New Delhi Layover - March 18

Dear Adventurers,
Greetings from rainy Kathmandu and the Himalayan Kingdom of Nepal.

I have finally typed my E-mail Adventure Journal and it is ready to send. The next four messages describe the adventures during this trip and being part of an Everest Expedition. Sean Swarner hopes to summit Mt. Everest around May 10. I will be at base camp during that time and will send a message or two when I return home after May 21.

Also my Hungarian friends have modified my website. It still needs some work, but I think it's looking better. Check it out if you have time: www.ofglobalinterest.com.

I hope you enjoy the adventures from Nepal. Take care.

New Delhi Layover - March 18, 2002

I am in the Departure Lounge at the airport in New Delhi. It is 2:45 AM New Delhi time, four-something Ann Arbor time yesterday afternoon I think. It is confusing. I am somewhat stuck. I don't think I could wheel my overloaded luggage cart into the bathroom even. Among my bags, I have one large suitcase full of food for Sean Swarener's Mt. Everest Expedition.

My flight to Kathmandu doesn't leave until 10AM, (which I later learned was delayed EIGHT more hours) a long time to wait and not much to do in the departure lounge. The lounge is big and there are other people waiting here, maybe 30-40 all together but still a lot of empty chairs. Many people are wearing turbans, wandering aimlessly like zombies. One man wears a traditional shiny gold knife, a dagger maybe, attached to the belt at his side.

Plants surround each of the eight-sided columns that hold the ceiling, real plants of course. A dusty dirt ring on the marble floor around the base of each pot says they've been watered. The leaves feel real. On this column near me, there is an outlet that looks like someone ran into it with a luggage cart. It's all mashed up. I wonder if the cart driver got an electric shock -- looks dangerous.

Let's see, not including layover time in each airport: Detroit to LA was 4 hours, 45 minutes. LA to Seoul was 13 hours, Seoul to New Delhi: 8 hours, 30 minutes, Delhi to Kathmandu maybe 2-3 hours. I am tempted to eat the box of Marshall Fields chocolates Manju, a Nepali friend, gave me to bring to her family in Kathmandu.

Heather O'Neal
Of Global Interest LLC
www.ofglobalinterest.com

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