This is the start of a 2 week trip through India. The first week is all work as a Coach for our Human Capital Fundamentals class for our employees in Hyderabad. There are 15 of us traveling from all parts of the US and I consider it an honor to have been asked to participate. The second week will be vacation, with Ashley and Katelyn (my daughters) and Paige (Ken's daughter) doing the "Golden Triangle" of Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. Then we do a day in Varanasi, the holiest city in India before going back to Delhi and heading home.  

My trip starts on Thursday at 630p on United to Frankfurt, then on Friday afternoon Lufthansa to Mumbai, then very early Saturday morning on Jet Airways to Hyderabad. All in all, it is about 27 hours of travel, but there is no quick way of getting to the other side of the world!   

As I boarded the plane in Houston and found my first class seat, I was a bit sad as this is the first international trip that I have taken without Ken. Normally he is next to me and we discuss the movies, what food or wine we want and the whine about how lousy we slept (even with the flat seats). For the past three years, we have been great travel partners, so I am going to miss him for the next two weeks. He is also a big part of my blogs, as he proofs and gives great suggestions on what I should write about. His work was just too crazy and frankly, he wasn't sure this trip was for him anyway. I am happy though, that our three girls are joining me and they will be a great stand-in for Ken!

My first flight to Frankfurt was uneventful. I did get to watch The Second Best Marigold Hotel, which is based in Jaipur. While the movie wasn't that great, it was fun to see one of the places we are going. 

  When we arrived in Frankfurt, I had a flashback to the last time I was here...wayyyyy back in my flight attendant days. It is a long story, but the short version is my passport got stolen and caused a not fun saga that I still remember all to well. One of these days, I need to write that story as I look back on it as a surreal experience.  

It was quite far to my new gate, which gave me the opportunity to get in a good power walk. My next flight was on Lufthansa, which I thought might be a nice change from United.   I was pleasantly surprised that there was a Business/First Class lounge for every two gates. Meaning, you could relax and not worry about what time you should head to the gate.   Once the flight is ready to board, they call your flight and you walk down the stairs to the jetway.   Nice!   I sat right at the window overlooking our 747 plane and its signature bump on the front. 

On the plane I found my Business class seat right at the very nose of the airplane. It was a weird configuration, as it was in the middle all alone...no seats in front, next or behind it. The flight attendants called it the "throne" as it looked like it was special! It was nice not having a seat mate, but the seat was not as big or comfy as the United. I did find the service excellent, and the food service was very nice. The served a multi-course lunch soon after take-off and then a dinner service 90 minutes before landing. The lunch was so filling, that I wasn't hungry for the dinner. I did get some sleep and with the flight only 7.5 hours, the time thankfully seemed to go fast.