India

[empenage]

Got a trip to India planned for July. Any thoughts? No cities yet, just looking for your impressions if you've been there.TC

I bring my own water.

Bring the Imonium and those Pepto tablets.

Handle your own luggage.

Keep the overflight permits on the yolk.

Bring lots of scoot....5's work well.

Make sure the handler takes care of all your ground transportation.

Verify everything before you go. Hotels, overflights, ground transportation, etc.

Give yourself lots fo time to get to the airport. If one of those white cows decides to take a nap in the middle of the road it will take longer to get to the airport. Dont touch the cows..or the monkeys..they bite hard.

The weather comes out of Delhi. The atis may say its 100 and 1/2 even though its CAVOK. They may not release you. Ask the handler to call the tower. If the handler says you are restricted for no real reason, he may be looking for a handout. This pisses me off so I just call the agency back in the states and let them call the handler to get it straightened out.

Once you get over the poverty its not such a bad place......yea...right.

 

[empenage]

Oh yea.

Flying over Iran is easy. They have very good equipment..we sold it to them. Flying over Afganistan is even better..nobody to talk to most of the time. Just transmit in the blind. If you keep calling all you will do is piss off the Lufthansa guys. Pakistan communications suck. They have one radio and its inside a coffee can. If you dont get them right away dont worry.

If you fly over Pakistan into India and the weather is good...look down. The border is lit up bright from north to south as far as the eye can see...they dont like each other very much.

Get the number of your FSR in India. (Field Service Rep). If you go AOG call Jet Aviation in Singapore and ask for Grahm. Hes hard core.

 

[AA717driver]

Thanks, empenage. I'll add your suggestions to my growing list of survival tips... TC

 

[h25b]

Dont touch the cows..or the monkeys..they bite hard.

Care to share how you learned this lesson ???

 

[empenage]

Care to share how you learned this lesson ???

Back in my GIV days my CP got bit. He was told not to feed the monkeys but he is one of those guys that just has to do what he's told not to do. On the same trip the F/A got mugged. She wanted to go for a walk and was careful making sure she had no jewlery on ect. She didnt get 100 feet from the Leela Kempinski Hotel when a group of kids knocked her down and stole her shoes.

All three of us got mugged in Nairobi. We were told not to rent a car and drive around because it was dangerous.....Three guesses what we did.

 

[Duderino]

I found out the hard way about monkeys during a bachelor party in Mexico. Little focker started drinking my coke, and sticking his hands in the bottle. When I took it away from him, he jumped off my shoulder and bit me on the hand, drawing blood. I became overly concerned and decided to get rabies shots once back in the states. It wasn't fun, not painful but a pain in the ass(er, shoulders). Don't mess with the monkeys, they do carry rabies, and you could die.

 

[PMVULB AvMgr]

Make sure you get a good handler. Bobby Chadha is associated with Air Routing, and is tops. If you fly internally to out of the way airports, it might help if you take the local handler along for the ride, he could make things a lot smoother in the hinterlands.

 

[AA717driver]

Dude--Did you spank the monkey before it bit you? TC

 

[414Flyer]

Actually I never had any problem with Indian bottled water, I drank it daily for 5 months.

You can buy Imodium over there very cheap too, but might as well take a good supply with you. I was so bad there once, I took 5

Rickshaw drivers there will try and charge you a couple times at least the normal rate if you are white. They do have meters on there, but they try to not use them.

Most hotels there include breakfast. Dont be surprised to see more employees around than people in the hotel or where you eat. There is a such thing as too much service.

A lot of hotels charge for internet, I would say most that have it, do charge. Wireless internet is very rare, and dont expect that to be free. Alot of coffeeshops in bangalore planned to do that, except that very few can afford to buy laptops so they hadnt, as of last year. There are internet cafes on every block, ranges from 10 to 40 rupees an hour most places (about 25-1.00) an hour.

Dont let beggars touch you, they are going to be really dirty. In one of those little Indian convienence stories that are on each block, pick up a small bottle of hand sanitizer. Wash your hands before you eat, especially if you have been handling money.

Barista coffee is like starbucks, but about 1/5 the price.

 

[empenage]

Rickshaw drivers there will try and charge you a couple times at least the normal rate if you are white. They do have meters on there, but they try to not use them.

Who makes those dam things anyway???!!!??? Man they are all over the dam place in the citys.

 

[G4G5]

The same guy that invented the Slurpie

 

[empenage]

The same guy that invented the Slurpie

Now that was DAM funny!!

 

[501261]

I can vividly remember my first (and only) trip that way. We finally got "done" with the airplane, and hop in the crew van for the ride to the hotel. As soon as we leave the airport I notice some guy "praying" in a field. As we get closer I notice that he's got his pants around his ankles, and wait a minute "fire 1," and "fire 2" he's actually taking a CRAP! And just like that he pulls his pants back on and continues about his day. Like a fricking dog!

Welcome, it's a sign of things to come !

 

[FoxHunter]

I suggest you talk to your local Doc, or AME about "Lomotil". I used it a number of times when I worked and lived in Africa in the 70s. If you get the runs it is about the only thing that really works. I learned years later that it is actually a narcotic so it could cause some problem with the FAA. I understand it was developed for the Space program after there were some problems on an Gemini mission. Most doctors will tell you it is just better to let the problem run it's course, but if you have to fly, and have to run to the LAV every 15 minutes it will get things under control. It can be bought over the counter in most Third World countries. I am going back to Kenya in less than 10 days for vacation and have some left from last year, and will stop at as Chemist to resupply the first day in Nairobi.

 

[Duderino]

The same guy that invented the Slurpie

Hilarious. Ding Ding.