Forty-Six Hours

It is a wonderful feeling to be home, sleep in your own bed, have hot water on demand, and actually feel clean.

CHENNAI: We left my grandmother's house in Chennai Friday night at 6:00pm. The president of India was coming to Chennai and we wanted to make sure we got to the airport in time. It took a huge bus to carry the 20 suitcases, and 20 carry-on bags, and a land cuiser and a car to carry all the people... it was quite the caravan. We arrived about 6:30pm, and managed to get all of our checked bags screened. Once at the ticket counter, the clerk saw my dad's suitcase for carry-on and made him weight it. Since it was 4 kilos overweight he made him remove the excess weight before he would give us any of our tickets. (Thankfully he didn't see our other 15 overweight carry-ons). In India, each carry-on must have an airline luggage tag, otherwise they won't let you take it, and each one is stamped at the security checkpoint which is your pass for getting in on the plane. We made it through the ticket process, and also found out that men are allowed only one carry-on, and women two. We managed to squeeze 4 more tags from the ticket clerk (he would only give us 10) and we repacked bags praying they wouldn't weight them. We flew through immigration (only after our clerk stopping in the middle of checking our passports to watch the cricket game that was on behind us) and headed to security. Meredith "forgot" her 2nd bag, so Nate was stuck with 2 bags and they would not let Meredith back through to get it and they wouldn't let Nate through with it, so they watched as Nate emptied the bag into his other bag and went through with one stuffed bag and one empty one. (Gotta love India's bureaucracy). - 4 Hour Flight to KL, Malaysia -

KUALA LUMPUR - We landed at 5 in the morning their time, and had 5 hours to waste. Drew and I were trying desperately to stay awake in an attempt to get back on NC time. The rest gave in to their sleep desires. :) Micah, Sarah, Drew & and I walked all through the airport looking to a hamburger or meat, but sadly no one took credit cards and we didn't have any ringet so we settled for Starbucks and a muffin. In KL, they check every bag, and they thoroughly pat you down. However, if you are fast enough, you can pull your bag off the belt before they see you, and you won't get searched. We managed a few bags this way, but a few were caught, and they made you throw away every single ounce of liquid (toothpaste etc). Thankfully I managed to grab our one bag with toothpaste so we were able to brush our teeth!
- 4 Hour Flight to Taipei, Taiwan -

TAIPEI - Even though we were just getting off the plane for an hour while they cleaned it, they made you take all of your luggage off. And then you had to go through THREE security checkpoints before you could get back on. Mom left one of her bags on the plane and they made her get a special pass to get on the plane to get it off, then go through security, and then take it right back on the plane. Go figure. Also, the security checkpoints were only for bags, they didn't check the people. - 12 Hour Flight to LAX -

LOS ANGELES - We landed at about noon on the 6th (We saw the sun rise twice on January 6th... how many people can say that??). It was the most amazing feeling to here the customs guy say "welcome home".... ahhh back in the land of clean bathrooms that have toilet paper, soap and paper towels!! We managed to track down all 20 bags and headed to the domestic terminal with 40 bags on 9 carts in tow. Since our plane was not supposed to leave until midnight, Drew waited in line to see if we could catch an earlier flight. At 1:50, he came running back to tell me that they were waiting at the ticket counter for us, needed our bags to catch our 3:00pm flight. Since the international limit is 70lbs and the domestic is only 50lbs we spent 10 frantic minutes repacking all of our bags, taking our heavy things and putting them in our carry-on and putting all the light stuff in our checked luggage. We ran back and checked them in, each was between 49.5 & 50lbs. Wohoo!! As we headed through security, it was already 20 after 2, and we could see them begin to board our plane. As our stuff ran through the security scanner the X-ray man swore. They immediately pulled both Drew's and my bags off the belt and sent them to the search area. My bag was full of stainless steel, so after checking it they let me through. They pulled Andrew's bag apart, and was I thought were my stainless steel spoons wrapped in a towel was actually a 10 inch blade we had bought for a friend, complete with a case and two little daggers. AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Within minutes there were 5 TSA guys and 3 airport police men hovering over Andrew. We asked them to throw it away, but they said that he he took the knife, then Andrew would have to go to jail, and we obviously couldn't take it with us. So after 15 minutes, and numerous people checking Andrew's story with mine, Ryan's & Meredith's they let me go back through security to get my mom so we could put it in her checked luggage. We waited for Andrew, and he came down the escalator flanked by FIVE airport policemen. They walked us to my mom's bags and watched us put it in her bags. Amazingly we ran back up and were able to catch our flight. So, now you know what happens when someone takes something horrible through security. - 4 Hour Flight to Atlanta -

ATLANTA: We landed in Atlanta at 10:15pm, and our plane was not until 10:00am the next morning. However, a flight to Asheville had been delayed and wasn't leaving until 11:52, however we couldn't change flights because it was not the same day. So we settled in and watched the 4th quarter of the Cowboys vs. Seahawks. What a game!! The flight was then delayed to 1:30am, so Drew and I changed our flight (Ryan stayed with Meredith since her flight wasn't until 10:30 the next morning), and we headed home. As we were landing I looked out the window and thought that we this couldn't possibly be Asheville, it was far too big... just as the pilot came on to tell us that there was fog in Ashevillle, the tower was closed so they had to land in Greenville, SC.

GREENVILLLE: Once we landed at 2:30 we had Jonathon head down to pick us up (it is a little over an hour from the Asheville airport where he was). However, as it was 2:30 in the morning, no one was there, and they can't let you off the plane without authorized personnel. So, we sat on the plane until 4:00am (there was no water or food on the plane). Finally someone was able to come and we went (without any of our bags) home, and fell into bed at 7:15 Sunday morning.

They still have yet to find our 6 checked bags... we made it all the way to India and back and they lost them in Atlanta. It has been 48 hours so far... who knows when we will see them... but we are home, I have taken 3 baths and 2 showers and have slept over 24 hours. It is nice to be home.

L