Note to self, sometimes just making a list isn't enough... sometimes it helps if you check it a time or two too. Ya, even though it was written down several places; when I transferred the essentials into my minimalist travel wallet I forgot to grab my drivers license. An issue that made it's self apparent when I checked into the Vancouver Airport hotel the night before my morning flight. After one email back to the home office citing specific instructions on locating and international express shipping options and another to the tour operator explaining my situation I foolishly tried to sleep. Part way through that failed experiment having run through a multitude of scenarios my phone announced the receipt of an email. It was from the tour operator suggesting that this was not the end of the world and the digital copy I had should suffice. With a second email off to the home office with the stand down instructions a few hours of sleep were found.
My flight to India involved a short layover in Toronto with the first flight departing Vancouver just after it's scheduled time of noon. Which was unfortunate as the Brazil-Serbia match had just started when I had to leave the lounge and get to the gate. Oh well, wasn't like it was something important like a Sounders-Timbers match #100.
A short visit to the lounge at the international departures pier in Toronto was about all I was allowed before boarding started for the scheduled 10:30pm departure of the second leg. The flight to New Delhi was originally cited as 13 hours and 50 minutes but as we sat at the gate that time oscillated from 12 hours and change to 15 hours on the seat back flight monitors. Regardless, I was going to be leaving Toronto Wednesday night and landing in New Delhi Thursday night.
Waking from a typical restless airplane "sleep" somewhere over Turkmenistan it appeared that we had made good time with a prospective arrival time some 30 minutes earlier than advertised. And it all looked good right up to the point that we fly right by New Delhi and another hour was added to the flight time. We then spent the next 20 minutes circling at an altitude of 5971m and then another 20 minutes in that same holding pattern at 3457m. We eventually straightened out and started through one of the slowest descents I can remember being on.
With the customs card filled in and visa in hand I dutifully got in line at the first class/business class booth. Unfortunately it turned out that my electronically provisioned visa meant I was ineligible for this particular privilege of the ticket class and I actually was supposed to have gone all the way down to the end of the arrivals lounge where my visa would be processed. Signs would have helped - end of commentary.
After clearing immigration and picking up my bags the hotel shuttle driver was exactly where he was promised to be. And for the next 45 minutes I got a small taste of New Delhi traffic... Of which I will have to rank right up there with Istanbul, Tehran, Lanzhou and Boston.
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