Lufthansa Airlines is my new BFF! This Freulein was bounced over business and upgraded to 1st class. A 17 hour trip from Newark to Delhi, with a brief layover in Frankfurt, Germany, this was a serious bonus! It was my 1st time flying true international 1st class. I fear I am ruined for anything less. I better win the lottery.
Lufthansa’s International 1st is like nothing I’ve seen before. You get a reclining seat AND a bed next to it. They even give you freaking pajamas! I asked the flight attendant if we were supposed to give them back. I’m such a dork. Once in the air, I looked around my fancy double decker digs to see if anyone else was going to put on their pajamas. No one moved. Screw it! I went into the bathroom and put on my pjs! I wanted the full experience.
I ate and drank everything they offered. Lamb, wine, rich deserts… I’m pretty sure I gained 10 lbs on the flight. I watched the Vitto Moretenson movie ‘Hidalgo’ (its good!). Instead of regular headsets, they have Bose. Nice! Afterwards, I put in my earplugs, put on my eye mask, crawled into my pod’s bed and slept like a baby.
I had an hour layover at the Frankfurt airport and even took advantage of access to their 1st class flight lounge and took a hot shower before my final leg to Delhi.
Back on the plane to Delhi and in between eating, watching movies and sleeping, I had a nice conversation with an Indian business man across the aisle. Turns out he owns a medical billing company based in NJ with a call center is in New Delhi. After we landed and went through customs, Rohit , offered to have his driver take me to my hotel. I thanked him and took him up on his generosity. It was 1:30am and it saved me from hassling with a Taxi driver and about $30. I just love meeting new people, especially nice ones. There really are a lot of good people in this world. We just need to smile more often and take the time to meet them.
It is after 2am by the time I crawl into bed at the Hotel Connaught in New Delhi. I am smiling and happy. It has been a great start to my India-Nepal adventure. Later today I will meet the European group that I will be traveling with for the next 2 weeks across Northern India and into Nepal. Hope they are nice!
