The Journey Home

The Journey Home 

As I wrote the title of this entry I started thinking of “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” by C.S. Lewis. However, my journey involved just about every means of travel except boat. 

I knew the 11th (of May) would be a long and busy day (36 and a half hours after time zones) with two long airplane flights; however, I underestimated  Monday the 10th.  The day began by finishing setting up the computer skills lab for next term. Then I went to the diocesan office for what I thought was an 11 o’clock meeting. One of the persons who needed to be present for turnover of the computer skills lab materials was on a train returning to Dornakal so the meeting had to wait. 

Next came moving out of the hostel and traveling (with luggage) by foot the one block distance to the bishop’s house where I was to have lunch and ultimately where I would depart from. The students may have left for the summer; however, there are still the superintendent’s children and the hostel staff, so I didn’t get to carry my luggage any farther than the hostel gate before every piece was being carried by someone else. Okay, thank you but I really can do it. 

The turnover of the computer skills lab had to be delayed until after lunch. Following lunch there was a great eagerness to make sure I had the letter I am to had carry to Bishop Greg and then to get into a meeting with all of the heads of institutions; so much so that we almost didn’t get the computer skills lab key turned over! This was a sign of how the whole trip would go, rush, wait, rush… 

The first ten minutes of the meeting were used to give the heads of institutions a chance to say a few words about their opportunity to work with me. Thank you one and all, I enjoyed working with you too. Then it was a quick dash to the train station – so quick that Bishop Devamani sent me in his car for the five block trip – in case the 3:30 PM train to Hyderabad was on time. It was delayed. It was 45°C. (Well May is the hottest month in Dornakal, India.) That A/C coach felt good when it arrived at 4:15. 

I arrived in Hyderabad (or I should say a suburb of Hyderabad) around 9 PM. Deacon Sricant, my guide for the trip to the airport, negotiated and ultimately secured a taxi that was willing to make the hour drive to the airport (instead of waiting until midnight to make a trip that far). I was checking in at the airport 3 hours ahead of my 01:15 AM flight, just like the recommendation. With the visits to multiple airline desks (my tickets had been changed from an April departure so I knew there would be some running around) and currency exchange and customs, it was good to have those three hours. Initially they didn’t give me the customs forms because I needed to visit other airline desks, but an agent noticed when I turned in my baggage cart so everything was taken care of before I reached customs. I am grateful to Deacon Sricant for staying until everything was settled. It was great to have an Indian who could help if needed. Everything was fine. This just speaks to the great hospitality I received. 

The flight from Hyderabad to Frankfurt departed on time and there were no events to report. The flight from Frankfurt started boarding on time but for some reason boarding took longer than expected so we left Frankfurt late. The pilot said they were going to fly faster to make up the time (and we did). The flight to Seattle took the polar route, just like the flight from Seattle to Frankfurt did in January; however, we were much farther North. Traveling North through the Scandinavian countries we passed a good distance to the North of the Iceland volcano. We stayed North, North of Hudson Bay, coming over the Canadian Territories, British Columbia, the Olympic Peninsula and then over the sound into Seattle. We landed on time and I made it through the paper part of customs relatively quickly (within ten minutes despite being in the next to last row on the plane); however, my luggage must have been the last off the plane too! I met mom and Aunt Penny just outside of baggage claim with a hug. 

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