Zurich!!!

I am safely in Zurich. BUT, I don`t know how much I will share, because I am typing on a Swiss keyboard which has the keys z and y reversed, I am getting used to it, but that`ll explain the typos, not to mention none of the punctuation is where it is supposed to be.

Spent my last hour in Mumbai running errands with Stella. One of which was going to the gym to give them a farewell car. We got the biggest goodbye ever, complete with lots of picturetaking... those boys will really miss us! I then got back to the hostel and the car was an hour early, but that`s okay, I was happy to get to the airport early, since I didn`t know what I would face.

Got out of Mumbai, not without a lot of traffic and chaos though. As I sat in traffic and tried to take in the sights one last time... still not sure I have comprehended any of the images I have seen although I know they are burned into my mind at the same time... and enjoyed riding next to a rickshaw whose passenger was a goat... yes a goat. It was a great as I turned to look out the window and was practically nose to nose (yes, I will not miss India traffic) with a goat.

I checked in... my bags were slightly overweight, but they didn`t comment, thank goodness... the only complaint I`ll probably get is from Dad when he loads them into his car, it took two men to carry my suitcase down from my hostel room. The guy at the checkin counter then asked to weigh my carryon... oops... didn`t think they`d weigh that! Mine was 15 kg (about 33 lbs)... about 5 kg over the max. I made up a great story about how I called Swiss and they said it was okay... and was able to successful play the last "But I am a white foreign women" card and the guy was like "Oh okay then!" Whew!

Waited in the lounge in Mumbai for a while, reading my book then moved to security and the gate where there was a MASSIVE horde of people trying to shove in the gate at once. At this point.. I had to carry my rollon bag... good thing I`ve been working out. But the reason I had to carry it, is it is literally falling apart at the seams! The handle bar gets jammed, and I have to manually release it by digging my hand into the bottom of the suitcase and releasing it. So I fashioned a way to prevent the handle from retracting completely by tying electrical ties around the base of it so it stops the handle bar on the way down... yes, ghetto. But when I was waiting in the horde of people, I used my suitcase as a seat, and wound up pushing the handle bar back in despite my ingenious invention! So I had to haul my suitcase, with my "purse" (aka overstuffed laptop bag) over my shoulder and my finger intwined in my beltlooops to hold my pants up... yep my pants fall down to below my hips and I do not have a belt... guess that`s what happens when you go to India, lose weight from not eating, and then try to wear your jeans for the first time in 5 months. So... I was a sight to behold.

Sat down on the plane, got served dinner shortly after take off and promptly slept until breakfast. So nice to eat some good food and get some rest. I arrived in Zurich a few minutes early and had to haul my suitcase... stupid handlebar, until I got to security. Fortuntely they wanted to open my bag to investigate further.. and I say fortunately because that meant when I was repacking it, I could release the handlebar... and this made life much easier. I went up to the lounge only to learn I had to use a different lounge for outbound U.S. Airways... so back out through security to terminal A, where I sit now, waiting for about four hours when I can go back over to E, get my boarding pass printed and anxiously await my final leg of my journey to HOME!

I felt a burst of cold air when deplaning though, and I am not sure I am ready for the cold... but it is nice to see Christmas decorations!!

I am within hours of home... maybe 15 or so, and I can not wait.

Catch you on the other side of the ocean!