Page 66 - Gary's Book - Final Copy 7.9.2017_Active

three house servants, a snake killer for the yard [Chuckle, chuckle!] and a house
guard. Sue said, “No way!” She had joined me on a prior ten-day trip and had
visited the Taj Mahal and other sites and said that that was all she ever wanted to
see of India.

On one trip returning from New Delhi, which is an eight-hour flight, I had a first-
class reservation on a flight leaving at 8:00 a.m., and when I got to the airport, the

agent said they were overbooked, even in first class, and I would have to take a
later flight. I had learned to stand my ground, so I said to the agent, “I do not know
what you are going to do, but I am getting on that flight, even if I have to sit in the
john without a seat belt.” [Chuckle, chuckle!] The plane was departing late, so I
had time to continue to annoy them, and that I did. I got on that plane, an Air

France 747, where I sat upstairs with two other guys just outside the pilots’ cabin.

We taxied out to the runway, but there was a problem. We were notified that the
food on board was rancid. They had a replacement, but it would take some time to
go back to the terminal and exchange the food. All of this took another hour.

We were ready to take off – so we thought. We taxied out, went down the runway,
stopped and just sat there. We did not take off. It was then 10:45 a.m., and the

captain announced that we had too much weight and would have to return to the
terminal - again. Since it was now mid-morning, the temperatures were more than
100 degrees, so the fuel had expanded and now weighed more. Once back at the
terminal, they unloaded containers and excess fuel. Finally, we took off around
noon. Then about 3:00 p.m., the co-pilot came out to our table with a clipboard; he

appeared a bit nervous. I asked him if we had a problem. He said, “No, not really,
but we are short on fuel, (remember, we had just unloaded fuel) and with the heavy
headwinds from the East, we need to stop in Bangkok for fuel.” [Chuckle,
chuckle!] That was all it took; we all just sat back, relaxed, and ordered another
Bloody Mary. It was a given that they would not be on time – ever! It was
expected.

When I finally arrived in Hong Kong six hours late, my “pac pie,” the driver for
my car, was still waiting for Sprouse-san (This is what they called me; it’s like
“Sprouse-sir.”) My driver was always there waiting for me even when typhoons
were present.

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