Two Hours to Touch-Down; Some Info About The Expedition

It's a little after 5:00 AM here on the west coast. Still no heat so it's 60 degrees inside. Now I'm the one bundled up in fleeces. (I can hear Connie's voice now: "Waa waa waa. Take a man-pill!")

This leg of Karin's flight left 13 hours ago.. only 2 left until touch-down.

The expedition that Karin, Harry and Anjum will undertake is organized by Himalayan Health Exchange. In total they will be 2 doctors (including Karin), 8 medical residents, 9 medical students, and Anjum and Harry. The Lead Physician (and trip leader) is also bringing his wife and two young children. Karin's official role is Assistant Physician. Apparently one possible role for Harry will be running the pharmacy (insert your own witty comment here).

When they arrive this evening (morning here), they will be picked up at the airport in Delhi and transported to the Hotel Grand Godwin. The team will stay overnight in Delhi and then will depart tomorrow by train for Bilaspur in Himachal Pradesh, as is beautifully rendered in graphic above. Himachal Pradesh is bordered by Kashmir to the north and Punjab to the west. Kashmir has the distinction of being one of the most volatile regions on earth. It is comprised of territory that is disputed by the three nuclear powers that border it. Thankfully, there has not been a major war there in years.

From Bilaspur, the team will be headed to the villages of Harlok, Amarpur (Baged) and Samoh.

And now the answer to the question I received in various forms yesterday... Just how did I get past security at the airport? Well, first I carefully analyzed the situation. I figured I had a few choices. The obvious way to do it would have been to overpower the 20 TSA people that are now needed to man the security checkpoint. The problem with that plan is that for every TSA agent standing around doing nothing by the x-ray machines, there are 5 to 10 more standing around in the break-room. I scratched that idea. My second I idea was to fly a little Cessna to the airport and then figure out a way to get into the AA terminal from the runway side! The problem with that was that I would not have been able to take Karin to the airport. In the end, I did the simplest thing: I bought an unrestricted refundable ticket, printed a boarding pass, went through security, and then canceled the ticket. Not all that exciting, but fool-proof and legal.