After a marathon session of training the team at work I spent almost two hours in the car on the way to dinner. Fortunately Sachin had arranged for us to meet while driving, to make the most of our final hours together.
We went to Puma Social Club, which is apparently the official club of the Puma sports brand. We went up a tiny elevator to a sleek multi-floor facility of glass, wood and chrome to the roof deck. We ate at a long low table with chairs in front and a long couch behind. We were a good sized group including my team, one of the other teams and a few managers.
Food arrived in a steady stream of tapas, both veg and non. Conversion arrived similarly, but that was all non veg. I was flattered by some interesting gifts for me and for my girlfriend. The latter was particularly charming. Perhaps they are trying to butter her up to join me next time. Regardless, she will appreciate them, as do I. I just hope everything I could fit in my small bag will survive. I have high hopes for the last one which David will bring with him later, as it is in its original foam packing.
One of my team offered to drive me to the airport. I was reluctant to accept since I knew I had to shower, change and pack at the room, and though I rushed I still felt bad for how long I took. The ride was pleasant and we chatted along the way.
I nearly went through the wrong security gate at the airport but I saw a European eyeing a sign which drew my attention in the same direction to an arrow for international gates. We agreed to head that way and chatted in the long but fast moving immigration line. Really it should be called emigration or just the GTFO line. Stamp stamp, the then on to a different guy to check for the stamp (because India) then on to security. Again through the motion detector disguised as a metal detector before the wand scan. I didn’t see where the physicist programmer from Dusseldorf went, but he will be on my first flight.
This trip I put my multitool into my Sky Train and checked it to avoid hassles by security. I had to determine what exactly was meant by gadgets, and separated out my laptop, Kindle and phone, guessing that the headphones were nongadgets.
I packed my liquids in the checked bag too, but remembered to put Saturday’s malaria pill in an accessible pocket. My Hospete bites started to itch a reminder last night and continue to do so today.
I have thus far opted against paying for the lounge. I think the cushy leather seats will just spoil me for the flights. Also this would be the international lounge and it might be different. So after laughing at the ridiculously priced crappy beers, including the ~600rs Corona, I plopped down in the middle of an open area, full of people whose complexion mostly matches mine. Recall a beer in Goa was 80, but we’re not in Goa anymore, Toto.
I have about 1400 left, and have thought about another bite to eat or a drink since my body is confused about what time it is in the brightly lit airport. In Dubai I ate to stay awake, here I am considering eating because I don’t know what to do with the next hour or so. I am not sure if there is wifi but if so I will try to post this.
I shared the link to this blog with a couple of guys so I expect the whole team has it by now. They will notice I didn’t talk about work much, but they were there for that part, so they don’t need to read about it. Also my original intent was simply posting occasional updates about my trip to let my friends know I hadn’t died yet. I didn’t really intend to release it but after so many requests I figured it would be OK. I hope people like it. As I said to some, it is often written as a stream of consciousness, or sometimes just in parts, so I am sure it lacks coherency, and some stuff is probably outright incorrect.
I am definitely going to try to edit my gear list when I get back. There wasn’t anything I was missing, and there were things I didn’t use. I think I had a pretty good amount of clothes, it was nice being able to wash infrequently, and I felt like I stayed pretty clean even on my vacation week when I wore one pair of shorts all week. They are Outlier New Way and the material is pretty amazing. I did miss the chance to have someone sew a loop inside the pocket to clip keys to. I used my belt loop and one of the Tom Bihn keystraps, but it was always nicer using the loop inside the Bluffworks pants.
Overall my favorite long pants are still the Thunderbolt Sportswear ones, but I would like to try the Outlier long pants sometime. The Bluffworks have great features and look dressy but they do wrinkle and stay that way even through a hand wash. I’m sure I would have been fine in just Bluffworks too, but the stretchiness of the Scholler Dryskin in the Thunderbolts is super comfy and they are very soft inside. They are definitely warmer though, which is why I was in shorts all week in Goa and Hampi.
I still love my Tilley hemp hat for the sun. I washed it yesterday to get the sweat out of it and hung it up to dry today. The rubber clothesline with a carabinier was great, and the stopper was indispensable. Yes I could have paid for laundry more often, but I enjoy self sufficiency.
I wrote more than I expected so I am going to post this before the free wifi runs out. Wish me luck sleeping on the planes.