Day 2-ish...maybe Day 3 too?

Day 2.  So Day 2 was mostly spent in the air.  The plane left at 11:40 and because my Dad drilled it into me that it's always "better to be early than late" (I used to piss him off by retorting "yes, but better to be late than never." I caught an early shuttle and was at the airport in enough time to stand in the endless lines, so of course there were no endless lines. We were through check-in and security in less than 45 minutes.  Killed a bit of time by taking some touristy pictures in the airport, which was decorated for Chinese New Years, lots of colour!

The first plane ride was surprisingly comfortable. The airline was China Southern and I gotta say, it was a pleasant departure from Air Canada. Seats were roomy, the flight attendants were constantly up and down the aisle with hot tea, cold drinks including beer and wine....no charge (I didn't partake as I am an extreme light-weight drinker and don't day-drink at all) and hot lemony towels to wash away the stress of all that free wine. The dinner was really good. Honestly, it really was! The meat was chicken, and it was genuine boneless thighs, none of that "chopped, formed and frozen" nugget crap. And the desert was cheesecake! Yay! 

Also free were pillows, blankets and headphones....try and find those on Air Canada these days.

The movie selection was good too. I watched five. And for those who care to know, they were:

-Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (fabulous, but only if you've read the book)

-the new Jack Reacher (horrible, especially if you've read the books)

-Keeping Up With the Jonses (meh...basically a Mr and Mrs Smith)

-The Masterminds (probably bad, but funny anyhow because of Zack Gallifinakis)

-The Accountant (I thought it was good.)

I managed to watch all 5 because it was a 13 hour flight. Ugh to that. We landed in Guangzhou, China and changed planes for the final 6 hour jaunt. Big ugh to that. 

However, we did land on the tarmac in China and had to walk a bit to get inside, so at least we got some fresh air and a good stretch.  The second flight wasn't as good as the first, still on China Southern but the plane was not quite as roomy, the food not quite as good (it was actually inedible) and by this time everyone is tired and just wanting a full size bed. 

Possibly the closest I'll get to China, and maybe Ethiopia as well!

The reason I was so confused about the days and time is because we flew about 19-20 hours, but we crossed the international dateline, so we either gained a day or lost a day, no one knew for sure, plus there was a 13.5 hour time change, plus the route we took followed the sun so there was no nightfall for my circadian rhythm to adjust, and my poor brain had no idea what time it was. All I know is I got on a plane at noon on the 14th, and 20 hours later it was 1:00 AM on the 16th. I don't know where the 15th went and I'm too confused to care.

We landed in smoggy New Delhi on time (not sure on who's time, exactly) and we had to go straight to the tourist visa counter and show our e-visas and also do a retinal scan and be fingerprinted on a biometric thing. Very odd. My eyeball photos are now in a foreign database somewhere. So much for my career as an international spy. Anyhow, our visas were processed and our passports were stamped so we got our luggage (yay! Not lost!) and went to immigration. The line ups were unusual, one said "for nationals" and one said "red card line". Then there was an open hall with a guard standing there looking very lackadaisical and bored. We walked over to ask him what a red card line was since we didnt have a red card, and he just waved us through before we could even speak and pointed to the rest of the airport. So, no customs and immigration for us.

We found the fellow holding the sign for our group and he called a bus for us, and off we went through the insane traffic of New Delhi in the dark hours of the night. Kinda surprised I'm still alive after that harrowing ride. 

We arrived at the hotel at about 1AM and the only good thing about the lack of sleep and weird time changes is the fact that I can go to sleep now, get 7 hours and wake up with my body adjusted properly and on time. No jet lag!