Yue’s Yappings

February was an awfully long month. And not just because it had an extra day! It also included my fairly disastrous trip around the world.

The trip started from Denver and then wound its way for two weeks through Frankfurt, Munich, Mumbai, Deli, Bangalore, Kaula Lumpur, Taipei and finally back to Denver.

On the day of departure, a snow storm hit Denver just as I was leaving for the airport. I called Lufthansa to make sure the flight was on time and they assured me it was. So Charlie and I went off to the airport in a snowstorm, which wasn’t much fun and took twice as long as usual.

When Charlie dropped me off he wished me luck, but it clearly wasn’t meant to be. After being delayed in Denver for an almost two hours, my flight finally took off for Frankfurt. When we arrived, I had five minutes to catch my connecting flight to Bangalore. But since I’m a nobody on Lufthansa, I was stuck in the back of the plane. When I finally got off, I ran as fast as I could to the gate and was relieved to see a giant Boeing 747. I showed my ticket to the gate agent, but she didn’t even bother to look at me. “Sorry, the gate is closed, we have booked you to the next flight.” When I asked her when that was, she answered indifferently, “I don’t know, you have to go to ticketing counter, they will help you.”

Also at the gate was a man named Steve, who was on my Denver flight and also was trying to get to Bangalore. Steve has a very noble job - he is VP for Denver Rescue Mission, a local charity that provides shelter, food, clothing and education to families who need help. He was going to India to meet with an Indian Nursing school that could take young women who can’t afford nursing schools in the US.

We both walked over to the Lufthansa ticket center to see what flights they had booked for us. After waiting for an interminable hour, we finally spoke to an agent. She looked our original boarding pass, and a minute later looked at us and said, “Sorry, all other flights to India are fully booked, there aren’t any other flights leaving for India today.”

Steve and I weren’t happy - and demanded Lufthansa come up with a better option. After five minutes, she looked at us again and said, “Well, there is one option that you can fly to Munich, and take a flight to Deli. Then you will need to be on a local connection flight to Bangalore”

“We’ll take it”.

“What will happen to our luggage”

“It will be rerouted to follow you”

“OK”

I found a coffee house to rest for a bit, and then went to the gate for my next flight to Munich. Of course it was in another terminal, so I had to go through customs. I picked the shortest line, and when it was my turn, I walked up to custom agent.

The agent, a young, blond German with a cold face took my passport and stared at me. Then he asked, “can you please tell me what the sign above you says?” I looked and saw “EU passengers.” So I said, “EU passengers”. I immediately knew where this was going. “Can you tell me if this is an EU passport?” I said, “no sir.” He shrugged his shoulders, handed over my passport, and said “Next”. What a jerk. So I walked over to the “non EU passport” line, which of course was twice as long.

Having passed through customs, I finally made it to the Munich gate. After sitting down, an old, middle eastern looking man walked over and sat next to me. He asked if I lived in Munich, and I said I was just passing through on my way to India.

He told me that he just came from Iraq, where his family lives, and his home town isn’t the same as it used to be. Normal life no longer exists in Iraq - there is no electricity, no clean water, people are miserable - all thanks to America. I felt the resentment in his voice and as well as deep sadness.

To be continued.