Richey's Travel Adventures

The Biggest Adventure of All — Having a Baby in India!

So this post is not about some wacky and wild travel adventure. It was wacky, wild, and had a fair share of ups and downs but nothing can compare to having a child in a foreign country. Let’s set the table for this story.

When we found out we were pregnant back in October of 2023 our first question was where do we have the baby? The US? India? We had already had some experience with Indian medical care which to be honest is fairly good. There is no shortage of medical staff available (more on that later) and there are plenty of hospitals. It is not the same experience but as a previous post discusses, it gets the job done and in many cases is done faster and certainly less expensive than in the US. Also since getting a passport, social security card, and Indian VISA can take an extended period of time we would potentially be looking at 6 months where I would be living in India and Tami and Tenley would be in the US. Once Tami’s eldest sister, Taisia Heyerman who is a delivery nurse in Ashland, OR, agreed to be there for the birth we decided India would be the best option for the family.

Fast forward to 10pm on the night of June 30th. Taisia was only going to be in town until July 7th and we were certain we wanted her medical skills and support with us when baby came. July 1st was 40 weeks exactly and at that point they almost always induce in India (whether you want to or not). Since Taisia was with us for a limited time we decided to induce. In full disclosure, I stayed home with Tenley that night and Tami and Taisia went to Cloud Nine Hospital on SB Road here in Pune. If you are curious google JW Marriott Pune and the hospital is almost “bang opposite” as they say in India to it.

Suffice it to say Tami’s first 10 hours or so was hell. She got the “we do this a million times a year” treatment from the staff. They were very rude, disrespectful, and didn’t care that they were being rough and insensitive. They nipped Tami while shaving her and didn’t care. They threw her legs open to examine her. They didn’t even introduce themselves. They kept telling Taisia to leave or get out of the way. It was not a fun experience. In some ways I am glad I was not there because I may have spent the birth in hospital jail. I woke up around 6am and wrote Tami how she was doing and one of the first texts read “We shouldn’t have done this in India”. My heart sank. Obviously if it wasn’t for me we would not be here and the rush of guilt and anger began to set in. I woke our driver up, ate a quick breakfast, and left Tenley with her cousin Kiana (Taisia’s daughter) for the day.

I arrived to see my wife having contractions every 5-10 minutes and in tears because of how horrible the care had been to that point. To compound it I asked Taisia how the experience and medical care had been and her response was “they are practicing medicine like they did back in the early 1980s here”. Now I don’t know what the full extent of that meant but alot of it was how they did not use modern and cutting edge technology, medical devices, and treatment monitoring. The good news is that I arrived just as the day shift was coming on. They were a night and day difference from the night shift (no pun intended). They were nice, introduced themselves, explained what they were doing and were trying to help Tami with her pain. This was all around 8am or so. At this point Tami was barely 2cm dialated.

A medicine called petosin was set up on a drip for her. My understanding is that this medicine was supposed to escalate her dilation. There was no monitor plugged in just a drip. Throughout the day the nurse, or someone who looked like one, would come in and just up the dosage. Taisia was monitoring and at one point they had put Tami at levels that were way beyond normal and dare I say safe. In fact at one time she was almost at twice the max level allowed. Taisia changed the dosage and couldn’t believe she wasn’t monitored. Tami was in so much pain. The contractions got worse and worse and at one point were a minute apart. They checked her after another hour or so and no further dilation. Oh and did I mention the ONE time they checked her vitals was in the middle of a contraction??

They would not administer the epidural unless she was at 4cm. She spent most of the morning in pain but once Dr. Kulkarni (Tami’s OBGYN) showed up we told her we needed the epidural now. She pushed back because Tami wasn’t at 4cms but we explained to her that Tami had the same issue with Tenley’s birth and it wasn’t until the epidural was administered that the dilation proceeded. Taisia got in to super bossy nurse mode and just kept saying “give her the epidural, yeah we want it now, she is in pain and having contractions every minute with no progress, help her take the pain away”. So they finally gave it to Tami and luckily the pain subsided. She was a true champ.

Me being me I kept asking the question, “when is this baby coming”. “oh by 2pm, or by 3pm no later”. Well the hours kept ticking. The good news is that Tami wasn’t in near as much pain and her contractions were becoming more regular. The anesthesiologist was a very nice man and very professional. He did his job right and checked on Tami throughout the day. On a side note — the food at the hospital was actually very good. Of course it was Indian food or just food as they call it here but it was very nutritious and was not spicy. Tami needed her energy so was luckily able to eat.

After another check around noon they came back and said “oh you are at 4 cms”. Things were happening but of course much to slow for my German efficient brain. So like any nervous and pacing husband (i probably did a 5k in the hallway) I asked for a lunch break. Tami agreed and said to go get a drink so I could calm down. So I went across the street to America’s Favorite Restaurant – TGI Friday’s. I kept my phone on full loud ring and sat down. In honor of my dad I had a “martini lunch” of gin martini combined with french fries. It hit the spot. Yes, while my wife was trying to rest up for one of the biggest events of our lives, I was across the street getting buzzed and eating heavily salted fries.

At about 3pm I decided it was time to head back. I took a nice easy stroll back to the hospital and came up to the room. About 2 minutes after I returned they announced “she is at 8cms, baby time”. I was like what? All the sudden a mass of people entered the room and equipment, lights, cameras, whatever the hell it was all started moving quickly.

It only took a minute or two but I realized this was go time. Any buzz I had from my two martini’s was gone and the carbo load of fries were about ready to be tapped for action.

Not too long after it was announced that Tami was at 10cms and it was time to start pushing. Originally Dr. Kulkarni had told us that only one person could be in the room with Tami but Taisia and I being the stubborn oldest children that we were just stood there and walked past the doors when we needed. They never said a word once we were there. I got in to dad support position on Tami’s left and Taisia stood by the medical monitors to Tami’s right. It was then that my stint as a fake Orange Theory Fitness Coach took over. Tami was pushing for a solid 20-30 minutes. It seemed like only a minute. She had so much strength and endurance I couldn’t believe it. It was at that point that a sound in the room caught my attention. Have you ever seen the movie finding Nemo where the seagulls are saying “mine, mine, mine mine” in a high pitched annoying as hell voice? Well that was the same sound all of the people in the room were making except it was to the words “push, push, push, push!!”. It then occurred to me that there were 12, yes 12, people in the room from the hospital. Only Dr. Kulkarni and the Pediatrician seemed to actually be working. 12 people, no clue what there role was. You know how long that table is in the painting of the last supper (after Judas left)? That is how many people were crouched around Tami’s legs as she was giving birth. Unbelievable! We still to this day have no idea what they were doing since it was Taisia who was monitoring Tami and baby’s vitals.

There are very few moments in life when you feel that heaven is opening towards you and in those minutes before and after birth you certainly feel like you are at heaven’s front door. I could feel immense love. And I leaned over and told Tami that everyone was here. Not just her and my family abroad in Spirit but my dad and her dad. Gracing us with a house call. I told Tami in her ear “Everyone is here for you. We all love you. You are not alone.” This peace and joy soon pivoted to a negative place.

Then became one of the scariest moments in my life. We were told a month or so prior that the baby appeared to have the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck twice. We sent the pictures back to the US and the doctors there disagreed because it was too hard to tell. In the last few minutes of labor Taisia looked at me with a very stern and concerned face and mouthed silently “WE NEED TO GET HER OUT NOW”. Tami was doing about three pushes per contraction. The babies vitals started to sink noticeably. I leaned in and said “baby, you have to give this next one as many as you can, she is almost here but we really need her out now, do as many as you can”. Tami gave 6 incredibly strong and exhausting pushes and our little girl was born. They pulled her out and she was not making a sound. They held her upside down like a caught fish and she was barely moving. Her entire skin was purple and blue and I have to admit I didn’t think she was with us (yes I am crying as I write this). They unwrapped the cord from around her neck and cut it. And after what seemed like ages, she made a few very slow and labored cries. She was breathing. She would be fine. I can’t tell you the relief.

Alexandria Ann Kemmling was born at 4:46pm on Monday July 1st in Pune India. She was named after Tami’s mom’s middle name and my mom and Tami’s middle name. Her mother was exhausted, her aunt was relieved, and her dad was so thankful to God. She was loved immediately. Although she was still recovering from almost choking to death her first few minutes in to this world were quiet and calm.

After I was sure Tami was ok I went with Alexandria, or Lexi as we have nicknamed her, over to the Pediatrician. She was 7lbs 10oz and 21 inches long, much bigger than her older sister (a pound heavier and several inches longer). The pediatrician assured me she was ok and we spent the next few minutes bonding with our little princess. We went immediately to skin to skin and trying to get Lexi to nurse.

At this point the gang of 12 had dispersed but one came up to me with this document. It was Lexi’s admittance paper to the hospital.

Really formal huh? By the way B/O means “born of”. In India most couples do not name their child until after 40 days. They thought it was unusual we had a name but it did help us expedite the birth certificate.

I have always told people that the best moments of my life have been the first few minutes of my children’s lives. Seeing Peter hoisted above the curtain and escorting him in the baby cart in to his mothers room. Knowing my life was going to change forever and that I would never let him down. Or Nate being born and crying wildly but calming down when I started talking to him as they took his vitals and me thinking how beautiful he was. Or the first time I held Tenley and felt the experience of love at first sight. It is just magical and I am blessed beyond measure that I got to do it a 4th time. This time was different giving the breathing scare but I was with my little Lexi during her first exam and kept my hand on her the whole time whispering to her how loved she was.

After a couple of hours they moved us downstairs. Now everywhere we go in India people want to take pictures with us. Most of the time we oblige to be nice but it does get annoying. Sure enough, leaving the delivery ward we did about 15 photos with the staff.

Tami healed up immensely quickly and though very tired we felt that Kiana and Tenley could come and visit. Tenley was a tad curious at first at what this baby sister was but she was excited to finally get to meet her.

And yes for those of you that know Tenley, Lexi and her look very much alike. Like I told Tami, “I guess we only build one make and model”.

We were so happy and for the first time got to be together as a family (although we missed our boys).

Once again the hospital care was not very impressive. They never checked Tami or the baby’s vitals again. They seemed more interested in mopping the floors of our room (which I am not kidding was done almost hourly) than checking in on our girl’s health. The good news is that with Taisia’s help and advice and Tami’s strength and endurance not much was needed. They spent the night (again with little to no monitoring) and convinced both Dr. Kulkarni and the pediatrician that we were good to go. They were shocked because I guess most people want to stay several days. But we all wanted to get home. So they discharged us. They had a little cake cutting for us and of course took a bunch more pictures.

We made it home safe and sound and the new adventure begins. Although I still believe medical care in India is good, it is behind the time and just given the volume I can almost understand the behavior of treating everyone like a number. But the bedside manner and humanity of it all should be a priority in training. We made it but not without some emotional scars.

Lexi turns a month old this coming week. We are having to relearn how life works with a newborn but we are thankful for every moment. Glory be to God!

Dining in Greece

Our escapades started again when we touched down in Athens. As soon as we walked out of the terminal we were informed there was a national taxi workers strike. We went up to a line and begged them to help. Buses were not operating and Uber is not very common in Greece (they use another app which I lost and forgot). Luckily, the driver had mercy because my wife was pregnant so they considered it a “health and well being” exception and took us to our Airbnb. I will blog about that whole experience later.

But one cannot talk about Greece without talking about FOOD. We made breakfast at our Airbnb each morning after going to the supermarket. But lunch and dinner were on the road. For breakfast desserts though we did fine these items:

These little donut balls are quite common in coffee shops. They are almost like very warm Krispy Kreme donut holes. They were like biting in to air with a little puff pastry. You could have several toppings — we chose honey and cinnamon.

I got this desert before a tour in the morning. It looked like a pretzel but it was a sweetbread and it went well with a tired baby.

We did do a walking “eating” tour of Athens. We got to sample the breakfast goods above but also had some fantastic olive oil, followed by a few other appetizers and then finally the very popular and tasty Gyro. Now in the US most gyros come with lamb meat but that was actually hard to find. Much more common was beef or chicken. We chose beef.

We had gyros a couple of times on the trip and it always came with fries. Sometimes inside the wrap!

Now you might notice the greek salad. A little different than ours back home with just a huge piece of flat feta on top and if you look closer, no lettuce.

We actually had it served this way many times. It was pretty good but I did miss the lettuce. Cutting the feta, which was more hard than soft, took a little effort though. When I wanted a change and some lettuce I ordered a Caesar salad which was incredibly good.

Probably the most popular appetizer from Greece is the dolmades. A meat or veggie mixture rolled in a grape leaf. We actually didn’t find this very often and the one time I ordered it, it was served in a sauce. Different and interesting. But delicious.

Greece, being on the sea, had some AMAZING seafood. Back at home in Pune, our selection of seafood is fairly thin — some local fish variety and shrimp. Athens had all we could ask for. This seafood risotto and salmon we ate was delicious. Nice and fresh!

The seafood was good but it was also time for us to really enjoy some good steak before we returned to India. As part of one of our tours we went to the local Athens meat market. Careful though, I recommend not going with small children. They literally have everything. Rabbits, hanging from a rope. Skinned lambs and cow heads staring at you. You want a cow heart? A pig’s hoof? All there. And they literally had a bucket full of balls — yes testicles in a bucket. That was an educational experience. Here is a G rated pic of the beginning of the market before it got weird:

So after viewing all of this butchered meat we decided it would probably be best to ditch the Greek salads and seafood and raise our cholesterol levels before our return to India. So we went to dinner at a steak restaurant and had some amazing dishes.

Now the next topic is a bit controversial because it is pasta. Now I thought pasta was Italian and yes some Greeks agree with that. Others will tell you it is actually Greek (when you go to Greece you find out EVERYTHING originated there whether fact or fiction). Anyway we definitely enjoyed some good pasta dishes. This is one Tami ordered called truffle bacon pasta.

And of course, as is usual, Nate ordered the most expensive and largest meal on the menu — the lobster spaghetti. He promised he would eat it all and when he didn’t he promised to eat the leftovers. I threw them away at 4am on our way to the airport but here he is when he started it. I gotta give it to him, he is ambitious.

And finally to end us off there was dessert. Honestly we usually just ordered one or two off the menu and split them all. We were so stuffed dessert was almost obligatory since we were in Europe. For example, I don’t remember what the hell this was or even if it was any good but it was one of the only dessert pics I took:

But you can’t go to the Mediterranean and NOT have Gelato. So we did stop by a couple of stores as we strolled back home. Look at these mountains of fattening, diabetic inducing creams.

Just fantastic.

On the whole trip (UK and Greece) I gained about five pounds but it was worth it. Suffice it to say in Greece you will never go hungry, never go thirsty, and never leave thin!

48 Hours in London

The boys joined us after we had the weekend to adjust to the UK time zone. They flew their first unaccompanied flight overseas. I had to hang around Heathrow arrivals hall for a few hours due to a delay but oh well it was worth it to see them come off the plane. I hadn’t seen them in two months!

So we now had about 48 hours to show them some sites. Nathan had been to London before briefly but it was Peter’s first time. We stayed at the Marriott hotel right next to Heathrow. You have to take an uber to get back and forth to the airport because there is no free shuttle and you can literally see the runway from the hotel. Still it takes about 5-7 mins to get to the terminal. So of course the first thing we have to do is go to a pub and eat…..FISH AND CHIPS.

Yes they were jet lagged but finally all the kids get to reunite!

After our greasy meal we went back to the hotel and played at the pool and made a mockery of the executive lounge dinner.

The next day we went to nearby Windsor. It was about 20 minutes from the airport. It is a small little town and apparently it is where Prince William and his family live most of the time. It is a quiet London suburb — with the exception of course of the nonstop landing air traffic on its way to Heathrow. We went to Windsor castle which was a fun self guided tour. We got to see alot of great furniture, art work, and views. Including the guards march which was eerily similar to the soldiers in the Wizard of Oz.

Eooohhheee ohhhh…eeoooooum!

After the tour we ate at a good Thai restaurant and walked the streets of Windsor. Even did some shopping at some stores. A very fun little town to visit and not very far from central London. If you do not need to go in to London on a trip to the UK Windsor is a great place to base your operations. Next to the airport and connected by train to most of England. Only a 45 min tube ride in to town.

The next day we did go to central London. For the best use of our time we did the Hop On Hop Off bus tour. I believe that for the money it is your best and least expensive option to get to see the whole city. And you can use it as a cab to get you around in case you want to see something else. The best seats on the bus are the front row of the second level. Then you have an unobstructed view.

We got to see all the sites and I think the total tour was around 2 hours.

For lunch we searched the city for some Beef Wellington. Unfortunately we spent two cab rides and a bunch of tripadvisor searches to go to places that had it. But those that advertised it were either closed for a private lunch or didn’t have it on the menu. Finally we settled for the Ship Tavern. I am a big believer while in London that you have to eat pubs. Such good home town cookin (ok it is probably all heated up or deep fried) but the beer is terrific.

We had really only one landmark we could visit and so we chose the Tower of London. It is fairly inexpensive (for London) and is a great self guided or guided tour. We took about two hours. It sounds sick but honestly the wing that talks about torture devices was extremely interesting. We got to walk inside the castle walls and see everything from the crown jewels to one of the earliest toilets.

There was a small chapel that was in the Tower as well. Hard to imagine such a dark, depressing, and horrible death site for so many had a church onsite. But then again where there is darkness is where you need Christ the most to light the way!

We finished our tour and took some pictures right before sunset. It was back on the Tube to the hotel. The next morning we flew out to Athens. It was a quick trip but we got to see alot and it didn’t break the budget. Staying near the airport did cost some Tube tickets but the hotel was about 1/2 to 1/3 the price of what we would have paid in central London (and we needed two rooms). Cheers!

A Hidden London Gem

Hello my loyal followers and supporters! I apologize for the 3 month hiatus but we have been doing a ton of traveling and I just haven’t had the time to sit down and focus on writing about our adventures. In the past 3 months we have been to London-Athens-Corinth-Pune-Sri Lanka-Kathmandu-Medford, OR and Kansas City, MO. We just got back to India about 2 weeks ago. Don’t worry I will post about all of our adventures but need to start with a quick blog to warm up the old keyboard (or actually it is a new one and it works so much better!).

Most people when they go to London love to see the tourist sites. Buckingham Palace. Windsor Castle. The Tower of London. Tower Bridge. The London Eye. Sure, all magnificent and all fun to go to. However after being in India for two months post Christmas there was only one real place I had to go as we waited for the boys to land in London….

That is right. There is only a handful of Costco’s in the UK and Heathrow airport happens to be near one of them. So rather than tour we decided to check out COSTCO UK!

As we walked past the full blown olive trees they were selling outside, we gave our card to the front door greeter. They actually scan cards in the UK to get in to Costco, no free loaders or fake cards! The warehouse as you might expect was in an industrial area and the warehouse had the very similar layout like we all are used to back in the US. You walk in and instantly you have giant cheap TVs blaring and some sort of cheap clothing or personal hygiene items littering the left side of the walkway. And then there is always some random food item like protein bars? Man, what do I really need now…a pair of shorts, some underarm deodorant, and protein bars. Is that ever on anyone’s list? It must be.

So as I was saying the layout of the store was very familiar.

So the first area we went to was the bakery and I have to say this bakery had far more variety than the bagels, muffins, pies, and huge bread rolls we see back in the US. They had donuts (prices are all in GBP of course):

Hot cross buns and whatever the hell a nut cluster is:

Then we moved in to the meat section which did have some familiar products but this section was much smaller than what we see back in the US. This staple of course was there:

The meat portions they had were almost more similar to what you would find at a grocery store back in the US versus the huge packages of 16lbs of ground turkey. Then of course came the vegetables section. Well for those that have been to England before you will know that veggies aren’t really that popular. It was much smaller than our produce sections. Far less fruit and berries and very few green options. Gotta stick to meat, potatoes and bread products at this Costco.

Some of you Costco connoisseurs will remember this product which was canceled a few years ago in the US:

I wonder why they stopped selling them. Maybe because the ones in the food court are only 2GBP more and are already cooked and have more cheese?

Then we moved to the drinks area and of course they sold liquor. Unlike the 1.75ml bottles you find in the US, the largest I saw sold here was 1L. They had a decent collection but what really caught my eye was this Talisker Scotch. Look at the price of that bottle! You would pay 3-4x that for the same bottle in India or maybe 2.5x in the US. What a deal! I was tempted to buy one but our suitcases were filled already!

Next came the frozen section. I took some pictures of some really cool products that I would buy if we had them back in the US. Of course, very stereotypical English food but they looked good! Instead of Mexican or Italian night you could have British Pub night!

That beef wellington looks fantastic!

They did not have an entire row dedicated to coffee and its complements. But there were rows of crackers, cooking oils, spices, sauces, etc. Just British versions.

There was no pharmacy at the Costco but they did have a much smaller vitamin and supplement section than we are used to.

The second to the last thing we hit was the Costco Optical Center. For those of you that don’t know they usually have some really high end brands here at very decent prices. Of course any time we go my wife finds a pair that “She always dreamed of” and “has never seen on such a huge discount”. “I have never seen a pair of these below $500 so by paying $250 we are actually saving money?”. Umm no, you are still spending $250 on a pair of glasses that will either a) be broken by our toddler or b) get lost at the bottom of the Lake of the Ozarks after an afternoon of adult beverages. But I am a kind man and I love my wife so all of the sudden it became the perfect birthday present. She gets to use Italian luxury glasses and I don’t have to stress about a birthday gift. And we get 2% back!

The final stop, well you all know the answer here, was a must for any shopper who drops hundreds of dollar per Costco outing…..

The food court!! You can see the prices and the items above. Yes the dog is 1.50 GBP which equates to about $2 so there is an arbitrage gap for those who wish to load up on food court items and sell them 10 hours later in London. I actually thought about doing this but my beloved Gucci glassed wife said it would make people sick. She’s right God love her.

The one thing that they do not show here which I thought was a really good idea was they sold coffee. I think it was like 50 pence for a cup of black coffee. I actually wish our Costco’s would do that and I am surprised they do not. Most people in the food court were not eating my favorite and coveted dogs…the more popular items were the chicken sandwich and whole pizzas.

The hot dog tasted the exact same as it does in the US except the buns are different. Still good though and still hit the spot. The only condiments offered were ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise. No relish and no chopped onions. Sorry gotta go to the US for that. Man I wish they still served the sauerkraut. I now have to bring my dogs home to get that experience. Costco dogs are my favorite dog, second only to Portillo’s Chicago Dogs. Tenley had a slice of cheese and it tasted the exact same as the US. Greasy and cheesy!

They do not have self checkout in this Costco and they only had like 10 lanes. It was incredibly crowded to check out and at the food court. I would say the lines were at least 8-10 carts deep for every check lane. So yes you will save some money but you better bring a podcast because you will wait. And unlike the US where you always see some old guy just buying a carton of grapes, here the carts were all filled to the brim.

We went to a foreign Costco, ate at the food court, bought one item in the store, and still couldn’t get out of there for less than $200. I am telling you, invest in this company! It was a great experience and I hope I get to see more of this wonderful chain of consumerism gone wild stores!

It was off to get the boys and begin our traveling adventure. Stay tuned for the next update I promise this one won’t take 3 months!

Conferencing

Back in my salad days I would attend several industry conferences a year. Some for a day, but most usually 2-3 days. The days would be long filled with seminars, panel discussions, speeches, motivational stories, and tons of little bottles of water. Coffee breaks would be every 2 hours where they force you to meet with exhibitors who aggressively try to sell you something you don’t need (in truth I was usually an exhibitor). You do breakfasts, lunches, etc but the best part was always the hotel bar at night. Mixing it up with people from all over the country/world and staying out till 2am putting all your drinks on the company. I enjoyed it so much I thought going to a conference should be termed something different, a verb that I could use, so I invented the word conferencing. Now that was back in the days before Teams and ZOOM, where conferencing also started getting used. But I am sticking with it — conferencing meant long days usually spent listening to others in over air conditioned rooms, nursing a hangover with coffee and water, struggling to pay attention, and then going out and doing it all over again.

Well, now I am in my 40s, and “conferencing” in India. This expose in to my glamorous life will begin with my attendance at the American Chamber of Commerce India GCC “Conclave” (i think this is the new trendy word for conference just like ecosystem for some reason describes any internal system eventhough its supposed to be about biological systems…ugh, anyway I digress). So I leave work at about 5pm and head for the airport on a Tuesday. My beloved wife packs me with a couple of tuna fish sandwiches. What you may not know about India is most of their packaged bread is incredibly crumbly and falls apart in a moment. So here was my luxurious dinner on the way to the airport.

Tunafish with multigran crumble I guess. The Pune airport doesn’t really have any restaurants so I dined off of my carry on bag whilst watching my gate.

Then after pacing the small airport for 45 mins and trying to time my last bathroom break for 5 mins before boarding, I was off to Bangalore with the discount airline Air Indi GO.

No upgrades here! It was an hour and ten minute flight to Bangalore and I made it in to the hotel at about 10:45pm. I am unpacked, brushed my teeth, stripped down to my sleeping wear and get under the covers when I hear a little knock. The kind of knock a 6 year old does on their parent’s closed bedroom door when they know they are in trouble. Tap, tap, tap. I really don’t want to get my clothes on and I even put a Do Not Disturb tag on my door. Tap, tap, tap. Oh fine. Then my hotel phone makes the loudest ring that could wake the dead. I startled, jumped up, and answered the phone. ”Sir there is a man outside”…umm ok does this mean I am about to get murdered? ”Sir they have your nuts and beer”. What?! Sure enough I answered the door in my jogging pants and some guy had brought me two beers and a quart of mixed nuts. Random, yes? India? Not surprised. So I had a quick snack and drink and went to bed.

The next day I ate breakfast and headed to the nearby Taj Hotel for the conference. I wish I could tell you some exciting and useful information but it was a typical conference as you can see.

Honestly I did take notes and I did pick up some good tid bits on best practices. I did get a few sales pitches but they were limited. Unlike the US though the conferences in India have Indian food (yes, shocker). I can’t say I have ever eaten this at a conference before:

In case you are wondering it is roti bread, paneer, spinach something I can’t pronounce, and then chicken something I can’t pronounce. It wasn’t butter chicken. Rest assured I was picking bones out of my teeth for 15 minutes and had to find a pitcher of water to wash down the spice. I am such a gringo.

The best part of the evening was a special dinner I was invited to by the government of Karnataka — the state that Bangalore was in. It was great networking with other Country Heads and I got even better and more tips, advice, and stories on what works and what does not in Indian business. Truly some motivational stories. Dinner was an Indian buffet again and as usual I grinned while secretly praying for ice cream. Unfortunately there was no bar at dinner, just water. There was no after party. But I held out hope and went to the hotel bar. It was empty. My conferencing just wasn’t the same. But I enjoyed my Manhattan and reminisced about the glory days while actually being happy that I was going to get to bed by 10pm and not feel horrible the next day.

Cheers!

The next morning my flight was at 11:30am so I was able to sleep in (for me that means 6:30am) and get a good breakfast. The flight and transport home were all uneventful. I returned to my beloved wife and daughter in the afternoon and went straight in to “conferencing” calls on Teams until 9pm.

In tribute to the late Toby Keith – I ain’t as good as I once was, but I am as good once, as I ever was. I look forward to dusting off my boots for another opportunity at conferencing in my 40s!