For two years and seven months, the memories of India sustained me: through the COVID pandemic and the restrictions on travel, through the deaths of friends and partners in the work of Friends of Padhar Schools, through the waves of “Will I be able to travel?” And “I’ll have to cancel my ticket.” The sights, sounds and smells sustained me.
When I moved to Spain, one of the reasons was that it would allow me to be closer to India, on this side of the world. This trip to India is really a milestone, an experiment and a test to determine future trips. After completing the first three legs of the trip, I can say I’ve learned some things to do and not do, some good decisions I made and some I’ll need to rethink.
First, the legs: the first was to fly from Alicante to Madrid and then stay the night in Madrid. It was a fine plan and I was grateful for the extra sleep in Madrid. The hotel was okay, nothing special but not bad and they did arrange for a ride to the airport the next early morning.
The second leg was an early morning flight from Madrid to Frankfurt and this is where I learned some lessons. It all went fine - flight was on time, all went smoothly, but once at the Frankfurt airport I learned some lessons. When I was booking a flight from Alicante to Mumbai I realized although I am geographically closer to India, it is not “easier” or cheaper to to get here. Flights were expensive and so I decided to try to save a little money, I would book an Air Europa flight to Frankfurt (through Madrid) and then catch a Lufthansa flight down to Mumbai. But I hit a snag when collecting my bag from one company and trying to recheck it. Not a big snag. It all worked out in time, but there were some tense moments of wondering if my bag would make it to Mumbai. Thankfully, it did, but I will rethink my switching airlines next trip.
I completed the third leg (Frankfurt to Mumbai) with no issues: almost 8 hours on a plane seemed quick compared to my previous trips (12 hours from LAX to Frankfurt + 8 hours to Mumbai). For a few years I did the preliminary 4 hour flight from Hawaii to LAX, before the 12 to Germany and the 8 to Mumbai…. I am grateful for the single 8 hour flight.
When I lived in Hawaii, I contemplated going the other way to get to India - over Asia - but those flights are infrequent and much more expensive. I am learning that unless you are right next to a major airport (LAX, Atlanta, Munich, etc) it is a bit contrived and more expensive to get where you want to go.
My plane landed about 1:30 AM and after immigration, collecting my bag, changing money and the taxi ride to Colaba, I arrived at the hotel around 3AM. I had a deep sleep for 5 hours and then ate breakfast and went back to bed for a while, having no plans for today. I do not have jet lag since Spain is only 3 hours and 30 minutes behind India time, so I do not have to worry about adjusting my internal clock. That is good. I leave tomorrow to complete the final legs of the trip: a short flight to Nagpur then a longer drive to Padhar. Tomorrow evening I will be where I am going.
Krista S. Givens is the Executive Director of Friends of Padhar Schools and is traveling to visit our partners in India. Her journey is recorded here.