So I haven’t been blogging because I wasn’t going to use internet all of India. When in Ecuador I was not sure how much internet would be in the location I would be in during India. Unless there was a medical problem or I really needed to contact my family for any other problem. Well I went most of the first month not using internet until I had to inform my mother about some medical related health problems(I will talk more about later in another blog post). Internet is a challenge although I have started using other team members hotpots to post fundraising updates and for other reasons.
Finding India becomes more of a challenge then I ever thought! We had a seven hour flight to Amsterdam. With about a three hour layover there. I slept and slept till they woke me saying it was time to go. That flight was suppose to load at 10:20am and leave at 11:20am. Although we didn’t load tell 11:20am then we sat at the gate for awhile. When we got to New Deli we were an hour behind so we only had 40 minutes to get our check bags, rechecked with a different rout, go through customs, and security. There were 26 in our group so if you could imagine we were a bit late to the plane.
Just a quick update leaving Ecuador we went to Canada for training and there I became logistics for the squad. Before leaving on this nine month journey they picked two people that would be our logistics.That means on travel days it is not only the squad leaders making sure things with airlines go smoothly and making sure we don’t miss flights, it is also the job of logistics. Jared and I are logistics for the squad now. We do other things also like planning debriefs and paying the budgeted amount of money for things during debriefs. So traveling to India was my first time of not just traveling as another racer but one who talks to airline employees, makes sure that everyone makes it through security, answers questions racers have about the travels.
Any ways now back to finding India, our flight we were running late to took off about an hour later then it was suppose to. After running through the airport an making sure everyone else made it, I happliy sat down on the plain just ready to take off. When we got to Kolkata it was around five in the morning. Our bags didn’t get off the plane cause the tags we thought we got fixed were not fixed. So we found a lady who tracked them down to get them back for us. Kacie (squad leader) and I went to talk to the airport manager about where the airport would like all 26 of us to wait for 24 hours before our next flight. Leaving the airport is normally something that World Race allows but in this case the city outside was to busy for us to just go into. So to stay safe we chose to stay in the airport. The first time we went to ask the airport manager was busy and this other guy said we couldn’t just sit out in the seats (although there was enough room). So we went back down the bags arrived and Kacie took Ryan up with her this time to talk directly with the manager. After explaining we were fine with waiting/sleeping in chairs and we don’t have the bugetted to pay for a hotel for all of us the man said it was fine.
Let me tell you all though time change can be a real killer. Many great stories come from this airport and I ended up staying in it for around 30 hours. Although I am going to cut things a bit short and tell you why I was in this airport so long. With the odd booking of flights the group of 26 I was with was now being split up my group of 12 and the the rest were in Kacie group. My group had a flight around 6 am and Kacie didn’t have hers until 9. So my job was to lead the group through getting bags checked, security, to the correct gate, fly, land and then as the fist group to arrive at our location we had to find the contact. That was the plan anyways until we hit some speed bumps. Checking bagage was a story in itself but everyone in the group helped in so many ways. Once we finally got on the plain that was running behind, I found some peace that it was all going to be alright. As we took flight my eyelids slowly closed an excitment for what was to come filled me. Then I felt a turn in our flight and then the caption came over and in English he said we are experiencing some technical difficulties and have to turn back and land again. Honestly inside I was asking God why, so many times and at the same time thanking him for wise people who turn plains around they aren’t safe. Landing we got some free breakfast and though it would only be an hour wait. Soon enough it was lunch time and I hadn’t been able to get my phone to work to update Kacie. Then lunch had past and I was telling another group from my squad the group that was suppose to arrive last to have a safe flight. My heart beating I ran back down to check with the kind lady who had been giving me updates all day. See she spoke the language and was just another passage who was ready to go but she had helped communicate updates to me through out this experience. Finally around 12:30pm or 1pm we were climbing back on nothing else but the same plane with technical problems. Praying we took flight and finally landing found all the leaders waiting for us. With joy we got our bags left the airport and with joy I climbed on a bus. Looking out my window I was hit with the smells, sights, and the fact that I was now in India. Getting to India wasn’t easy and God told me my time in India would be challenging. Here we go Northeastern India what is next?!
More blog post to come
