Tales of an intercontinental voyage

Some statistics:

Fabi and I left our house in Vashi last Friday 16th, at around 8:30pm.
When we reached our destination, it was Sunday 18th, 5:00am in Vashi.

Our trip in short:

• We reached Mumbai, India airport Friday 16th at around 10:30pm.
• Our Alitalia flight started on Saturday 17th at 1:35 am.
• The flight lasted 9 hours and a half.
• We reached Milan, Italy airport early morning and stayed there for 3 hours.
• At 10:00 am we boarded flight no. 666, which lasted 10 hours and a half.
• We reached Caracas, Venezuela in the afternoon and waited for 2 hours.
• At 4:40pm we boarded our last flight, which lasted 3 hours.
• It was Sat. 17th at around 6:30pm in Costa Rica when we finally exited the airport.

Total journey time: 35 hours
Total flying time: 23 hours

All of the sudden our midnight is noon and noon is midnight.

No wonder we are still tired all day long...and we wake up at around 5:00am!
Some anecdotes:

• In the first flight we got a row of three seats all to ourselves, but since the bassinet that the airline provided for Fabi didn't fit on the floor we were shifted to a front row seat. There were two empty seats for us, and an Indian girl at the end of the row.
• Fabi's legs barely fit in the bassinet...he slept in it for some time, but also slept in my arms. I was dead tired and eventhough the lights were out and everyone was sleeping I watched the movie because the screen was right in front of me. (I even went to the toilet and left Fabi alone while he slept in the bassinet; nobody around was awake anyway).
• Next to our seats there was an italian couple with a little baby girl a few months (weeks?) younger than Fabi. That baby was the naughtiest little one I've ever seen! People around me commented on how well behaved Fabi was...but I think he was just sleepy!

Since it was an italian airline, I was hoping for italian food, but to my surprise I got an Indian snack: Vada Pau!

At the Milan airport we bought a magazine. I paid in US dollars, so that I could get some change in Euros to buy a bottle of water from a vending machine. While we were waiting online to pay for the magazine, we heard a lady say to Fabi in Spanish: "Que lindo!" (How cute!). The lady was surprised to know we also spoke Spanish and even more surprised to learn that Fabi was half Costa Rican, half Indian.

Milan airport is big and I walked back and forth several times carrying Fabi in my arms. I didn't carry a baby cart and he didn't want to be held in his baby harness. We saw many families with small children. They all had baby carts, but they used them to put their hand luggage because the babies wanted to be held in their parent's arms. I didn't miss the baby cart at all!

When we were boarding our second flight I was horrified to learn that my assigned seat was in a front row, in the middle of a (very fat) old man and a slim young man. Luckily, the flight was not full and we got reassigned to two empty seats just for us! As we were getting into our new seats, the two young girls behind us said (in Spanish): "Oh no!...A baby! Hope he doesn't cry!"
Those two girls became very good friends with Fabi, who played hide and seek and shared his toys with them. They even had their picture taken together.

When we landed in Caracas, I was expecting to see two friends of mine who were also on their way to Costa Rica: Tatiana Ch. and Eduardo R. Eventhough I had managed perfectly well the trip alone with Fabi...that last part of the trip would have been extremely difficult (actually, impossible) for me to handle without their help. Meeting these two friends of mine on my way to Costa Rica is proof that miracles exist. They were truly guardian angels sent my way! I wish I could express how wonderful these two persons are...!

I had to give up Fabi's food at the Costa Rican airport. I can bring cheese into the country, but not fruits. (It's a good thing I didn't bring any 'Alphonso' mangoes with me!)

The feeling of walking on Costa Rican soil again....is indescribable.

More later....