Homeward Bound

Tuesday was my last day in India. I packed my bags in the morning, squeezing in all the things I had bought while I was there, checked out, and got a car to the office.

We had a team lunch at a hotel restaurant I had been to a couple of times before and it was very nice. I got to chat with everyone and we had some good Indian food.

After lunch, we had a team meeting and I expressed my gratitude for the time and effort of the team to make the trip productive and for their more than gracious hospitality. I leave feeling more confident about the team, having met with each member and answering questions and discussing various issues I think the project is very definately on the right track and I think it will be successful.

I also expressed my gratitude to Kris, Anunda, Sudesh, and Rajiv for the effort they made to make sure my trip was not only productive, but enjoyable and fun. I cannot have had better hosts and I thank them sincerely for the personal time they gave up to take me around and the effort they made to make sure all of my needs were satisfied. I certainly had a lot of fun and it was a great experience.

So, after two weeks of travelling, it was time to head home. Since my flight left Wednesday at 3:25 AM, I just left from the office on Tuesday evening around 10:20 PM. The car took me to the airport and I was there in about an hour. I checked in and sat at the bar where I had power, had dinner and a Kingfisher Blue beer, and did some work and some reading.

The flight from Bangalore to Germany was about 9 1/2 hours, I laid over in Frankfurt for about 1 1/2 hours, then got my flight to Chicago (another 9 1/2 hours). In Chi-town my flight was supposed to leave at 4:05 but due to weather we did not leave until about 5:30 PM. I arrived in Dayton at about 6:45 and by the time I got my luggage, lugged it to the car and got out of the airport is was about 7:30. I had to stop and get gas, and then got off on a wrong exit to get home, but FINALLY got home about 9:30 PM on Tuesday. It was about 30 hours of travelling all told. I spent some time with the family that I had not seen for a couple of weeks, got the kids to bed, and then it was off to bed for me. I was dead to the world.

It's now Thursday afternoon and I am still getting over the jet lag, but very happy to be home. A final 'wrap up' post to this blog is forthcoming!