Face of a Friend

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Christina here.
If I had to pick one word for our remaining plane journey, it would be "long," but that doesn't quite say enough. We did get some better planes with slightly bigger seats, and there were some good in-flight movies, but it was just a long time to be in the air. I think the total journey from Denver to Chennai was about 26 hours. Dorothy- do your students know the original city name of Chennai, and why it was changed? (You really shouldn't have told me your students would see these. We'll only give you more work to do!)

One good surprise was airline security & customs. I've always been stopped for a long time in the security line when I've brought my video camera. The guards try to practically take the camera apart to prove it's not a weapon. This time we brought 2 video cameras, but never got a second glance from security guards at any stop.

When we arrived at Chennai, we learned one of our bags, (the huge tripod bag) had been lost in transit. We decided not to worry about it, believing it would turn up soon. Then, the airline employee felt sorry for us and sent us through customs with an escort to speed up the process. We had heard that when you bring specialized electronic equipment through customs here, they sometimes charge you an extra "tax" to bring it in. With our escort, we were waved through without questions.

Then we saw our friend Vikki waiting for us. I can't tell you how wonderful and comforting it was to see the face of a friend after our long journey. He and his friend, Raj, gave us each a rose and drove us to a nearby hotel, the Blue Diamond. It is a clean, family-run place where we experienced true bliss in the form of a shower and bed. I asked Sheryl to take a picture of a sign outside our room.

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