Nov 1^st, 2012 Delayed

Made my way to the airport in the late afternoon with plenty of time to relax and kick back. Passing through security checks at any airport these days is unpredictable. By now, I should have learned to expect the unexpected. But a four hour plane delay?

The worse part of being delayed four hours is not sitting in the airport, twiddling your thumbs. Is knowing that you will miss your connecting flight. It really sucks and is totally out of your control. I would arrive within a half hour of my plane leaving for the States, But, Customs would take at least that long to clear and then trying to get to the other terminal... not possible. I cleared the customs area at approximately 10:30 PM. The plane was scheduled to leave at 10:35 PM. But wait, there's more!

When I finally arrived in Delhi, I had to leave the arrivals area and then make my way to the departure zone, which took about ten minutes. Guess what? When I tried to enter I discovered you are not allow in the airport unless you have a ticket that has not expired. A the time, I was not aware that the plane home was delayed till midnight, but a delay is what I was hoping for and why I wanted to gain access. Still, I was not allowed in. So India has a special area for people like me. There were ticket booths in this isolated zone but no one was working them, at least not at the United Airlines counter. No phone number to call, no one from the airport able or willing to help, another than to say “come back tomorrow”. And none of the other airlines offering some insight to their system. I will spare you with the rest of the details of my ordeal. Suffice, if not to say, no one ever showed up to the United/Continental ticket counter but I finally received some assistance at 7:30 PM the following day. But the military security still would not let me pass until a ticket was issued. The representative had to go inside the airport, book me a ticket and bring it out to me, which finally satisfied the military. (Sorry, no photographs to show you the chaos at Delhi's Airport I was happy to get out of there and will do everything I can not to fly through India again.

So, that's my story! Hope you've enjoyed it. I've filed my papers to start a non-profit foundation and hope to return to Nepal next year with a team of biologist and educators to document exactly what's out in that jungle and to help the Sherpa people improve their lives without compromising their lifestyle. If you'd like to join the project, or contribute, contact me at canislupusproductions@gmail.com. We'll be lunching a website ((nepaltigers,org) by January 2013.