Today we woke up early at the Country Inn & Suites, just outside O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. Halie's first words today were, 'When we come back to The States' in a year, can the first thing we get be an air fryer???' - We laughed as we wondered how our priorities and values may change between now and then.
When we entered the airport shuttle van, we were fortunate to sit behind an intriguing couple in their seventies. The woman appeared normal and unassuming, but with longer gray hair. The husband, on the other hand, wore a charcoal-colored berét cap, reading glasses, and a white, wirey goatee. He definitely had a hip vibe to him. Once we told the driver we needed the Air India dropoff, their interest spiked.
They immediately glowed at us with excitement, and asked us about our plans. It turns out, this couple had travelled all over the world throughout their lives. They shared humorus and colorful stories from their adventures in Turkey, Ireland, and Fiji, to name a few. They spoke with a love for each other and their lives and all the experiences they shared. It was the mishaps and unexpected issues during their travels that made for the best stories, and they could still speak of them in such detail, as if it just happened. Their last words for us were, 'Savor every moment and take good care of each other. There are good people in this world, too.'
At the Air India check-in counter, the attendant gave us an open middle seat due to the flight only being half full. What a nice surprise, and a nice guy!
The TSA stopped Ethan for his small personal pack. Everything was taken out. Apparently the toe and foot warmers were confusing the scanners.
The joy of having our Venture X travel benefits is getting access to all sorts of exclusive lounges in airports. Halie got us into the Swissport Lounge in ORD's international terminal. It was a total drag with no windows, was tight, people sneezing on each other. It was pretty lackluster lol. But we got free snacks! Anything for free snacks! We witnessed a very overweight couple come in after us to sit beside us. The husband looks around the lounge and then at his wife and says, 'What the Fuck is this??'.
We boarded Air India - an old school cabin with seats of crimson quilt pattern alternated with marigold quilt pattern seats. Crumbs were all over my seat as well as a crinkled plastic 8 oz water bottle. There was also a dried ketchup smear on back of seat screen, probably had survived a few rounds trips! Lol. I asked Halie how much she would pay me I licked it. She said, 'Lol Why are you the way you are? The back of seats also had cracked and chipped plastic, hindi wording was etched and worn, but still legible.
Hospitality from staff was fantastic! Greeted with Namastes from female flight attendants in traditional Indian garb. '14 Hours to New Delhi!' the captain stated, over the intercom. Halie seems nervous finding anything to snack and passes time by crunching Chips A-Hoys she snagged for free in the travel lounge.
We have a beige pillow and a potato sack hemp-looking blanket. Back of seat screen shows the Taj Mahal.
They're pumping air and floral scent into this plane like a casino! Must be to filter out the old musk smell or make us pass out and be easy passengers. A few other Westerner couples with backpacks on this flight, but not sitting near us. The original India Air front-desk gentlemen is also in the plane now helping things along. Very nice young gentleman.
Back of seats have some flaccid fishnet water bottle holders that look stretched and originally were for a 24 oz but now could fit a nice 44oz-er. Odd T-bars below the seats in front of us to rest our feet? We'll be doing a lot of foot exercises for ankles and calves to keep blood circulation and prevent some sort of condition (says Halie).
Let the competing begin. Halie and I bet who can do the most calve raises during the flight. Ethan won by attempting to do 100 at the top of each hour. He managed to do around 1100!
We are now officially on a 'See-'Free'' food diet to be savoy gap-year backpackers. We had hotel breakfast food of eggs, potatoes, oranges, coffee. The Swissport airport lounge, we had bananas, lattes, water, and other snacks. In-Flight we had 3 chicken curry meals and chocolate mousse. I like me some mousse!