Here's a United Airlines flying experience that i can add to my collection of horror stories

Yeah, this one i can add to the list of stories that shows the state of United (and or most of the big airlines). I finished up my meeting in Boston early - thought that it would be a good to take an early flight and reach home early. Well I should have known better. I reached airport around 11.45. I got a standby on 10.55am flight that was delayed to 2.30pm. After getting past the security (and yeah was randomly chosen by the airline for extra screening) made my way to the gate found a nice spot where i could plugin my laptop and spent the next 2 hours finishing some the pending work. The plane arrived at 1.48 and boarding started promptly at 2.15 - I pushed my way near the counter hoping that my name would be called - but as my luck for the day was already set to be doomed - could not get in. The plane was full. Well now I was told i could get in the 2.45pm plane to sfo which was delayed to 4.30. Found my space back, tried to work but could not get much done. Finally got into the flight at around 3.45pm - i thought my ordeal was over. I got to my seat and dozed off only to be woken up by the loud annoucement! Well i realized i was still in the ground. Here's a new one - The pilot annouced that he was not legal to fly (whatever that meant). So with very little information - was told that they are going to scramble and find a pilot (as if few of them just sit around waiting to fly). At 5.4o were told that they have managed to find a pilot and we should be up on the air soon. Thats when saw more folks boarding the flight - yeah! guess what they cancelled an LA flight told the passengers that they have the option to board a flight to SFO and then take a connection to LAX. Poor guys - by this time only the worst seats on the plane was available and they were herded into these. Now that the door was closed - the pilot annouces that they just realized that they did not have enough fuel for the extra load in the flight. The plan finally took off at around 7pm (yes, after being in the plane for 3 hours was relieved) - only to be told that the flight duration is going to be 6 hours and 45 mins due to wind speed. In all of this the passengers seem surprizingly patient - almost felt the average passenger is used to this kind of travel. As for me - I am still searching for an airline that I can say I would definetly fly again.

San Jose Rock and Roll Marathon

I know its been a while since i actually ran this half marathon (and its been a while since i updated my blog) but thought it was a good experience to write about it anyways.

I had a lot of fun in this one. And yeah it was my fastest half marathon so far 2:41:56, a 10 min improvement from my last time. But yet again failed to meet my target of 2.30 hrs. The rock and roll half marathon are really fun, there was a lot of music and cheering along the way. The bands played various types of music was quite loud and i guess i hardly realized what type of music they were playing. it did help with the running as most of it had good beat.

The SJ route is particularly good for runners like me as its mostly flat. I was surprized to see so many folks outside their house cheering this early on a sunday. Overall it was fun and i would definitely do this again next year.

The next one is the Kaiser Half in San Francisco. The training has been weird this time with all the traveling that I am doing, but still have couple of months to catch up.

One More Finish Line

One more finish line – This time half the distance – San Francisco Half Marathon on 29th of July – Distance: 13.1 Miles (21.08 Km). – Time to complete = 2:50:31 (pace 13:01 per mile)
I did the second half of the marathon – which started at 8.30am from golden gate park and finish line at Embarcadero.
The weather was particularly gloomy and drizzling the first hour but was fairly pleasant after that, not too hot.
SF course was a little more hilly than I thought it would and at times slowed me down. There were quite a lot of folks out there and the bikers in the leather jackets acting up as security was fun. There were quite a few music stations and 1 rock band at around 9 miles which was fun. My timing has increased though missed my 2.30 hours goal – well I will try to meet it in my next one.

Watch out for news on my next few ones
August 25th – Sankara Eye Foundation Half Marathon @ Shoreline
October 14th – Rock n Roll Half Marathon @ San Jose (This one has 20 rock bands playing so will be fun)

Kabini - A jungle resort

Okay so I know its been a while since I have posted anything on this blog. For quick updates - I have transitioned into a more eco-friendly car a red color toyota prius, got my lasik surgery done and shaved off my moustache. I am currently in India combining business and vacation and last weekend visited a place called "Kabini" - Kabini is part of the Nagarhole National park (now known as Rajiv Gandhi National Park) around 58 kms from Mysore. The surprising part is that the roads from bangalore to mysore were actually good (had an awful experience last time). We stayed at Jungle resorts at Kabini which had an all inclusive weekend package (highly priced at Rs 3000 per person per night) but was quite worth it. we reached Kabini at around 2pm on saturday and had buffet lunch at Gol Ghar - food was pretty good. We were a large group so stayed in 3 rooms and 1 cottage. The rooms and cottage were quite spacious and clean. We then went for a safari into the forest. We saw a bunch of wild elephants, Indian spotted dears, pin stripped mongoose, peacocks, langurs, wild boar and bison. The safari was 2 hours long and the guide was quite knowledgeable. Then there was a wildlife movie at 7.30 and dinner served at 8.30. The next day we went out for a quick safari and a coracle boat ride. It was an amazing site (see the picture above - taken from the boat).

We then relaxed and had lunch at 1.30. Again at 4 in the afternoon went for a motor boat ride where we saw a large crocodile.

The crocodile was quickly scared by the loud noise of the motor boat and disappered into the water. We saw a large troop of wild elephants playing in the water and passing thru to the other side. This part of kabini was pretty cool - it the meeting point of Bandipur National forest in karnataka, on the left is Madumalai National Forest in Tamil Nadu and on the right is Vinayad in Kerala. THe next day we managed to get our guide drive us deep into the jungle hoping to see a leopard or tiger but we had no luck. Though the drive into the jungle was scary and breathtaking at the same time. We were lucky enough to see a group of wild dogs. I would highly recommend Kabini for a quick gateway from the busy life of bangalore.