Kittens, cats, sacks, wives. How many were going to Chennai?

• Seven passengers
• Seven carry-ons
• 750 lbs of luggage

"We're gonna need a bigger boat."

The Super Shuttle van arrived five minutes after their 15 minute pick-up window closed.  Not to worry, we had budgeted a lot of time to travel from Geetha's parents' house in Clarksburg, MD to Dulles, VA.  We lined up the 15 suitcases, each one near the 50 lb limit, on the sidewalk and waited for the van.  When it arrived, the driver took one look at the enormous mass of bags and declared that they will not fit in the van.

“Then get another van to carry the bags,” I insisted.  “The reservation agent assured me that all the bags and passengers will fit in this van.”

“No, they will not fit,” he replied.

We went back-and-forth until he called his dispatcher, who said that everything will fit in the van.  The driver ended the call and looked, puzzled, at the large mass of luggage and the back of the van.  While he was doing that, I opened the side door and started loading some of the bags on to one of the bench seats.  With some creative geometry and Nikhil sitting on Geetha’s lap, all the passengers and luggage were in the van and ready to hit the highway – at rush hour.

The Washington rush hour lasts anywhere from three to five hours and, with the beltway being circular and all, is heavy in both clockwise and counter-clockwise directions.  The Google maps traffic layer showed a solid red line from the I-270 Spur to the Dulles Toll Road. Quite expected for 6:00 PM. Didn’t all those commuters know that we were trying to get to the airport before the Qatar Airlines counter opened so that we wouldn’t have to wait in line?  Inconsiderate boors!

At the Toll Road, the traffic opened up and we were flying – at 55 MPH.  Our Super Shuttle driver had some obsession with the speed limit.  He had no similar obsession about keeping to the right to let others pass.  We arrived at the airport at 7:15 PM, shortly after the Qatar counter opened.  Luckily, the line was short.  Luckily-er, Chad is a frequent flier and in the Platinum Club, so we all went to the entitlement line.  But with seven travelers and 15 checked bags, we still spent a good deal of time at the counter.

Bags checked, boarding passes in hand – or at least in those touristy passport/boarding pass neck slings, we sped through security, boarded the subway, and arrived at in the international terminal.  If anyone has any doubt that this is the international terminal, Dulles has kindly hung foreign flags up and down the concourse.  The boys had fun identifying flags, “I see Brazil!” or “South Korea!  South Korea!”  The Olympics and the World Cup are educational programming when it comes to teaching amateur vexillology (the study of flags).

With four hours before boarding, all we needed now was food.  The international terminal had everything we wanted: Chipotle and Fuddruckers.  Hey, we’re going to vegetarian Chennai. We need to binge on the beef.

A 12-hour flight?  Bring it on.