Long Road to Dhaka

The trip to Dhaka went extremely well.  The flight from Dulles was on the new double-decker plane.  I actually wish I’d picked a seat upstairs just to say I did.  But as it was, another woman and I split four middle seats which saw us head-to-head trying to get a bit of sleep over the Atlantic.  In CDG airport, while waiting to board the plane to Delhi, delayed due to cold weather, I suddenly found myself on the receiving end of a hug by a friend from Rotary who stated “We should hold a meeting here”.  He was on his way back to the US.  Completely random in an airport that size to run into someone I know which I took as an auspicious sign. 

I had been worried about Delhi because I was booked to stay at the hotel airport, though I wasn’t sure how to get my luggage, and then access the hotel from outside the terminal. Fortunately as I exited the jetway, I saw my name on a hotel sign.  I was guided through all the various hoops, security and back-ways to access the hotel and in my room found a lovely view of the airline check-in hall (picture).  Because they boot you out early from the hotel, I spent the morning in one of the low-end lounges – but for coffee, breakfast, internet and a quiet place to sit, it was money well spend (and reimbursable). 

Arriving in Dhaka, I again was met by my name on a hotel sign.  Further, I was happy to discover that a Delhi-based colleague had also been on the flight and we ended up sharing an unmarked car to the hotel together and had ample time to get to know each other on the way.  While I had heard nightmarish stories about the traffic in Dhaka, the drive to the hotel was really no worse than experiences in other vehicle clogged mega cities.  A mish-mash of buses, motorcycles, cars, tuk-tuks, bicycles and humans, somehow avoiding accident and injury amid a soundtrack of horns and revving engines.