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Published: October 31st 2016
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There is always a cognitive phenomenon that happens when we travel: everything becomes a story. The everyday, mundane things that might be ignored at home, become stories or interesting when you travel. "We went to the grocery store today" means more when you are not at home. Even the annoyances, may become great stories when they happen in the middle of an adventure. "We changed a flat tire on the side of the road today" almost seems exciting when it doesn't happen to disrupt your normal routine.
Luckily, we have been travelling the last few days, so "our plane sat on the tarmac for 4 hours" and "our luggage didn't arrive at our destination" have not been the headaches they would have been were we not in India. We left Shamrock Farms, flew out of Manhattan, checked into the international terminal in Chicago and thought we were on our merry way without any glitches. Not quite. Our plane had some mechanical issue that required they unload the luggage which delayed our departure enough that we did not depart Chicago before another plane that was on the runway caught fire. This meant we had to sit on the tarmac until the
fire was put out and the safety team opened the runways. What we did not know is that the crew forgot to load the luggage back on our plane before it left.
The story continues with 150 people standing around baggage claim wondering why there was not more luggage available for pick up. We were reminded of the chaos of India as everyone frantically tried to complete forms, stand in line, wait for confirmations of the baggage claims and exit the airport. That was on October 29 and I know what you are wondering. No, we still do not have our luggage. But, we do have a story!
We thought when we left America with plans to be gone for a month that we were being so smart. Our timing is perfect to miss the angst of the election and all of the emotions that seem to be surfacing from this particular election. Not quite. Upon deboarding the plane, we walked to immigration and thought we were prepared with our visas and all the questions they tend to ask at immigration. "What is your purpose for this trip?" "Where are you staying?" "What is your departure
date?" Instead, the man behind the desk took one look at our passports, said "Ah Americans," and asked us who we voted for in the election.
Our first morning in India we stumbled down to breakfast, wearing the same clothes we arrived in, and just about went into shock when we saw who was sitting in the living room drinking coffee. Donna and Ken, two Americans we had met 4 years ago when we were at Pushkar the first time. They are New Yorkers who just fell in love with India and keep returning each year. When their driver dropped them off at the guesthouse the night before, he told him that he just dropped off two other Americans. They asked if it was a husband and a wife and the driver said, no a father and daughter. They said, I wonder if it is Roy and Valeri. I cannot believe the perfect timing. The funny thing is, dad had just mentioned Ken when he was talking about scarves the week earlier because he was telling a friend that Ken told him "he can really pull off wearing a scarf." Now we plan to go with Ken
to his favorite scarf place in Pushkar!
We are very disconnected as Hotmail has locked us out of our account due to security issues and we are running low on battery time on our ipad (yes, the converter is in our luggage which is still in Chicago!), but we have been able to access this blog site and Facebook.
This morning we got a message from Kyle and mom letting us know that Uncle Max died. The timing is quite interesting, as when we were in India last time in 2012 on our way to Pushkar, Uncle Ray died. As we did with Uncle Ray, we will light a candle in Uncle's Max's honor and place it in the holy lake of Pushkar. Dad says that he was always thankful for his Uncle Max because he taught dad how to curse with authority when he took dad to his first Chiefs versus Raiders football game. As for dad's other uncles, do not worry we do not have any plans to return to Pushkar in the future!
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Julia Westhoff
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Oh my goodness! You guys are having an amazing attitude about all of these troubles. Traveling to a place you love just puts it all into perspective I guess.