Bangalore is a really neat city. I wish I had more time to explore it. It is a very mod
ern city. The weather there is beautiful. There is plenty of green... the skies are blue. After playing with the girls and a delicious breakfast - we've been so spoiled these past few days (thanks Jenny and Ashwin!) - we headed out to the shops down the street. Then, we met up with one of my colleagues from Lincoln who happened to be in Bangalore for work. I wish I could expense my trip! We met him at this beautiful palace - literally... a palace... Leila Palace. We had a wonderful lunch there - I even had a BEEF hamburger and french fries. Delicious!
We headed to the airport later that day to catch our flight to Mumbai. First off, the Bangalore airport is beautiful! What a difference from the other airports we've been through recently... actually, it was nicer than a lot of American airports too. But with a nice, modern, clean airport comes tighter security reliant on technology, and a stricter adherence to "the rules". Here we are outside the airport, traveling "in style".So about a month ago, I had lost my wallet in my apartment complext. It was returned less than 24 hours later - cash gone but everything else there - but it was suggested I still cancel my cards... just in case. So, I did. I was a litte concerned about matching cc #'s with the e-tickets, but we didn't run into issues in other cities prior to Bangalore, so we prayed it would be okay... BUT... we hit a roadblock today.
It didn't matter what I said. The rep at the counter just did not understand - ok, maybe he did understand, but he was not helpful. I'm usually pretty patient and calm but when it comes to things being "right" vs. "wrong", pride sometimes takes over and the stubborn side of "I am right" comes out. All my travels in Asia should have taught me that the customer is never right and that whatever the situation, it is OK (even if it really is not). For example, in China, if the waitress brings me out a dish that I did not order, the response from her would be: "Oh, but that's ok. This is really delicious." You just kind of have to go with it... So anyhow, luckily, a nice woman stepped up - much better customer service skills - took us aside, and went through the process of cancelling our old ticket and repurchasing with my new card #, BUT, she needed the CV code from my old card. How would I remember that?! The card's been destroyed - why don't they get it?!
We realized we weren't going anywhere without the old CV code. We suddenly remembered that we might be able to salvage the old card info in our email inbox. We are excited! The airport has wifi - yay technology! We try to connect on my laptop... but no, the network is so slow that I can't load my gmail. So there we are, sitting on the airport floor with our bags, praying for a solution! We ask to call the cc company, but they say there is not outside line. I try to call on my cell but it doesn't work either. We're going to miss our flight if we don't figure this out NOW - we check the screen - thank God - our flight was delayed. Suddenly, Jane remembers that, against traditional security wisdom, she wrote down my cc info in her trusty notebook. As frustrated and annoyed as I was, God once again reminded me that He is in control. Perhaps this was a lesson in patience... and a lesson that I am overly reliant on technology (I mean, I have a separate pouch in my bag for cords and chargers). Good 'ole pen and paper wins the game.
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