The Long Haul Down: FRA-JNB-CPT

         The Lufthansa Airbus A-380 "Tokio" waits for me to board.  I've waited at FRA for 11.5 hours and am dreading a 12+ hour flight from Frankfurt to Johannesburg.  Shuffling into my seat, I notice the sheer size of this thing, which looks like it's never going to leave the ground.  Take-off is quick and smooth and, even though I'm sitting behind the engines, the sound is muted.  Being a Boeing fan my whole life, I am impressed by the latest edition to the Airbus fleet.
             
         The food is typical airline fare, zapped beyond recognition in a galley microwave, and I try to watch a movie while having dinner.  After dinner, I look at the map and we're still over Italy.  I'm tired and close my eyes to get some rest.  The next thing I know, we're flying over Zimbabwe. I've slept for most of the flight!!

Almost there!!

Are we there yet! :-)

        All these exotic places, whose names I've heard pronounced with flair by NPR's Ofeibia Quist-Arcton, flit by on the map at 500 miles per hour-Bulawayo, Gaborone, Maputo.

       I soon feel the gentle tug of "Tokio" descending into Johannesburg and, within minutes, am standing in the immigration line at OR Tambo International Airport.  The immigration officer says asks me how long I'm staying in the Republic of South Africa (RSA) and I tell him I'll be there a week.  Feigning insult and smiling he says "a week is not enough to see my beautiful country." I agree and tell him I'm an overworked American who can only get a week off from work this time around. :-) "Bring your family next time" he says cheerfully, as he stamps my entry into the RSA.  One more stamp for the passport!  I make a dash for to the domestic part of the terminal for my connecting flight to Cape Town and as I get to the gate, they begin boarding. Whew, made it.!

The first leg: IAD-FRA

Doodle and Divs drop me off at Dulles for a United flight to Frankfurt.  I watch Salt and try to get some sleep to prepare for the even longer flight from Frankfurt to Johannesburg.  I wake up an hour before landing, eat United's mediocre breakfast (which, sadly, is better than the United Ramen they gave on my flight from Washington to Beijing last year-yuck) and land in Frankfurt.  Having an eleven hour wait there, I wait for everyone else to get off the plane.  The flight attendant says "Are you going back with us to Washington?" I tell him I have a 11 hour layover.  He suggests I go into town and try the asparagus as it is in season.  Getting off the plane, I enter the transit area, see the long lines at immigration and decide it's better to stay in the terminal and read and relax.  Now I know how Tom Hanks felt in that movie!

South Africa

I always wanted to go to South Africa.  I first learned about it when I looked at the back of my old Indian passport and saw the big red letters stamped "Valid for travel to all countries, except the Republic of South Africa."
I was in the 11th grade at Woodrow Wilson High School when Nelson Mandela was elected first post-Apartheid President of South Africa and vividly remember that day because South African students at Wilson sang "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" over the PA system and it was an emotional moment for everyone.
I tried going in May 2010 but Ejafjallajokul had other plans for me.  My KLM flight was cancelled as I was on my way to Dulles and rescheduling, at that time, was not an option.
I tried again in December 2011 but my Dad got sick a week before I left and I cancelled the trip.  Lufthansa was kind enough to give me a flight credit.
When my birthday rolled around in March, I though, well, now or never and I used the flight credit to get a ticket to Cape Town.

Back to India: July 10, 2009

I was super excited to be going back to India but was not looking forward to the long ass flight. I went straight to Dulles from work on the 5A and checked in 5 hours before my flight. Ouch! So I decided to try the massage bar and got a 30 minute seated massage. It was good and took away all the stress of the week and I was in a relaxed mood as I boarded my flight.
Ah! British Airways: bad food, bad movies and the zoo that is Terminal 5 at Heathrow. 7+ hours later I was walking around T5 and killed 4 hours before I boarded the flight to Bangalore. Another 10 hours of bad Zac Efron and Hannah Montana movies later, I got off the plane in namma Bengaluru.
I was greeted by airport workers wearing surgical masks and health officials took my temperature and I was processed through immigration, got my bags, cleared customs and was out of the terminal in 10 minutes. This is the most efficient airport I have seen!

We came home and had some tea and it was off to the Central Tiffin Room for dosas. Mmmmm sooo gooooddd.

Back to India

Flight:	BA0119
Status:	Confirmed
From:	Heathrow (London) Terminal 5
To:	Bangalore
Depart:	Sat 11 Jul 2009, 14:10
Arrive:	Sun 12 Jul 2009, 04:15
Duration:	9hrs 35mins
Class:	World Traveller
Operated by:	British Airways

February 4-7: Florianopolis and the Mad Dash

We rented a car and Danya drove us around from beach to beach and we spent the next 2 days going to the beach, clubbing and drinking caipirinhas and caipiroskas. My favorite beaches were Praia Mole and Praia Santinho. I spent too much time in the water at Santinho and came out looking like Barney, all purple.

Praia Mole is a surfers' paradise. It is known around the world for its waves and surfers come from all over.

Praia Santinho is a calmer beach with families and stuff.

Praia Ingleses is a mix of the two and the most popular but is only accessible from downtown Floripa by public bus.


We also took two public buses to get to Praia Ingleses, which was awesome. :-)

Then came the Mad Dash. We were to fly from Floripa to Sao Paulo wait 3 hours and then fly back to the U.S. The TAM flight from Floripa left two hours late due to a rain delay so we had 30 minutes to make our flights. We ran from the domestic to the international terminal and Ed ran to United for his flight to D.C., David ran to American for his flight to Dallas, and I ran to Delta for my flight to Atlanta.

We made it with 15 minutes to spare before they closed the gate.

The next morning I was standing bleary eyed in the immigration line with passengers who got off the Mumbai flight, waiting to enter the U.S. in Atlanta.

Et notre voyage finis.

February 3, 2009: Sao Paulo and Florianopolis

I've never had to run for a flight but I did in Brazil. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm there at least 3 hours in advance-for a damn domestic flight. We thought a domestic flight from Sao Paulo to Floripa wouldn't be that bad so we got to the airport at around 12:45 for a 3:30 p.m. flight. The TAM line was packed. All flights for TAM, domestic and international, were standing in one line. It was a nightmare. We finally got up to the check-in counter at 2:55 and had just enough time to run to the gate and get on the bus to the plane. The flight to Floripa was short and I was talking to two college students going home from Sao Paulo. They told me about the beaches and the clubs and were very excited showing me their city from the window of the plane. :-)

We landed and took a cab to the Mercure. Big improvement from the Ibis. We had two aparthotels with kitchenettes and seperate bedrooms. David stayed with Danya and Ed and I shared a room. Floripa, the capital of Santa Catarina province, is a cute island city at the southern tip of Brazil, by the Argentine border. We stayed in the Centro which was close to all the clubs. The city looks like San Francisco with a bit more L.A. thrown in. We decided to rent a car the next day to go to the beaches. The first night was spent in Centro and we had a great dinner at the Pier 54 restaurant, under the Hercilio Luz bridge.
The food was great. We had Mocqueca (a fish stew)and Bacalao (grilled Cod), which was yummy. Of course, David got the best Malbec I've had- Latitude. We found that when we ordered Malbecs (from Argentina), the waiters would try to steer us towards Brazilian wines but we stood firm and had Malbecs throughout the trip. Supposedly Argentina and Brazil don't see eye to eye and the rivalry effects everything from futbol to wine. I guess it has something to do with trying to be the most powerful country in South America. The Brazilians can't stand the Argentines and the feeling is mutual. When I was in Buenos Aires, I found out that the derogatory slang for a gay man is brasilero. Go figure.
We spent a quiet evening drinking Caipirinhas in an outdoor bar straight out of the 1950s. A breezy evening, tons of limey cachaca and good friends. :-)

February 1 and 2, 2009: Sao Paulo

Notre voyage commence. The flight was good. I was pleasantly surprised by Delta's service to South America. It was on a retrofitted 767-400 with an excellent touch-screen entertainment system you'd find on a 777. I could choose from different CDs and create my own playlist. This was a huge improvement over the Delta 767 I flew from JFK to Rome in 2007. Atlanta is a madhouse. The gate next to mine was for Mumbai and I felt sad for the poor bastards waiting for the 17.5 hour flight from ATL to BOM. Yoww.
Delta did a fantastic job and is much better than goddamn United. I cringe when I think about my United flight to Buenos Aires two years ago. Ouch.
We landed in Sao Paulo and immigration was a breeze. I got my first stamp on my new biometric passport. They covered up the Liberty Bell on the visa page, though. Oh well. Customs was another story. Lines slowly snaking around to clear through ONE gate. Brazilians returning home were stopped and asked about purchases made in the States and they were arguing loudly with customs officials. I eventually got through customs and picked up a pre-paid taxi from a booth. Got to the hotel and checked in. English is not widely spoken so I tried French, this being the Ibis-a French chain. Nope. Solamente Portuguese. Well, I used broken Spanish and hand signage to check in. The room was smaller than my little box at the Chastleton but hey, it's only $67 a night. You can't beat that. BBC World on the TV is icing on the cake.
I freshened up and met the boys in the lobby at 1230 and we went out for a snack. Fran's cafe down the street became our main hangout for the next 2 days. We went out to a club that night and had to get a drink ticket. You order a drink, get your ticket stamped, and then when you leave, you pay and show the "PAGO" stamp on the ticket on the way out. They asked me for my name to write on the ticket. I said Amit and they wrote Omet. So, for the next 6 days, I made it easier on all the bars in Brazil- I was Joao or Gilberto. :-) The club was fun with the same music there as here-Brittney, Madonna etc. Whenever I travel there is always one song I keep hearing that becomes the song of the trip. I hear it in the clubs, in the stores, on the plane there and back and all over. In Buenos Aires it was Mika's Love Today, in Rome it was Madonna's Jump. In Sao Paulo and Floripa it was Madonna's Miles Away.
We spent the next day walking around Sao Paulo and met up with Wagner, Ed's friend. He's from Sao Paulo and showed us around town and took us to this amazing Greek restaurant.
Ed, Wagner and me at the Greek Restaurant, Sao Paulo.

We then walked around town to the train station, which was built by the British. Wagner told us that in gratitude to help in fighting against Napoleon, the Brazilians gave the British contracts to build things like train stations. Interestingly, during Napoleon's romp through Europe, the King of Portugal had to flee to Rio de Janeiro and rule the Portuguese Empire (including Brazil, Goa, and Macau) from Rio.

Wagner, David and me discussing Brazilian history outside the train station.

We also found out that all museums in Sao Paulo are closed on Mondays. We went to the University of Sao Paulo on the other side of town to see an art gallery and that was closed too. So we went to the Hilton in Morumbi and walked around the shopping mall in the swanky part of town.

We then had a great dinner at a sidewalk cafe and coffee after that at Fran's cafe.

Florianopolis

The NY Times had an interesting blurb on Florianopolis this morning. Apparently, it is THE place to go to now in South America. :-) Can't wait.