Animal adventures in Trichy, India : Flights

Follow-up on flights to paradise: My first flight was with American Airlines in coach for eight hours (Raleigh to Heathrow). I have to say it was a bit cramped but the company was wonderful. A 24 yr old named Henrii sat next to me. He was on his way to France to reunite with his family before he goes back in August to start his new job in NYU. He told me about how wonderful it is to travel and really got me pumped for the rest of the trip. Although Henrii was great and even helped Conner and me get through check in for our follow up flight, when the plane landed I was more than relieved to be able to move around. As we checked in for our next flight we were notified that we had been upgraded! You can imagine my excitement (Sorry Gary at check-in for squealing in your face). Six hours later we were on the plane in the world traveler plus section which had a personal touch screen which included newly released movies, games, and music. By far the best part of the flight was the meals. In our previous flight the meals had been pre-made and tasted that way but this flight we were served lamb with gravy and vegetables and ganache, it was amazing. When we landed eleven hours later we were in India. Chennai's airport was a bit overwhelming; Conner and I were lost for the first hour of trying to find check-in. It was extremely humid at 4 am and there were several people actually sleeping on mats outside of the airport. After playing the helpless traveler card we were able to get someone to lead us to the check-in. We got through check-in and then onto a very extensive security check in which they separated the women and men. While waiting to board our flight we walked through the airport noticing they had a Pizza Hut and Subway and KFC. The menu choices were very different than what we were used to though. KFC features most of its chicken on a bed of rice rather than with mash potatoes or mac n' cheese. Pizza Hut had mainly vegetarian options which led to very creative veggie pizzas and Subway featured almost no red meat. When we boarded our last flight I noticed it was much smaller than any plane I'd ever been on and a little bit terrifying the man I sat next to and I had a bonding moment when we both confessed we were secretly terrified of planes. Looking out the window it was an endless view of land containing small portions of houses and towns. The houses were very geometric and were unlike any architecture I'd seen in the US (pictures coming soon). As we landed and collected our bags I was so glad to get off the plane but even more so to be in our new temporary home.