Finally June 26, 2012

Well my first flight was delayed. I don't think I have ever been on time leaving from Cincinnati. The weather was perfect too. It was clear and hot. It was delayed an hour so I would arrive in Newark at 7:45pm and my connection was departing at 8:30pm. I had to run through the Newark Airport to make my connection. Again, not the start that I would have liked. My 15 hour flight from Newark to Mumbai was very long. I had a seat that was right in front of the lavatory so I couldn't recline. The best purchase I made was in a neck pillow. That is the only reason why I got any sleep. I was sitting next to an Indian couple who had been in the U.S. for a month visiting their son and traveling. The gentleman asked me if I was from Mumbai. That made me chuckle inside because I definitely don't look Indian at all. I'm sure he just meant that I could have been residing in Mumbai but I still thought it was funny.

I had a 10 hour layover in Mumbai and it was at night. If it was during the day I would have went out into the city. I was so anxious to get to Hyderabad to see the children. The time finally came after a monsoon and hour delay for my last flight. When I arrived in Hyderabad I felt like I was home. Everything was so familiar to me. I was closer to the children.

We went straight to the hotel and took a nap. Then I led the team that was there to a clothing store so they could shop. The staff remembered me from my previous trips. I joked with them that I was bringing them more business. They opened up some about their personal lives like what they like to do in their spare time. It was definitely unexpected and nice.

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After that we met as a team to figure out what the week would look like. The next day would be spent traveling to each children's home to assess any work projects that could be done when the rest of the group arrived. Hearing that got me super excited because I knew I would be seeing all of the children again. The day after that we would go to the bank and check on a children's home that Back2Back doesn't support to write up a report for the sponsors back in the U.S. The rest of the week would be standard like the others. I couldn't wait but knew it would go too fast.