Down That Way

Traveling to an international conference from Israel always involves many hours of flights, something I have become used to.

However, my first trip to India on two weeks’ notice was unusually special. 
Sonigo Shipping was newly accepted to FIDI and when David Sonigo said “Go to the conference”, I didn’t ask questions, I just started looking for flight and hotel reservations.

When I could not find a hotel reservation, I should have understood, this was not meant to be.  However, I did find a great business class fare that was cheaper than flying coach on El Al, so I was off.

Or so I thought…I flew charter to Istanbul where I was to catch my business class flight to New Delhi.  After disembarking in Istanbul, I started asking where is the Air India desk.  When little English is spoken, hand gestures sufficed to point me “down that way.”  When I got to “down that way” I asked again and was pointed even father “down that way.”

When I go to the exit of the terminal and still had not found the Air India desk, I assumed I had simply missed it.  At this point I met my first English speaker who explained, “down that way” was 75 kilometers away at Istanbul’s other airport!!

After an excruciatingly long taxi ride, I surprisingly (to me anyway) made it to the Air India desk where my flight was waiting for me.

Even with cab fare, it was still cheaper than El Al!