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| Tulip faces |
Few things delight Joan, my wife, more than flowers. More so at the other side of an arduous, 15 hour long commute across continents.
It was fantastic to see our friend Martin Jan as we stepped out of Schipol. And Joan wouldn't stop beaming because he welcomed us with the oh-so-famous-but-not-in-season Dutch tulips. Was it the flowers or was it the friend, you'd never know. She was beaming all the way to Zwolle in the train and even days after when she saw the tulips blooming out in all beauty.
For me, those were the first among the numerous lessons I was to pick up on hosting with the heart. The extra mile you go to make it special for your guests, to let your actions say that they are truly welcome. We hadn't yet met many people nor stepped into the country, but we were already falling in love with the Dutch.
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| Mommy's girl. Any day. |
A good part of this trip was that we booked early and got cheap fares. About INR 44,000 per person for a MAA-DXB-AMS-DXB-MAA return ticket. In a good airline like Emirates it is a steal any day!
That meant we got the lean hours to fly. That also meant a sleepless night at the Chennai airport which has no plans of vying for international airport laurels anytime soon.
So, having checked-in really fast, father-daughter-mother had to cool our heels in probably the worst part of one of Asia's worst airports.
I was reminded of the few times we three waited together in other times. Waiting outside the Principal's room for admission in to Ewart School, when a happily-running-around Anu fell and bruised her knee. Waiting at the Dr Vijayalakshmi Acharya Clinic for the braces. And now waiting through a night to fly away to welcoming friends in foreign lands and be reunited with a travelling son.
At 5 in the morning, airborne and the adrenaline settling down, with the sun chasing us, we finally slept. For all of three hours. Enough for a full 4-stage sleep cycle. Before tumbling out in a rush for a change over at Dubai.
