Travelling, flying over history, getting to Mumbai

So here I am, in an aircon room, the sun shine pouring in through a grubby window, and the sound of vehicles honking and rickshaws, cars, vans and a cacophony of Mumbai morning noises.

We were up at 3 am yesterday. The airport taxi was half an hour later because he couldn’t find us. That caused a bit of tension, but we'd already checked in online so it wasn’t too much of a problem. We flew. From Manchester to Munich, then boarded the flight to Mumbai.

Waiting for that flight made India seem very close, as more than half of the passengers were of Indian origin. On the flight, announcements were in German (it was Lufthansa), Hindu and English.

I had a lot of time to think. Mostly I watched the flight tracker. Couldn’t see a whole lot out of the windows because of the wing, clouds and then darkness, but I kept track of where we were. The route followed my theme of retracing my steps, though I hadn’t expected it. Here are brief highlights of places we flew over that are significant for me:

Budapest. Lived there for years, with Catholic. She spoke Hungarian with an authentic accent and used to tease me for my terrible pronunciation.

Szeged, where live the five half brothers and sisters of Pax and Catherine, along with their bio father. So very sad he did not include Catherine in his second family. I did write to the eldest boy about this trip, and if you're reading this Francis, you can know I prayed for you and your mom as we flew over.

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Romania, The Black Sea coast. Catherine went on a holiday here--another story for another time.

Let's jump ahead.

Tehran, Iran. The first place I lived outside of Europe. One of my best memory times. Learned to speak Farsi, took care of the children of an American family, did lots of disco dancing and vodka drinking. Yes, Iran! But that was 1976/1977, when the Shah was still in control. And I was 20.

Karachi, Pakistan. That's where Pax was born.

So the only place I missed was Athens, where Catherine was born. We couldn’t Have been too far away.


We arrived last night just before midnight. We'd prebooked a humble but reasonable hotel and we're finally settled in by about 2 am. India looks just the same in respects--I was last here in December 1985--but there are many types of cars, not just the old Ambassadors.

This afternoon we fly  to Bhopal. I can’t put my emotions into words. I know Pax won't be there to meet me but part of me expects him. I look at young men of what would be his current age--34--and wonder, no, it can't be. If only...