Day of Hell!

Do I have to tell you how hard it is to travel with four young children in India?? It seems I haven't been able to keep up with the blogging as much as i would have liked, but I do the best I can.

We arrived in Dubai around 11:30pm last night, but our day started in BodyGaya, home of the Bodhi tree, at 4:00AM!!! We got dressed and jumped in the car to drive 4 hours to the nearest airport. It was the day of HELL!! The road was so bad with pot holes and bumps that it was like bad turbulance the whole way. I think it was only 100 Kilometers but we were stopped for cows, trains, overloaded buses, people, you name it....it was in our way. Bouncing around in the car was not good on the kids tummy's Bella threw up about 4 times and Julian 2 times. We were in a hurry to make our flight, that i had Bella just hang her head out the window and throw up all over the car. Did I tell you it was Four hours!!! Finally, our awsome driver/guide got us to the airport. As we raced around to unload the car and kids we found out the plane was delayed THREE hours!! Would have been nice to know that.

We filled in the wait with lunch at 10am and letting the kids run around the airport. Finally we board the plane and fly off to Delhi. Originally we were going to have a 5 1/2 hour wait in Delhi for our connecting flight to Dubai, but because of the delay we arrived with just 30 minutes. So....we missed our flight to Dubai. Still in my stinky clothes from the kids throw up, we went back and fourth between the airlines to see if anyone could help us get to Dubai. India is know as a very corrupt country and they definetly don't do favors. I took the kids to eat while Mark and another kind private citizen tried to work the system. After TWO hours, it seemed the only option was to buy one way tickets to Dubai out of our own pocket and catch the 8:30 flight out. Run, run, run, wait, wait, wait. Still in stinky clothes, we waited an hour for them to print up the tickets which cost us another Thousand dollars. Then it's security and customs. They have very specific ways of doing things in India. Women go one way and men go another for security. So with a sleeping baby in my arms I yell at Lotus to follow and throw my bags on the security belt. We are patted down and then collect the bags. Each carry on bag needs a security stamp. At the gate as we prepare to board a bus to take us to the plane we discover that security didn't stamp one of the bags and Mark has to go back to security to get the stamp.. To wrap it up, we get on the plane, kids finally fall asleep and we fly 4 hours to Dubai. At night Dubai was lit up with lights, the sky line is littered with high rises. It looks impressive. The airport was modern and clean, a mix of cultures, Arabs and Westerners seeming to live in harmony. Everyone was smily and helpful. We collected our bags and met up with our driver who drove us to a condo which belongs to Mark's brother's friend, Hanni. It is a beautiful 2 bedroom condo, overlooking the marina. The weather is warm, the air is clear and life is good.

I finally took a shower and got our of the stinky clothes. Yuck. Today we are resting, laundry, and a few naps. Tonight we might go to the desert for belly dancing.