My second day in the Office

Well I am slowly but surely becoming acclimated. Today is my second day in the office. I have the same driver - Manojar. He is very nice - doesn't speak English very well but somehow we manage to communicate. Honestly I really don't think the traffic is as bad as everyone says. No worse than driving from Long Island into Manhattan and certainly much more entertaining. I'm not driving so I really don't care. So that's a picture of my driver and here are some other pictures I took from the car.

This is actually a hospital - i have no idea what it is like on the inside but pretty majestic looking on the outside. Manojar told me they perform heart operations for free there for people who can't afford medical care.

Tomorrow I've hired a car and driver who speaks English very to give me a tour of Bangalore. Right now I've not a clue as to districts - what is north or south or east or west.

On Sunday I'll go to MG Road and Commercial Street which are the shopping districts - go figure :)

Bangalore Here I Be

Well I'm here safe and sound but I have to say the Bagalore airport is hilarious. I can't even imagine how long it would have taken the luggage if my flight had been full :)
I think the baggage conveyor was about 100 years old and I thought it was going to break down any second. A new airport is scheduled to open March 28th.
So I got my luggage and the driver from the hotel was waiting for me. Of course the rupees are like play money to me right now so I have no idea what I tipped everyone - I think it was alot :)
Checked in to the hotel and unpacked and it's about 8:30am right now. I won't be going into the office today - too exhausted but I signed in and checked my emails. I think I seriously need to go to sleep right now but first I'm going to get some breakfast.

The hotel room is nice enough but I'm on a corner so I can't really see the gardens from the balcony. And quite frankly I'm too damn tired to care right now. The important thing is the bathroom which is FABULOUS. Haven't even explored the rest of the hotel.

Okay - so I went down for breakfast and the buffet is really nice and I was able to have Jewshi which for those of you who don't know is nova, onion, tomatoe - the only thing missing was the bagel. Totally cracked me up - nova (lox) in Bangalore.

Then I checked out the gym - not bad. But now I'm totally knackered and am crawling into bed.

From the Lounge at Heathrow

Well you know how I was starting to think I packed too much. British Airways confirmed that when they informed me my big bag exceed the 32 kilo weight limit by 6 kilos. So the very nice baggage handler who I gave big bucks to waited with my luggage as I jogged to the Excess Baggage Shope and yes - that's really the name of the store - and asked the guy to sell me the cheapest bag that would hold 6 kilos. I then proceeded to transfer all the stuff I knew weighed the most - that would be the 8 cans of shaving cream, the hair dye, the 3 bottles of body wash, the 3 tubes of body lotion and just a few clothes. Now I just have to remember what that ugly little bag looks like and remember to pick it up off the luggage carousel. Okay everyone - stop laughing because I know you all gave me a hard time for taking all that over.

45 minutes till Airport departure and she's still blogging

This is the view from Marc's apartment

Looking at the Thames with a rainbow over it

Yes - I finally arrived in London. And had a very pleasant surprise when boarding the plane - the flight attendant advised me that I had been "bumped" up to first class. Needless to say I was a pretty happy camper with that. The seat was a"pod" so I didn't have to worry about anyone sitting next to me. After we took off I had my "quick meal" and immediately went to sleep. Woke up about an hour outside London - had some cereal and tea and then we landed. And yes my luggage made it. The driver was there and off we went to Marc's fantastic apartment. I am actually starting to feel human again and am looking forward to our dinner at Amalfi in Soho. So perhaps my fortune is turning because I gotta tell ya - I was really starting to have second thoughts :)

Just got back from dinner and Marc has this really cool piece of technology call Slingbox so we're watching Desparate Housewives and then I'll get to see the season premeire of Cashmere Mafia. This will be it for me for American tv for awhile. It's all going to be about Bollywood moving forward.

I'll post again in the morning when I can upload a picture of the great view from his apartment. I took one late this afternoon but with the reflection you can't see anything.

The car is coming to get me at 10am....geez what a trip!!!

The Weather Did Not Permit

So here I thought I was being so good changing my flight from SFO to LAX to an earlier one to ensure I would make that LAX to London flight and all I wound up doing was sitting in the Admiral's Club waiting, waiting and waiting some more to see if I would get out of here in time. Needless to say that didn't happen. So I decided to come home and sleep in my own bed but my luggage - which by the way weighed 75 pounds for the big bag and about 40 pounds for the other one went to LA. And you know what - that's just fine with me - it will go on the LAX to London flight tomorrow and when I got back to the airport in the morning at least I don't have to deal with it.

Had to cancel my meeting with my client in London as that was to take place Monday morning and I won't be arriving until Monday afternoon. Even though my flight to India isnt' till Tuesday afternoon - 1:50pm to be precise - I have no intention of having to put on "work clothes" and deal with the luggage etc. I'm starting to think I packed too much but half of it really is sundries - the shampoo - the body lotion I like blah blah blah.

So I'm going to crawl into bed now. I am exhausted and guess what it started raining again.

Well let's see what happens next - the adventure is not off to a good start but that's my fault for flying American - see that's what happens when you're sucked in to those frequent flyer programs - gotta get those miles so you can maintain your "executive" status. If I had stuck with British Airways I'd be in London but I'd be missing out on 10,000 some odd miles. GOD FORBID!!!!!

Today I flee - weather permitting

so for those of you who live in the Bay Area you know that yesterday we had one of the worst storms in years - trees down, flooding not too mention the airport was a complete madhouse with delayed and canceled flights. Even though it's not raining now it is supposed to so I have changed my flight to be on the 2pm to LAX - I connect there to London - had to give up my first class seat to do it but I'd rather do that than miss my flight.

After having my "last burger" for awhile - I still think the Bell Tower on Polk and jackson has the best burger in the city I came home and spent the next three hours packing and panicking. My giant suitcase weighs more than I do and there better be a porter around or i'm going to be in big trouble. No way will I be able to manage the 3 bags.

I can't believe this is it - if i could quit hyperventilating and going over everything in mind - you know the what did i forget maybe i'll start to enjoy the adventure - will also help when i get to LAX so i'm not panicked about weather and flight delays

this is it till i arrive in london