Last time I was in Hyderabad, there was a number of internet cafes and most were pretty nice. The one I am at now isn't bad, but it is in the back of a medical supply store. It seems the internet has went the way of America and everyone has it at their crib. To get to this cafe I have to pay an auto driver more then the actual cost of using the internet, it is about a mile away, walking wouldn't be bad but there isn't enough room for traffic, no side walks, and if it rains raw sewage. Once you get to the internet you start typing and then the power goes out... zap...lol. So my blogging is done till I get back I don't know what I am going to do with my travel blog... I am keeping a journal, maybe I will make the entries when I get back, inshaa Allah.
2/1/08
LHR 2 DBX
The flight to LHR was good, it was pretty empty and my daughter could lay down and sleep. We finally arrived in Hethrow, and al humduulilah we brought the stroller because it is a huge air port. Going through security on the way to our next flight the security attendant made my wife take off her jilbab. At first I was going to give them some grief, but I figured this was the easiest way. They refered to her jilbab as a jacket, she had it off and on before I could think too much more about it. Then I made a big mistake, when we got to the Emirates ticket counter it said if you had your boarding passes you didn't need to check in, so I kept on stepping. When we got to the boarding gate the checking in lady had to do allot of typing and stuff, which I thought was a little unsual, but there was no problems so I didn't think too much about it. They told us that we had to check in our stroller all the way to Hyderabad, and that a stroller would be provided for us in Dubai. That would be that last we would see of the sroller for some time. The trip to Dubai was pretty good, other then the food being questionable. When you fly an airline from a Muslim country you shouldn't have to worry about the pork issue, but they gave us some crap with a bacon strip wrapped around that. That didn't annoy me as much as the flight attendant thinking I asked for white wine, when I was asking for water. Yeah I want to get liquered up with my wife in Hijab and kid, idiot. When we arrived in Dubai airport we picked the wrong security line again, but we just remained paitent, as we saw people who came 5 minutes after us get in the other line and get checked through. We are in a Muslim country now, no problem with Jilbab. I hit the bathrooms, they had the istenjah sprayer, tried to use it but made my pant wet... lol. Then went to the Masjid, and prayed. It felt good to be able to make full sajood again. Then we went to the gate to get on the last flight of our journery. The ticket checker started tripping, she said that we needed paper tickets. My thoughts are I was supposed to check in back at hethrow, but they were nice and got us on the flight, al humduuliah, with no problems. Before we could take off, there had to be some drama, a sister wanted all her kids to sit togehter, but they couldn't make the accomodations, so she made an ass out of her self, and they were quick to accomodate, there should have thrown her off the plane, bad conduct should not be rewarded, and if they can accomodate they should and not make a person, a women, none the less, act like that. All hindus just shook there head at the Hijabi with the pony tale out the back of her black keemar. Yes, we are on our way to Hyderabad.
1/31/08
Hitting Ohare
You spend two weeks packing and it is still a rush to get out. We left the house about 10 minutes later then I wanted. There had been a light snow the whole day, but as we were saying good bye to the bait, the storm intensified. As we rolled down Layton I realized I didn't know were we where supposed to catch the bus to Ohare. I meant to look it up, but I didn't have time, and even had to rush to pray Asr. I had a general idea, but turned the wrong way down the street, after a u-turn we quickly found the place with a bus waiting. As I pulled the luggage out of the van my father rushed to help me, then as I approached the enterance I saw a filmillar face. It was brother Will with Sheikh, after quick salaams they helped with the bags, and from that point on I knew that the trip to Hyderabad will be blessed.
When the bus finally arrived and we boarded and left I overheard one of the passangers say that he was the piolit of our flight. The strom picked up more, I don't know how the driver stayed on the road. Other passengers on the bus started calling their respective airlines, canceling and re-booking. We left very early and I was confident that there wouldn't be any problems, except that our flight would be delayed or canceled. We finally arrived at O'Hare about 2 hours later then expected. All of our baggage was unloaded from the bus and I made a mad dash to find a trolley. The number of bags would not fit on one trolley, and my wife holding my daughter was unable to help. I pushed the trolley while carring two suit cases to a very long line. There were only 3 people working the check out counter and that is where we spent the next hour. Finally when we where called I expected to hear our flight was canceled or delayed, but instead I was told that it was on time and had 15 minutes to make it to the departure gate. As we turned the corner we faced security, they even made my daughter take off her shoes, and for some reason we ended up in the slow line. As we got out of security we started running, I didn't even have my shoes all the way on. One hillours moment was when an older man was on the moving walk way and was going faster then we could run. Finally we made it up a flight of stairs to the gate and on to the plane. We both collapsed in the seat, Al humduulilah, Allah delivered us.