Home at Last

The worst thing about travel is the traveling.  Sitting in one place for a long time can be boring, tiring and uncomfortable.

After the 8 hour flight from Delhi (departure time was 3 am) to Frankfurt, the 10 hour flight from Frankfurt to Seattle was uneventful, except for the crying baby immediately behind me. Unlike the SpiceJet flight from Dharamsala to Delhi, this last leg of my journey was very smooth.  As we descended through the clouds on approach to Seattle, I took a look out of the plane's window for a view of the south side of Mt. Rainier.

The Seattle Airport (Sea-Tac) has a new international terminal that welcomes visitors from around the world. On the day I arrived, the airport was very busy.  Because I carried on all of my bags (just one small backpack and one piece of carry-on luggage), I did not have to wait at baggage claim.  Instead, I went directly to immigrations/customs. Because I have something called "Global Entry," I went directly to a special area for quick service.  In fact, there was no one in line!  It took me 30 seconds to show my passport to the immigration agent and I was done.

Well, almost done.  I still had to get from the airport to my house and decided to take the light rail (train) from the airport.  Because of construction on the light rail system, I had to change trains twice; usually there is no change at all.  The changes added an extra 30 minutes to the trip, but after all the traveling, it did not seem like much time at all.

Total door to door journey:

Departure time in Dharamsala:  7 am (India time) on Monday morning
Arrival time in Seattle: 2 am (India time) on Wednesday morning

      Total travel time:  43 hours

It's nice to be home.