So....my wife is pretty tough. She's the only woman to ever make it in the very male dominated group she works in. That being said, her only business travel up until now has been domestic. For that matter, she's never been outside of North America....business or travel. Yesterday though, she left on business for Mumbai......by herself. She should have arrived at 11:55 p.m. which in Mumbai would be about 12:25 central time (a little over two and a half hours ago). She was supposed to have a driver meet her at the airport to take her to her hotel......Oberoi towers. She was also supposed to call me when she got in. She hasn't. I've called the hotel.....she hasn't checked in. I'm getting really worried, and there's not a damn thing I can do about it. Cooler heads will prevail, and I ain't got one right now. Any advice......calming words? I'd sure like to "hear" em.
International flights, especially to that part of the world, often run very late. I'm sure it is difficult to get an outgoing call to the states from India. I'm sure she is fine. Think positive.
It's India, Pole. Was she calling by cell phone? She could very easily be tied up with getting out of the airport, getting to the hotel, checking into same, getting a connection and so on. Hell, she could be stuck in the mother of all traffic jams. I wouldn't be concerned. I bet you hear from her soon.
It's the biggest city in the world....at least in terms of population (close to 13 million). It used to be called Bombay....southwest coast of India.
Mumbai is huge, and I'm sure it has a really busy airport. It could very easily take two and a half hours just to get your luggage in that part of the world. That's not even including dealing with anyone from the airline if her baggage was lost ... And who knows how far it is from the airport to the hotel. I've done some traveling in that part of the world, and there are all kinds of things that could cause delays that would be unthinkable to us over here. Think positive, man!
Does she have an international cell phone? Those are a must if you travel overseas. Keep us updated...I am sure she is fine. DD
I've been over there as well, Pole, and khan has an excellent point. I've been to Bombay... er, Mumbai (and I'll never get used to that, either), and it is HUGE.
I think it can easily take a longer time than three hours just to get out of the plane, through customs, wait for the luggage, get to the hotel. Perhaps one suitcase was not there, she needs to file a missing baggage report, etc. etc. Hopefully everything will be alright.
I travel a lot - when you arrive to the US as a foreigner and are a bit unlucky, it can take you two hours just to get through immigration - hardly any chance to call anyone before you are done with that. And that does not include picking up the bags, transfer to the hotel, etc. etc. Same thing happened to me in Japan, by the way - I had to wait FOREVER to clear immigration, because just before my plane, a 747 from Korea arrived and they had like two booths open for foreigners (I still think they did it on purpose to piss off the Koreans).
Pole, If the flight is on time, then that means it landed safely. One less worry there Last time I checked, there wasn't much going on (as far as civil unrest). One less worry there Right now, to you, minutes seem like hours, but in all reality, she's probably going through logistical hell. Trying to get luggage, passports, and communicating in a different language is not something that goes smoothly. There isn't much you can do except have faith that she's safe. Do something to take your mind off if this for the time being.
Yeah, I'll add another one. Last year, when my wife and I were going to Italy for our honeymoon , our luggage missed a connecting flight, and we had to sit in baggage claim for two hours. (They wouldn't let us leave without our baggage for security reasons.) On our honeymoon. Sitting in baggage claim when we still had a train ride to Naples ahead of us. Anyway, I couldn't call the hotel in Naples and tell them we'd be in late because I coudn't get a damn phone card. And I couldn't figure out how to make a calling card call because everything was in Italian! Anyway, I was unable to communicate with the outside world for a few hours, but we were just fine.
