty free section was a little weird, as was being picked up by a driver with a sign with my name on it.

I typically don't use my middle name for much, but as it's on my passport and my other documentation needed to match, "Albion" was everywhere while I was on the road.

The drive through Delhi at night was interesting, though I was too tired to appreciate it fully. My hotel was a quaint little spot with an old fashioned paper registration book.

The room was a lot like its American counterparts. The room key was on a fob that fit into a slot on the wall, and the electricity shut off every time the fob was removed. So that’s one way to keep people from wasting electricity.

The only unusual items I noted were in the bathroom. Indian toilets have two flush handles, one of which uses less water if all you're disposing of is urine. Washcloths apparently aren't a thing here. And the shower included a stool and bucket for folks who want to take a more traditional style bath.

Oh, and the light switch on and off positions are opposite of what folks in the US are used to.

My final immediate unknown was resolved for the better when I was able to confirm that my travel adapter worked (having been unable to test it completely before I left due to the lack of a non-US outlet).

I wasn't able to do much more than doze on the flight, so I crashed hard and slept like the dead.