India - Mysteries of Elimination

I thank this guy for posting pictures of an element of this trip that has me mildly freaked out and makes Soph threaten bodily harm.  I have so, so many questions.  Among them: do men squat to pee? does one take off all one's clothes so as to avoid any kind of blowback/overspray situation from the provided (I hope) hose? does one bring one's own soap, towel and hand sani w/ one each time? I don't want to know but isn't there a whole female hygenie realm complicated by this system? How do old people w/ lack of quad strength deal with this?

I'm not going to link but there are lots of internet-loud arguments about the advantage of the rinse and wash vs. wipe systems.  I guess I'll soon be able to decide for myself.  Remember not to shake my hand for a while, k?

http://www.pbase.com/jtodhunter/indian_toilet

India - Interstitial

2 weeks until we leave and we are on schedule for most of the planning stuff.  Christmas gifts are pretty well finished, still not sure how we are going to get everything over there with us but it'll work out.    

There is a about a week between the weddings and so I've put together a little side trip to see some of the touristy spots.  Tina's been to all these places and a part of me didn't want to see the Taj Mahal fearing that it would just be like seeing it in a picture but Jackson wisely pointed out that its a little crazy to go to India and not see 1 of the Wonders of the World so we are going.  

This is what I'm thinking so far.

Good site with train info for US/UK types:
http://www.seat61.com/India.htm

Tuesday 12/28 (evening?)

Leave Vadodara for Jaipur by train

12-16 hours, some of the boarding times are at odd hours of the morning but all would include sleeping on the train.  We definitely want to take a train at some point, its something the kids have never really done.

Train:
http://www.cleartrip.com/trains/results?from_city=Vadodara&to_city=Jaipur&class=2A&date=28-12-2010&adults=2&children=2&male_seniors=0&female_seniors=0

Wednesday 12/29

arrive Jaipur, check into hotel etc

some hotels I'm looking at: http://goindia.about.com/od/wheretostay/ss/palace-hotels_2.htm

3 nights, the normal sightseeing stuff and something with elephants

Thursday 12/30 play in Jaipur

Friday 12/31 play in Jaipur and New Years

Saturday 1/1 Train to Agra

Train is 4-6 hours sleep in Agra

http://www.cleartrip.com/trains/results?from_city=Jaipur&to_city=Agra&class=2A&date=1-1-2011&adults=2&children=2&male_seniors=0&female_seniors=0

Hotels:
http://goindia.about.com/od/citie1/tp/top-5-agra-accommodations.htm

Sunday 1/2 Taj , Train to Delhi Fly home

We might extend this a bit, but from what I've read Agra can mostly be seen in a day.

India - Ensure Your Luggage Will Fit

As I post this we are now at 16 days, 16 hours and 16 minutes until our plan leaves Tucson and we are getting very close to ready I think.  The Visas are done and the passports are now back.  I've gotten some money and travelers cheques (an antiquated spelling for an antiquated product)

We have arranged for a guy w/ a sign that will pick us up in Delhi to take us to the Hilton where we have a quick overnight.   The Hilton lady said we could rent a car w/ driver the next day to do a few laps around Delhi.

Luggage is a minor controversy.  We fly American to Delhi and then switch to Jet Airways for the flight the next day and found out that the 8 (!) 50# suitcases we are checking can be left with Jet Airways the night before once we clear customs.  I was worried about having to haul them to the hotel and back along with all our carry-ons but there is happily a system in place for this.  On the topic of 8 suitcases, we are trying to do the family a solid and volunteered to bring some stuff over.  Tina's pop has taken the opportunity to claim 3 of our 8 bags.  We are still in negotiations on this point.  To do some planning I had J and T do a prospective clothing dump so I could weigh it out.  50# is the max I get free for each bag (thanks for the status AA) and we plan to use it all.  J's clothes weighed in at 22#, Sophia's a bit less and Tina's and mine at just under 50# each.  This doesn't include gifts or toiletries which aren't heavy but take up tons of room.  The net of it is I'm projecting 3.5 suitcases for clothes, 2 for toiletries + gifts and 2 for the family tax with a bit of leftover.  So far her pops has delivered 1 full suitcase plus odds/ends and promises 2 more full boxes.  I keep telling him '2 boxes totalling 100#s', we'll see.

India - No running off to Mexico for a while

A Visa is required for Americans visiting India.  It's all the paperwork you'd expect including an application form to which is attached (oddly required to use glue) 2 passport type photos, copy of drivers license, copy of birth certificate, all along with the ACTUAL US passport.  They say they'll send it back in 7-9 days, lets hope so.   Because T's dad and by extension the kids granddad is originally from there we also had to provide her Dad's naturalization paperwork and her birth certificate proving they are all related.

The whole thing is handled through a company called Travisa that does some kind of middleman role I don't fully understand.  Again, I just hope they send me back my passport in the near future so I can leave the country if I decide to rob a bank or such.

India - Just a dash of virus please

Immunization is a probability game right?  I personally believe that I'm invincible so none of it is really necessary but if I were to get scabby-ebola-typhus it would be in India right?  Planning to go somewhere where the microbiology will actively try to kill you requires some prudence.  The kids it seems are routinely given sufficient vaccination now that they only have to take some typhus and malaria pills close to when we go.  No shots was a big selling point for them.  T just had a couple on account-a she's been before (and plus she must have some like racial defense right?).

I've had to get the Hepatitis A and B (B was a series of 2 so that was awesome) and Tetanus (that bastard hurt for a week, I think it had actual flakes of rusty metal in there).  Getting Polio on Friday and we take the typhus and malaria tablets closer to go time.

45 days to go, its coming fast.

India - What to Wear

So we don't have the formal invite yet but did get a hilarious email inviting us to what sounds like several weeks of awesome.  The table below is very intriguing to me for many reasons but not least because I have not been to an Ascot Goat Race, much less in a tuxedo.

India - Travel Data

We have been hovering over buying the tickets for a while and looking at all the angles.  The complexity of the trip is a function that looks like C = (HxTxB)^S where C=complexity, H=Humans x 9.73 (the universal constant of how much more work it takes going places with people), T=Total trip hours, B=# of bags, carry on and check and S= # of stops.  So the math tells us to change plans as little as possible and leave 1 of the kids at home (sorry JB). 

We settled on the itinerary below.  Outbound its as good as we can make it, returning we just could not get straight to Delhi without making things way more expensive so we'll have to cope.

• The Chicago to Delhi flight is the longest AA has, and I wonder if its the longest ever.  15 hours in the plane is pretty remarkable. 
•  We have an overnight in Delhi and I found a Hilton nearby.  I wonder about handling all of the bags during this portion but in any case we may get a chance to see a bit of Delhi in the morning.
• I have never heard of Jet Airways and I can't help but think of this
  
• 8 hours in Bombay airport with a ton of bags will suck, nothing to be done about it
• The return flight is a little longer from Delhi to Chicago, anything over 14 hours I guess is a wash

Outbound:
   
Tucson to Chicago

	Carrier Flight Number Departing Arriving Aircraft Type City Date & Time City Date & Time AMERICAN AIRLINES 374 TUS Tucson Dec 16, 2010 06:50 AM ORD Chicago Dec 16, 2010 11:15 AM McDonnell Douglas Super MD-80(S80)
	Travel Time:  3 hrs 25 min  ~ 1450 miles Economy Class Meal:   Food for purchase

Chicago to Delhi

Carrier Flight Number Departing Arriving Aircraft Type City Date & Time City Date & Time AMERICAN AIRLINES 292 ORD Chicago Dec 16, 2010 07:35 PM DEL Delhi Dec 17, 2010 09:45 PM Boeing 777(777)
	Travel Time:  14 hrs 40 min ~7500 miles Economy Class Meal:   Dinner  Breakfast

Delhi to Vadodara

Carrier Flight Number Departing Arriving Aircraft Type City Date & Time City Date & Time JET AIRWAYS OPERATED BY JET AIRWAYS KONNECT 2601 DEL Delhi Dec 18, 2010 05:25 PM BDQ Vadodara Dec 18, 2010 07:40 PM Aerospatiale/Alenia ATR72(AT7)
	Travel Time:  2 hrs 15 min ~500 miles Economy Class Meal:   Beverage service.

Return:

Vadodara to Bombay

Carrier Flight Number Departing Arriving Aircraft Type City Date & Time City Date & Time JET AIRWAYS OPERATED BY JET AIRWAYS KONNECT 2006 BDQ Vadodara Jan 09, 2011 11:15 AM BOM Mumbai Jan 09, 2011 12:10 PM Boeing 737-800 Passenger(738)
	Travel Time:  0 hrs 55 min ~250 miles Economy Class Meal:   Beverage service.

Bombay to Delhi

Carrier Flight Number Departing Arriving Aircraft Type City Date & Time City Date & Time AMERICAN AIRLINES OPERATED BY JET AIRWAYS 7839 BOM Mumbai Jan 09, 2011 08:05 PM DEL Delhi Jan 09, 2011 10:05 PM Boeing 737-900 Passenger(739)
	Travel Time:  2 hrs 0 min ~750 miles Economy Class Meal:   Beverage service.

Delhi to Chicago

Carrier Flight Number Departing Arriving Aircraft Type City Date & Time City Date & Time AMERICAN AIRLINES 293 DEL Delhi Jan 10, 2011 12:55 AM ORD Chicago Jan 10, 2011 05:00 AM Boeing 777(777)
	Travel Time:  15 hrs 35 min ~7500 miles Economy Class Meal:   Breakfast  Snack or brunch

Chicago to Tucson

Carrier Flight Number Departing Arriving Aircraft Type City Date & Time City Date & Time AMERICAN AIRLINES 1637 ORD Chicago Jan 10, 2011 09:25 AM TUS Tucson Jan 10, 2011 12:20 PM McDonnell Douglas Super MD-80(S80)
	Travel Time:  3 hrs 55 min ~1400 miles Economy Class Meal:   Food for purchase

India - Step 0

I've never been and it's time to go.  Tina's oldest cousin in Vadodara (aka Baroda) has 2 kids getting married over Christmas break and we've decided now is the time to make the big trip.  Me, T and the kids (7 and 11) will be flying a little under 20,000 total miles, celebrating Christmas, 2 weddings, New Year, J's birthday and our 2 anniversaries over the span of 26 days from 12/17 to 1/10. 

It seems far off now but starting up the lists of shots and clothes and packing logistics tells me that we need to get thing moving.  My plan is to chronicle all of it here (including the trip of course) and to use this as a forum to complain about things and offer observations on the process. 

Know 2 things:  I am mildly terrified/super excited about this trip and I can say whatever I want here cause T doesn't read it.  Boobs.