The Adventure Begins at Home!

We know any vacation begins at home, and this one is no exception. First plane from RDU was cancelled. We were put on an earlier flight. The Newark flight was 3 1/2 hours delayed WHILE we sat on the tarmac in a lightning and thunderstorm. The airport was closed down because lightning struck the radar. When we finally got to take off, there was quite a bit of turbulence, of course, but we managed to get to Brussels ... WAIT! Brussels? We thought we were on a non-stop to Mumbai. Herein lies the difference between "non-stop" and "direct" flights. Pay attention, girls! The plane was unloaded and then we were told there would be a delay... because... get this --- the plane had been struck by lightning twice! If they couldn't fix it, we would get a new plane from Mumbai the following day. We were given food vouchers, and we set up camp on the floor. Finally we were loaded back onto our plane and landed in Mumbai 6 hours late. Of course, we wouldn't make our connection to Cochin from a different airport. But we did it. They held the plane and Dr. Thomas, our friend in Cochin, picked us up at 8:30 Friday morning. In one short day, Susan has learned to eat with her RIGHT hand, learned Indian traffic patterns (that supposedly include driving on the left side of the road), seen men in dhotis, toured Dr. Thomas' farm where we saw how rubber is made, visited a school full of children where we counted with them in English and asked them to all introduce themselves. Maggi already got a new filling and Susan held Dr. Thomas' new baby girl, Nissi Susan. We feel like part of this huge wonderul extended family, and the soft summer rain in Kerala. We have big smiles on our faces!