Homeward Bound

We flew out of Bangalore on British Air at 7:30 am Nov. 4. Suhas picked us up promptly at 4am and accompanied us along with the driver who whisked us off to the airport. It’s the best time of the day to travel in this crowded Indian city so as not have to deal with the snarling excessive traffic. I was more than a little apprehensive about just how taxing this journey home would be. My knee was still not comfortable in the seated position for any length of time. We had a 10 hour flight between Bangalore and London. We’d get a room overnight near the airport and resume our journey the next day with an 8 hour flight into Denver. Once in Denver, Steve would be there to take us home in the Tiger where Ruth and I could both stretch out on the last leg of our 12,000 mile world journey, for the 4 hour drive home.

When I made our reservations I was clear in explaining the necessity of receiving bulkhead seating. There’s probably a good foot of extra leg room in the first row of seats behind each of the walled partitions. I was assured when I made the reservations that under my circumstances our needs would be cared for. I still don’t understand BA policy in reserving these seats. But they weren’t available for us when we checked in. However the flight was fairly empty so were each seated in our own row. It’s a long flight but it was extremely painless with this bounty of leg and elbow room. It also made getting up and moving through the cabin area easier with so few people to share the aisles with. We checked the bulk of our luggage through all the way to Denver. We each had a light carry on bag and the laptop. We arrived in London midday and it was Ruth’s initial plan to go out one more time on the streets of London. I thought that I would just hole up our room and get some writing done. But in retrospect it would have been immensely easier to have included the computer into my large checked suitcase. It would have fit and been protected by its case and my clothing. The extra 12 pounds was a lot to have to carry through those two intense days of travel.

Once we landed in Heathrow we had to disembark the plane by descending a long steep flight of metal stairs down onto the runway. From there we were shuttled by bus to terminal 5. This airport is bigger then many cities. Once there we had to walk a long way to go through customs and immigration. My knee was throbbing but I had no choice but to take it step by step. I could have ordered a wheel chair but I felt I needed the exercise and I had no clue just how far I would end up walking. With no baggage to claim we finally made our way to the transport area and waited for the “hoppa.” This is a local bus that takes passengers from the airport to the hotels in the airport vicinity. It was extremely helpful that we had spent two days in this wonderful city the beginning of our trip. We now knew the ropes well enough to hop on the right bus to get to our prized hotel room.

It was with tremendous relief that we checked in to the Holiday Inn by 3 o’clock in the afternoon. The room was costing us over $200 that night but as tired as we were we weren’t grumbling too loud about the cost. BA is gracious in their feeding schedule and we had two meals on the flight before we landed. We each took showers and snuggled into the twin beds. In truth they weren’t near as comfortable as the great beds we had in India, both in the hospital and the Woodrose. Those beds were excellent. These were kinda lumpy and soft, but again just being somewhere warm where we could put our feet up and snuggle in was Nirvana.

London time is 6 hours earlier than the east coast. We turned on the TV hoping to get some early election results. We saw the Clintons as they arrived to vote. Both Ruth and I were Hilary supporters. She and Bill both spoke briefly about their support for Obama and the Democratic Party.

It was too early with the time difference to get any significant information concerning the election. So we turned off the TV and drifted off to sleep. Ruth didn’t wake up for eight hours. I slept for a while, read for a while, and then tuned into the BBC for America’s election results. As the hours ticked by the preliminary results started coming in. The coverage was extremely informative. The station offered full non stop coverage with no commercials. The whole world is interested in American politics and there was an obvious sense of anticipation and relief that a new leader was about to be elected. Barrack Hussein Obama is extremely popular in both England and India. It was a thrilling moment in history to witness this powerfully positive changing of the guard. It was 5 AM England time when we rejoiced with the world in hearing Obama’s acceptance speech.

We slept for a few early morning hours and woke up starved. The hotel offered a breakfast buffet so we hobbled down to the restaurant. It was ridiculously expensive, 28 pounds which comes to $48. The food was wonderful though; especially since we hadn’t eaten in 20 hours.

We hopped on the “Hoppa” and headed to terminal 5 for the last flight of our journey. This plane was mostly full and we were once again not seated in the bulkhead. This segment of the journey proved to be the hardest for me. Again I’m not certain what British Airlines criteria are for reserving bulkhead seats. They say they can’t book them ahead of time but are reserved on the day of travel for travelers with young children and people with special needs. But they weren’t available for us, even with my medical issues. And it was really dismaying when we boarded the plane and saw that these seats were taken by able bodied passengers who had the luxury of stretching out their healthy legs while my newly sawed on leg was crammed into a regular seat. I asked the flight attendant for some water to take some pain medication early in the flight and she hastily told me I’d have to wait for the cart, which finally came a good 45 minutes later. Fortunately Ruth took matters into hand and went to the station to fetch me some desperately needed pill popping liquid. The flight seemed eternal. But all things do eventually end, landing in DIA was a monumental relief. This time I had a wheel chair waiting for me as I left the plane. We got through immigration, baggage claim and customs. I called Steve who was hanging near passenger pick-up in the Tiger, and then there he was. It was a glorious reunion. My but it felt good to be close to him again.

The weather in Colorado had been about perfect while we were gone. Clear blue skies, crisp mountain air that warms as the sun rises higher in the sky. But we arrived the same time as the first winter storm. We were barely in the foot hills when the flurries began. As the sky darkened with the setting sun the visibility for driving became a real issue with the falling snow. Fortunately Steve is a wonderful driver. He’s lived in the mountains of Colorado for over 30 years and he knows how to get around. Slow and steady is the rule through a storm. The GT Tiger is a small camper on a Chevy Astro chassis. It’s an all wheel drive van with plenty of tread on the tires so we were in good shape, especially with Steve at the helm. There’s plenty of room for stretching out, so we indulged in the leg room and just got comfortable leavingthe driving and stress to Steve. We pulled into our sweet little mountain home and spa before 11pm. A great rush of gratitude and relief was felt at being safely home.