Sunday
July 6, 2008
London
I arrive at 7am on time; didn’t sleep much on the plane and did not do much at all. The food was excellent on British Airways. I just watched TV shows and movies on the seat. The line for departing the airport with the landing card was long. Fortunately, my bag stayed checked in so I didn’t have to lug that around. It took 1.25 hours to get out. I got some cash converted and directions to the Underground.
As I was walking out I heard my name. Muna Uncle decided to pick me up. It was a nice surprise to see him, although, I would have preferred to take the subway so he wouldn’t have to drive 1.5 hours each way from his house.
There are 3 families in London who are somehow related on Tannu’s side. They are all siblings. I love all 3 of them. I’ve only spent time with them once before but they were amazing to us and treated us with an amazing amount of love. We spent about 1 week with them a year or two after we got married before we went to India. Muna Uncle and Ruksana Chachi and their 3 kids, Faisal (around 19 years old), Sumaya (15), and Uzair (11). Uzair was a chubby violent infant last time I met him so of course I did not know much about him. The other 2 kids were very affectionate. Parveen Aunty is the one who always called us in the US and made sure we were okay even before meeting us. She is also very affectionate and a good person.
Shayaz Aunty and her husband and 2 kids: Adil and Aman. Aman was a newborn last time we were here and Adil was probably around 5 or 6. I played around with him for while last time and the parents were also also very loving. Last time we were here, they threw us a little wedding reception amongst the family, something even my in-laws did not do. We spent a couple days at each of their houses. I wish we could see them more often as they are all very good and loving people. Since I was merely on a layover with a last second ticket, we could not give them any advanced notice I was coming. Fortunately, at least it was a Sunday so they were not working. The unfortunate thing was Shayaz Aunty’s family was renovating their house and had travel plans so I only got to see the parents for 1/2 an hour and never got to see the kids. I met everybody else though and enjoyed my time at their house. All the kids of course have grown up. Hopefully I can see them all again soon and on a proper vacation.
So I got to the airport already checked in and set off for Pakistan with an arrival time of Monday at 10AM accounting for the time difference. Pakistan is around 11.5 hours ahead of the US EST.