Day 15: The ordeal of traveling to India—a trilogy

Kuala Lumpur to Jaipur

First, photos of our large apartment:

bedroom

Closet between bedroom and bathroom

bathroom with HUGE shower

living space, kitchen on the right

that white wall to the left can slide to close the bedroom off from
the living space

Part 1:  The journey to the airport.  This began with walking to the closest LRT station carrying our bags.  About 10 minutes, then the light rail train about three stops in a packed train to the Sentral Station.  There we bought tickets for the express train to the airport and rode that.  That line has two stops:  Terminal one and Terminal Two.  We were able to find seats, not together, but near eachother.  That took about an hour.  Malaysia has many forms of mass transit:  bus, monorail, light  rail, commuter rail, longer rail, and express rail.  Each of these is owned and operated by a private company.  Because of this, there is no coordination and some of them are extremely inefficient and they don’t usually work well together.  Today worked okay though.  At the airport, we found a lounge to wait.  The plan was to wait awhile, eat, then get checked in and go to our gate.  

Saw this guy in a shop at the airport
(made out of legos)

Part 2:  The visa debacle.  After about 2 hours (we were there very early), we decided to check in and check our bags first before eating.  We went to check in, but there were rows of check-in desks and kiosks.  Most of them seemed to be Asia Air which is what we were taking.  We tried the kiosk, but it wouldn’t accept Randy’s passport and directed us to a check-in desk.  When we tried to join the queue by us, an employee checked our issue and directed us to a different row—X instead of W.  Okay, find that queue and it’s luckily not too long.   She asked us for our visas—they were electronic instead of in our passports.  Randy had printed  them out and gave them to her.  But there was a problem.  Mine didn’t have my middle name—only my first and last, but my passport has all three.  So she called her lead and explained the problem to us.  So after about 20 minutes, we were asked to move to the side so that they could check in more people.  Then they called us over and said that they had called India and were waiting for them to return the call to see if they would allow us in with the difference in the visa name.  We asked if we should wait near the desk or go get something to eat and return.  She said to return in 45 minutes to an hour and was worried about the time remaining because we also had to check bags.  So we went to find food and returned.  We went up to the desk.  The woman at the desk had said that she wouldn’t be there, but that we could talk to one of her colleagues and didn’t have to wait in line.  Another person from the queue pushed ahead of us while we were waiting for the agent.  They probably figured that we were Americans not following the rules and trying to get around the line.  Then it was our turn and she knew exactly what our issue was.  She said that she knew about our situation.  She went and talked to someone, came back and took a long time, but eventually we had boarding passes!  About two hours for something that should have taken 10 minutes tops.  Well, at least I’m allowed into India!

Part 3:  Okay, so then we go to immigration; super long line.  Minimal security.  Then went toward the gate.  There  are three concourses:  L, P, and Q.  (??)  We are at the end of P.  We stop once to spend the rest of our cash—we buy a bag of Cadbury chocolates in the shape of airplanes (though we found out later, that was just the picture on the bag, they’re just squares.  Then we continue, and come onto regular security.  No shoes, but all electronics must be pulled out including phones, cameras, and watches.  Slow, but finally on our way again, stopping to fill our water bottles and use the bathrooms.  Then we get there and our gate is closed.  It is a room and it is closed.  Everyone is sitting and standing around waiting for them to open the gate since our flight is supposed to leave in less than an hour.  Eventually, everyone queues up and is allowed to go directly to the plane.  So of course, this mass of humanity has to stop as people can only get on the plane one at a time.  The plane has seats arranged in 3-3-3 (two aisles).  We have three seats in the middle.  Then we sit on the plane for about an hour before take off. 

Part 4:  (It’s a trilogy like the Hitchhiker’s Guide, for those of you who know the reference).  Immigration and Baggage. When we arrive in India, we spend a LONG time waiting in line for immigration.  Then we go get our bags, except no bags.  Plus, we had arrived late and our driver was waiting.  The; baggage people asked for our baggage tags, but Randy couldn't find them.  He had taken them out of Joshua's passport while we were waiting in line for immigration.  He checked his pockets.  We both checked his backpack.  Then he went out to tell the driver to wait for us.  But once you leave, you can't get back in.  He called me, but couldn't get good enough reception to hear me.  So Joshua ran back and forth between me with his and my backpacks and him outside to relay messages.  I went outside to help him deal with the situation, but of course then couldn't get back in.  Randy seemed to remember the immigration guy taking the tags out of the passport (he didn't think they were needed).  So Joshua came over to the door and I physically put a hand out to keep him in the airport.  I told him to see if he could get back up to immigration.  Then I had the driver show me where the ATM was because we had to pay him in cash.  I went and got cash (it took 2 ATM machines and multiple times at each machine to finally get 10000 rupees.  By that time, Joshua was coming back out with a porter with both of our bags on his cart!!  Yay Joshua!!  They had been sent to a different luggage carousel and the porter had collected the unclaimed luggage.  Meanwhile, one of the immigration men wouldn't let Joshua back up to immigration but helped him find the porter with the bags.  Then a crazy car ride to the hotel and overeager porters (wanting tips).  The desk clerk showed us our room and got some water for us.  Hungry, but that will have to wait for tomorrow.   

Swan towels awaited us in our hotel.  Pics of our room and hotel tomorrow.