Heated seats, January thaw & my trip back from India
I left India for Tuck on Jan 5th. In my quest to get a cheap ticket in peak season, I booked myself on Gulf Air with an itinerary that involved multiple stop overs. My return journey consisted of Mumbai-Bahrain, Bahrain-Frankfurt, Frankfurt-Philadelphia, Philadelphia-Boston. So, I stepped on board the plane in Mumbai with the knowledge that I had a long journey ahead of me. But, I had no idea I would finally arrive at my home only on 7th night.
I reached Bahrain on time and we were immediately told that our flight to Frankfurt was delayed by over 8 hours due to technical difficulties. Gulf Air got us transit visas, booked us in a hotel in the city and sent us off to get a good night's sleep. The process was extremely efficient and I was in bed within a couple of hours. Next morning, we returned to the airport to find out our flight had been delayed a further couple of hours. Out of curiosity I started my computer to check whether I could send out e-mails to family and friends letting them know of the delay. Bahrain Airport not only has WiFi - but it is by far the cheapest WiFi I have found in an airport. A whole hour of access cost me just $0.36. After I sent out emails and had my breakfast, we boarded the plane. We were stuck on the tarmac for a couple of hours because one person who was supposed to be on the flight did not board and his luggage had to be taken off the aircraft.
Once we got to Frankfurt, the whole rigamarole of transit visa, hotel booking, tranfer to hotel was repeated. Except, the whole process took much longer than it did in Bahrain. The hotel room wasn't as nice as the one in Bahrain and the food was horrible (carrots & peas for dinner!!)
Finally, after going through Philly and Boston, I was home by midnight. For all the horror stories I had heard about US Airways and the immigration staff in Philly, I did not face any delays or problems at all. My friend was there to pick me up from the Dartmouth Coach drop off point and prevented me from having an attack of hypothermia.
While I am happy to be back at Tuck, Hanover is COLD. I was born and raised in a city where the minimum temperature was about 55 degrees Fahrenheit. At Hanover, NH on many days in the winter the mercury dips going below zero. In case you are still wondering, I am no fan of the cold.
A couple of things make the winter bearable. Heated car seats are on the top of my list followed closely by the January thaw. After a walk to my car when every bone of my body is cold, the heated seats feel like heaven. I am told remote start is an even better feature, by my 2003 VW Jetta doesn't have a remote start!
The January thaw is another nice concession that nature has made to people like me. A few days in Winter, (like today!), the cold takes a break. The temperature outside is almost 50. Though the sky is cloudy and it is raining, I prefer this to a day when the sun is out and the temperature is 5 below.
My courses in the Winter term are an interesting mix. I am taking Managerial Decision Making (a course that is already proving to be a good investment), Futures & Options, Leadership Out Of The Box, Managing Strategic Business Relationships, Game Theory, Selling & Sales Leadership. Some of the courses may not seem to be directly relevant given my plan to join an investment bank as a trader - but my idea behind pursuing an MBA is to get a holistic education as against a finance education. I will talk more about the courses as the term goes forward. The plan for the next few weeks is to have a good time in the winter and focus on internalizing what I learn.
posted by Tagad_Tale @ 11:53 AM
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