2009 -

I touched down a few hours ago on a Delta 777 only about an hour late. Tom Kinzel and I flew together from KC to Atlanta, a flight with plenty of ‘give’ time scheduled in. We ended up needing every minute of it! First we were delayed on the runway in KC due to a backup caused by bad weather in Atlanta. Then when we got to Atlanta we were put in a holding pattern for 40 mins. Our flight to Mumbai was scheduled to leave at 8:05. We touched down at about 7:40, and needed to go from terminal B to terminal E. We were afraid we wouldn’t make it. Thankfully, however, we did make it in plenty of time as the plane we boarded had itself arrived late from Miami. Boarding the plane I ran into Ed Harrell already at his (first class) seat. Neither Tom nor I knew Ed was going to be on our flight. Ed was to fly with Brent Lewis, who was the flight delay casualy in all of this. Apparently he didn’t make it in time to board. So he’s out there somewhere.

The Indians, it seems, are very worried about the swine flu. All of his had to fill out swine flu forms attesting to the fact that we didn’t have it, nor had we had a fever in the past 10 days. Once we disembarked from the plane there were about a dozen booths set up with attendants wearing surgical masks (lots of people around wearing surgical masks). I presented my form, it was dutifully given an official stamp (Indians love official stamps), and sent on my way. Swine flu will never get through such an impregnable wall.

It was nice to get to the hotel to unwind after the 15 hour flight. However, I was only able to doze for about 2 hours, getting up at about 4 am local time.. After sleeping on the plane then dealing with the time change it will be awhile before I get a normal night’s sleep. This is a down day before we fly out to Imphal in the Northeast tomorrow. Tom and I are hoping to pay a visit to the Elephanta caves if the weather and scheduling will cooperate.

2009 -

Time to get everything packed is winding down–there’s never enough time! Finally you just have to leave. I fly out of KC at 3:10 then from Atlanta at 8:05 PM on Delta 184. If anyone is reallly motivated, you can track the flight here.

2009 -

Welcome to my India blog. I’ll be posting updates and pictures here throughout my India trip. I leave in two days on July 6, flying from Kansas City to Atlanta then direct to Mumbai–a 15 hour flight! Tom Kinzel, who preaches at the Vivion Road church in Kansas City, will be flying to Mumbai with me. From there we will travel to the Northeast city of Imphal, but more about that later.

Thanks to webmaster Phil Wist I also will be able to post maps of my location as I move around India. Check back, and I hope to post as often as I can.