First and second leg of the Journey

First Leg of the Journey

As I sit here in Heathrow Airport in London, I have officially completed the first leg of my journey safely.  In the moment I am a little frustrated at the dichotomy between technological level of the facility and the lack of available public wifi access...but that is a story for another time.

As I am writing this, it is a little after 3:00 am on the 20th back home.  We are already 6 hours ahead (9:00 am London time) and have about 2 hours before the next leg of our journey begins. Security has been easy for me so far and the flight was relatively uneventful.  I sat next to a man that was from South Africa and we talked a little throughout the flight.  He was traveling to London to visit his sister.

On this first leg, I read somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 of a book of poetry that a friend lent me and watched Battleship and Total Recall between naps and meals.  Most of the music I listened to was retro 80's stuff REM, and the like.

There are really just two awarenesses from the first leg of the journey that really struck me.  The first involves the young children in the row in front of me.  I witnessed how challenging it was for the mother to manage what appeared to be a 2 year old girl and about a five year old boy.  All in all, they were pretty good for such a long flight.  What amazed me is how fascinated the boy was about the flight.  The take off and landing were absolutely exhilarating for him.  He had sheer joy in watching the wings open and close and the flaps function to get the beast of a plane off the ground and on again.  It dawned on me in watching and listening to him that we as adults have often lost a lot of our sense of wonder about things.  Not just airplanes and new experiences, I think we have lost our sense of wonder about the divine as well.  Now I must admit, I was much quieter about my excitement and wonder on the flight, but it was great to see a fellow sojourner with the same awe and wonder that I had happening on the inside.

The second awareness, if you will was just my experience in flying into London.  We left and got to witness an amazing sunset over the states.  Gorgeous reds, oranges and yellows exuberantly lit up the sky as the sun was moving home.  Then, less than 12 hours later, I got to witness a beautiful pink and purple display as the sun was coming up over the UK.  Granted, the stunning beauty of the sunrise was much shorter lived than the sunset, because as we descended, we ended up in fog that was literally as thick as pea soup.  Once we finally got below 6,000 feet in altitude, we got another wonderful surprise...we found London covered with a blanket of beautiful soft white snow!  The sun and the weather were just bonuses though...the actual awareness that hit me as we landed, was that this was my very first time in London/the UK.  For some one whose mother and Grandmother were born here, it seems odd to me that I have never been here in the 43 years of my life.  This may sound weird, and it may just be in my imagination, but I feel somehow momentarily closer to them having at least spent a few hours near the place where they spent much of their lives.  I guess the real awareness here is that I need to plan another trip back to visit and learn more about the country that shaped these family members' lives.
I will write more and post once we arrive in Kolkata.

Second leg of the journey

This leg has been much more challenging than the first leg.  We are in a 747 instead of a 777 and trust me the space difference is noticeable.  The larger problem, however, was that we were trapped on the Tarmac waiting to get away from the gates all due to snow and ice.  We spent at least 3 additional hours on this plane waiting for our turn to get de-iced.  According to my flight time remaining, we still have another 4.5 hours and then we have to figure out connections to Kolkata since we are so far behind.  Oh we'll,
The adventures of traveling.  It was freezing in London and it will be 80 degrees later in India...crazy!

I'm looking forward to being in a single time zone, with a bed and without planes for a couple of days!  I'll post again with more news or updates as soon as I can.