Sleep is a Welcome Companion

I am rested. I feel wonderful. After three days, I finally slept more than two hours combined. Sleep is definitely an under-appreciated gift.

My travels went very well. My flight from Philadelphia to London was excellent. I am a new fan of British Air. The food was reasonable (that's the best marks I've ever given to airline food!), seats were comfortable, and the movie selection was incredible. I think I had over 50 movies to choose from! Entertainment was on-demand, so I could watch what I wanted when I wanted. The first flight found me in a window seat with the middle seat empty, so lots of space (relatively speaking) to get comfortable. I didn't sleep too much, but I was comfortable. I had four hour layover to spend in the London airport. I was quite tired, so I walked around to stay awake. During my walks, I discovered that they had some couches and other soft furniture on which to stretch out. Due to the masses of people, these were usually full, but on my one pass through the area, I saw an open space and I capitalized! I stretched out with my head on my backpack and my arms tightly wrapped around my laptop bag, and drifted off. Though I didn't sleep soundly, the rest was refreshing.

My flight from London to Delhi also went well. It started off with a minor confrontation, but I held my ground and was victorious! I got on the plane, and knew that I had a window seat. When I got to my seat, I excitedly discovered that due to the set-up of this plane, it just so happened that the row in front of us only had two seats, and it was my seat that had an open space in front of it. I had visions of stretching out my legs the entire flight. The confrontation began when my eyes settled on a man who looked to be quite comfortably situated in my seat. I smiled at him and said "I think that's my seat." He didn't smile at me and pointed to the middle seat. I smiled back and said "I think I have the window seat." He didn't smile back and pointed to the middle seat. I pulled out my boarding pass and showed him that I was in seat 29K. He nodded and pointed to the middle seat, and then said "29J" and pointed to himself and the window seat. I politely but firmly informed him that J is the middle seat and K is the window seat. Another man nearby agreed with me, and loudly announced that I definitely had the window seat. The man sitting in my seat was not impressed, but grunted and moved to the middle seat. I smiled and thanked him, and he did not return my smile. In fact, he did not speak to me throughout the flight. Unfortunate to make an enemy rather than a friend, but fortunate to have all the leg room in the world!

I arrived in Delhi at 1:45 a.m. on Sunday morning. This is where the delays began. I was trying to be patient, but by this time all I wanted to do was crawl into bed. My last good sleep was Thursday night. I made it through immigration after a not-too-long line. The immigration officer that processed me was in a talkative mood, and when he learned that I worked for a non-profit organization, he asked if it was Christian. Red flags went up for me, but I answered him honestly and said it was a Christian organization. I was a bit nervous about his response, but was relieved when he broke into a smile and told me he was a Christian too! After a bit more talking, he stamped my passport and let me go. I made my way to the luggage carousels and waited. And waited. And waited. It ended up taking 90 minutes for our bags to show up. Bags in hand, I finally made it out of the airport and found the friends that were to meet me. We got out to the car and then waited in a parking lot traffic jam for another hour! All in all, we got back to the house at about 5:30 a.m. I fell into bed and got about two hours of sleep before getting up again for church. I managed to stay awake throughout the day on Sunday, and finally crashed into bed at 8 p.m. on Sunday night.

Sleep is marvelous.