My trip to India with Operation Smile

India Day 1- May 18th

Departure. My flight left on May 18th , Monday morning. I had to have my friend Shawna take me, Jesse was at work, my brother rode with us. I had packed the night before, one full suitcase holding over 170 bars of soap and a second large suitcase (I would later realize I had WAY OVER packed). On the way to DFW, we had to make a pit stop for a cheapo watch at Target, I had left mine and needed the second hand to count heart rate and respiration the kiddos. My bubba set it for me because it was crazy hard and I couldn’t figure it out. They dropped me off at the curb and off I went.
The gate area at DFW had a couple of cute little birds that had gotten stuck inside, they were hopping around on the carpet. A lady beside me at the gate was heading with her family to Ireland. The flight to Chicago was great, I chatted most of the way to the stewardess who snuck me some crackers and cheese after I told her how I was going to India and had forgotten to request a vegetarian meal. She was so kind she said, “take this, you may need it, it will be a long flight” as she stuffed it my hands.
In Chicago, I grabbed a veggie plate and headed to the International terminal. Standing there, I looked at the terminal monitor that said DFW to Delhi. The gate was full of many types of people. Hippies, Indians, the yoga types, business men in suits, women dressed in saris, men with head wraps. I could hear many languages being spoken & there was particular smell of curry and body odor. Not a bad smell, just unique. I talked with a younger college guy that was traveling around India for a month alone. They called us for boarding. The plane was huge! 3 rows, I was lucky enough to get an aisle seat which was great for most of the trip except for the cranky flight attendant that would run her carts in to my feet if I put them out to far into the aisle while sleeping.

I had a short, stocky, chubby Indian man that would be my neighbor for the next 12+ hours. He was so nice and told me about some of India’s politics, wars and about his life. He was headed home after a long stay in the US and was looking forward to seeing his children. The man beside him was a tall business man, heading to India for a quick trip. During the night, the tall guy got on the floor in front of him and used his seat like a pillow, cramming his long legs under he seat in front of him, I wished I had a pic of that! My little neighbor said the funniest thing, he points at his neighbor sleeping in the floor and said “See…that long-man problem. Short man like me no problem on plane.” It cracked me up. The food, well, I didn’t have anything to worry about. I didn’t really think about the fact that there are alot of Hindu peeps in India and they don’t eat meat. I found this to be true the entire time I was in India, I was never worried about finding vegetarian options! It was so great! When the attendant brought us food, they asked, “veg or non-veg.”
We had a great traditional India meal…I was so excited! I was able to sleep and watched a movie. Right before we landed, a little girl in front of me started vomiting, she was maybe 6 or 7. I had my essential oils on the plane so I gave her some peppermint. He mother at first declined but the grandmother told her to try it. She did and was able to make the landing without continuing to vomit.
I stepped off the plane and as I walked down the hanger, I realized that I was in India. It was like stepping into a oven. 104, no ac. I was alone. There were lots of big men in camo with big guns all over the place. But, I was actually in freaking India! I was so grateful to meet up with an amazing lady, Tina RN, that had been with Operation Smile to Guwahaiti before. She was in line in front of me as we went into customs and I stuck close to her. She mentioned to me that there were recent bombings in December which made me a tad nervous. I thought to myself that I should have read more about what and where I had signed up to go. I had joined the team so last minute that I didn’t research anything except for buying the Lonely Traveler book about India to read on the plane (which I didn’t). I stopped to use the restroom and a restroom attendant wiped of the toilet seat for me in exchange for a tip, the restroom was spotless., she was wearing a sari. We gathered up our suit cases and headed to the exit of the terminal after changing some dollars to rupees…47 rupees to one dollar. As I walked out the door, above us was a sign that said “Namaste, Welcome to India”.
Operation Smile folks were waiting for us to arrive, they were full of warm smiles and helped to make me feel safe and comfortable. We waited in a large group for others to join us from incoming flights, introducing ourselves and then quickly made our way outside to a couple awaiting buses. The street was noisy, hot, humid, full of honking and people, it was dark, night time, alive. Men would attempt to take our bags from right out of our hands, demanding tips. Our team leader was there and helped make sure we all got on board the buses with our bags. At one point, a street man actually tried to reach into his wallet for money after grabbing at our bags. We headed to our hotel, where we would spend one night and then depart in the am for the airport to fly to Guwahaiti.