First flight ever

jivan

I loved the takeoff as well, what was also surprising was the engines were quite a bit quieter or perhaps my stomach was grumbling too much. Either way I did hear a bit but not much. The takeoff was also pretty smooth, it was lbeing lifted gently, like a mother does to a new-born child after giving him/her a bath. I didn't look or feel anything macho, the whole experience for me was quite feminine, I have nothing to compare but just experience.
About hitting the airpocket, even that also happened, as well as lights off for quite some time of the journey (although that remained a mystery why the lights were off, for economic reasons or something else no idea) , for me the airpockets were just an extension to the joyrides (Gondola) and alike.

jivan

Well, I doubt the child will go away soon, put me with some technical/business (on any technology) guy & I can hold my own, put me in front of one beautiful goddesses when they are singing or doing whatever they are doing and I'm again a 14 yr. old , wonder-stuck, cat got the tongue & all kinds of stuff. That's life (Jivan) I guess

Mickey S

I love the British climate - what's not to like about it? Never too hot, never too cold, no hurricanes, no monsoon, no wildfires. Okay, so we don't get a lot of sunshine nor a lot of snow, but we're only a couple of hours and £50 away from places that have plenty.I was actually thinking about Wales when I wrote that, but then had to change the names of the three towns because I thought no-one would know where my original choices were. And, of course, Edinburgh is in Scotland, not England - but you're forgiven, 'cos you're American.

Not that I'm blindly nationalistic, or anything. The UK is far from being the best place to live, and I think almost all of us envy the French lifestyle. But it's a nice, safe, comfortable place to live and always nice to come back to after any overseas trip, whether it's India, Japan or the USA.

Nick-H

England: seldom hot enough, normally too cold and almost always too wet!

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capt_mahajan

I like the weather in the British Isles.

Though when those cold North Sea gales hit the island, I like it less.

AwayFromHome

That comment by the OP was uncalled for, and not very nice. I lived in London when I was a kid, and have awesome memories of the place.
Plan to do a London (1 week), India (2 weeks) trip sometime next year!

Nick-H

I always thought this was apt, especially after living there for thirty-plus years:

AwayFromHome

I want to finish up with the 3rd runner-up consolation prize, which by all accounts should be a year long world tour

Nick-H

No doubt about it!

Woops... we've strayed a long way from the undeniable magic of a first flight

capt_mahajan

to the second prize.

Mickey S

I think almost every place in the world possesses certain qualities that are envied elsewhere. There are things about life in New York, for example, that I simply love and miss when I'm back in London. Similarly, there are aspects of life in Paris, Sydney, Copenhagen and almost everywhere else that I envy. On the other hand, there are undoubtedly things about London and the UK that visitors envy. It's hard for me to say what they might be, but the things I'd miss if I were unable to live here would be the theatres, the parks, the nightlife, the history all around you, the museums... and television free of commercial interruptions.

It's harder for me to decide what it is about India that I love. There is undoubtedly something that pulls me back there two or three times a year, but I can't yet put my finger on it. I don't think it is simply that it's "exotic", for there are other exotic destinations that I have visited once and enjoyed immensely yet have not returned to.

AwayFromHome

Well said, Mickey. Its hard for me to put a finger on it too. The closest I can come is that I like getting 'caught up in' the people/activity around me, which is a ubiquitous phenomena in India. For some bizarre reason, the sight of a worker in a Dhoti, getting up from his cot on the Chai stand and pedaling furiously, determinedly to achieve whatever task he has just been assigned - that just fascinates me.
And te fact that there is ALWAYS something going on around you in India - drama at an operic level, or just a small comedy skit. Sigh - its not the same in US!

jivan

We have but that's all right. Lemme update to some fresh news I listened to. It seems just like in India, US has also been having delayed flight. Atleast CNN says so & so does President Bush. Also security procedures were lax as found by some committee at some Senate hearing. Apparently there had been an exercise which had been happening every year for the past 6 years, since 9/11 & even after spending billions of dollars the results according to that watchdog organisation are horrible.

nyraghu

Seem to have missed that ubiquitous sight of freshly awakened dhoti clad gents pedalling furiously towards achievement. I am sure I too would have found the vision fascinating :-) Brings to mind, perhaps irreverently, Vivekananda's "Awake, arise, and stop not till the goal is reached."

Raghu.

Prashant.M

I don't even want to think what the goal is or might have been .

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