Since I exceeded 400 lines, ( I made it 472) My trip report will be 2 emails Quick Notes (DEL-JDH is 1 Paragraph because I was sick) (I actually went through Mumbai 5 times) It felt like more than 4 times though! Codes at the end. August 9th, 2002 ORD-EWR AA#1306 Seats 17D-F Fokker 100 9:45-12:54 NI477L K6A Hello All! Well, we left for ORD at 7:20 and we got there around 7:45. We are booked on American flight number 1306. It's a Fokker 100. We checked in and sent our 3 bags to EWR. We went through security and walked to K6A. We waited for our plane which was arriving from Montreal. When we got there were people going to IAH were still there. Their plane wasn't there. We waited for about 20 minutes and then I went to go look at the monitors and our gate changed to H16. We walked from the K concourse to the H concourse. When we got to H16, I noticed that our plane had come from HPN. I look out the window for a good 10 minutes and I see a JAL 747 land. Boy was that cool! We boarded and I got 17F the time was 1 hour 45 minutes. Pushback was at 9:38. It was a noisy engine startup. We taxied on A13,A12,A7,J, RW 9L. We took off at 9:48 am. We flew over Lake Michigan, Southern part of Michigan, Lake Erie, Northern Pennsylvania and then on to Newark. It was noisy until we got over Pennsylvania. We started our descent at 11:58 EST. We had a bumpy descent w/ a lot of twisting and turning. Gear and flaps came down at 12:28. We landed on RW 4R at 12:30. We proceeded to Gate 35 where I felt like I was in my home state forever. Now it was time to meet our party and wait for us to go on our trip to India. But first we needed to go to Amsterdam before we could go to Delhi! There were 13 of us traveling but 11 of us met at Newark. August, 9th 2002 EWR-AMS NW 64 DC-10-30 Seats We had the 15th Row and 16th I think. 4:45PM 0610 +1 Gate 42 Well, after waiting in Terminal B for 2 hours, we are going to board around 3:40 to go to Amsterdam. Registration is N238NW. We all boarded at 4:15. The pilot came on at 4:45 and said that we had to wait 10 minutes before we pushback because we can't land in AMS before 6:00 am. We pushed back at 5:10 pm. We were 7th for takeoff (typical Newark traffic around rush hour). During take off I counted 10+ planes waiting for takeoff and one of the overhead bins popped open. Our flight time was around 7 some odd hours. Our cruising altitude was FL270. I couldn't sleep on the plane. It was around 9:40 PM back in Chicago and they were serving breakfast. I don't remember what they were serving. We descended and circled and we landed at 6:02 and taxied to gate E7. My friend had to go to the bathroom as we were descending but his Mom had to carry him (he has mild CP) but he got refused so when we landed, he went so I decided to stay and help his Mom while everyone got off. It was a brisk morning. My other friend brought a journal and got every person's signature (even the domestic flights in India) 10, August 2002 AMS-DEL KL 871 1130-22:50 Seats 29th Row and 32. B747-300 F7 Well, after a nice morning, we proceeded to our gate. We were there and we noticed that there were a bunch of people. We looked on the monitor and we saw a KLM flight going to JNB. The people going to JNB gave us a stare. They boarded and this one girl realized that she must have forgotten something because she left he plane and KLM agents ran w/ her. She took an awfully long time and her name got announced over the PA system. After she got back on some odd minutes later, the plane was still there. It was there for at least 20 or so minutes. I went over to x ray machines and got a KLM staff and I asked why that plane didn't leave and they said that they were having technical problems. Soon we heard that the JNB flight was canceled. (How long is it from AMS-JNB? I watched KLM's Anthony H.G. Fokker pull into gate F8. I wanted to know where they came from so I asked. They said Suriname. Isn't Suriname in South America? It came from Paramaribo. We all realized that the JNB plane didn't leave and we kept waiting for a gate change and soon it happened. We changed gates to F8. We boarded by colour. I had orange. Some people in our party had different colours. Once they called a colour, everyone got up. Soon orange was called, and my mother forced me to stay by her. Don't you just love parents? ( Some of you people know how much I get along w/ family members in my other trip reports!) I go into the gate and read the signs and board through I think the 2 or 3 door. found my seat. (KLM should change those vomit coloured head rests) We took off some large number of minutes late. There was this child just 1 row ahead of us who literally screamed the whole 8 hours. Hence, I only slept 1 hour. They passed around food. The food was chicken w/ something. I got chicken. I didn't eat the chicken but I ate the rolls. Boy are those good. There was this girl who used her Airsickness bag many times in the flight. Later on somewhere in Asia, they served 80 ml tubs of strawberry ice cream. I savoured 3 of them. I know I'm a pig. I got to watch Spiderman even though I kept going up to Business class to see where we are. Our cruising altitude is FL 370. It looked like our ETA into Delhi is 11:21. Just 31 minutes late. They served this pizza in a wrapper. It tasted horrible. We landed around 11:20. Late indeed we are but Indians are never ontime. We got off the plane, then I proceeded to the toilets. After that we waited like 10-30 minutes went through customs and met the last 2 people in our party. They came on BA#138 from LHR. After we got our bags, we met our driver and then we went to the Ashok Country Resort, which is not a resort and not in the country. We stayed there for 3 hours. 11, August 2002 DEL-BOM 9W 332 B737 650-850 Seats: Row 17 and others. Well, there isn't much to write cuz I wasn't feeling good and so I slept on my mother's arm. August 11, 2002 BOM-JDH 9W 3407 1010-1230 ATR 72-500 I forget my Seat number and others. Since I felt crappy in Chhatrapati Shivaji Airport I slept basically the whole flight. Oh yeah. It was raining as we were taxiing. When we landed, it was bright and sunny. The terminal is beautiful on the outside. It says "Jodhpur in Hindi and in English w/ a nice lavender colour. It's a shame that you can't take pictures of it. Jodhpur Airport is also used as Military training. 15, August 2002 JDH-BOM 9W 3408 1250-1500 ATR 72-500 Reg. VT-JCE Seats 15th Row and others. Jai Hind! Today is India's 55 Independence Day! This is now my 2nd time going to Chhatrapati Shivaji. a.k.a. Mumbai! Well, I am back to myself again. When you walk in, there is a wooden door frame w/ a metal detector box a few feet up from it. Stupid me walked through w/ my backpack on! The plane is an ATR 72-500. 2 people in our party had problems w/ the x-ray machine. Well since today was Independence Day, this was no other day to them. Jodhpur security found something in 2 people's bags and 1 person basically dumped her whole suitcase on the floor to find what it was. It was a miniature fan w/ batteries. Damn all that commotion just because of batteries. The other person also had batteries too but in her torch (what they call as a flashlight in India). They confiscated the batteries. I had to have my bag re-scanned for some reason. My mother was "Leo bring your suitcase here so we can check in" and I was like "Mom they are re-scanning my bag just wait 1 damn minute." We check in and wait. My Mom bought Kit-Kats for like 5 people. I just wanted a Pepsi. Their straws are basically paper. They are so hard to suck. I had to go to the bathroom and my sister wanted my Pepsi so I gave her a few sips but she looked suspicious so when I was done, and after I got my Pepsi back, I dumped it in the sink. Then we went through security and I waited like 10 minutes to get my bag into the x-ray machine. Then I went through security and waited. My Mom said "come here so this man can check your bag." I said "Mom. I'm not going anywhere until I get my water bottle." So I waited like 5 minutes for it to come out and then we had our umbrella's confiscated (they weren't even pointy). I went to this man and he searched my bag and my Mom declared her video equipment and also got something confiscated. So after we went through security, we walked onto the tarmac and boarded. I boarded through the rear of the aircraft (the only way to board) and sat in 15E. The flight attendant's names were Dimple and Rupa. I liked Rupa. They passed out drinks and then they passed out lunch. Our cruising altitude was FL 200. We landed at 2:54. Leo/ORD Email me @ KLM_India@yahoo.com or LFutia@aol.com I check both!