A Table for 80, Please...

This morning started with a quick run on the treadmill and breakfast with PJ and my Dad. They do a phenomenal buffet breakfast at the Hotel and PJ was in heaven. Lots of sweets for breakfast here in India. There were two tours scheduled for the group, but we opted out. I know that probably sounds terrible, given the wonderful history and incredible sights to be seen in Hyderabad. But we just kind of felt like our time here at the Palace….as well as our time with the Deccan Crew was growing short…so it seemed like the better choice.

PJ and William (then from London, that is) finally connected and spent some time together in the pool playing catch…with the help of Lou…who always seems up for a game of anything. My Dad did his crossword and read a book. I took a nap…which I never seem to do at home, but have been quite successful at here. I do not expect this to continue once the trip is over.

This afternoon also led to an experience that we were not able to see - only hear - but was an incredibly interesting one. This is a heavily Islamic City in India, and their Namaz is a critical part of their daily worship. Namaz are the ritual prayers prescribed by Islam to be observed up to five times each day. From about Noon until 2:00pm, we heard constant Namaz taking place from one end of the City to the other, and this takes place over very large speakers throughout the City. It was both eerie and beautiful all at the same time.

There wasn’t much activity during the day, to be honest. But what awaited us at the evening’s Final Farewell Dinner will become once of my best travel memories of all time. Our tour leaders kept telling us it would be the best and most incredible experience we’d had on the trip - which seemed hard to imagine given all that we had already experienced. They kept calling it our “reward” for completing this two-week journey - which I know was meant to be a joke - but it felt odd thinking about it that way.

I mean, to me this entire trip has been incredibly rewarding. Just to have the chance to be here with my Dad…and PJ….and have this time together will forever be one of my life’s greatest rewards. I continue to be in awe of all that my Dad knows about the world - yet - he is always willing to learn more. He never complains, never gets tired of the adventure in everything and genuinely appreciates every moment. He thinks the best part of life is “going out and seeing the world and how other people live”. To be able to be part of this experience with him will be something I am forever grateful for. I love him more than he will ever know and feel honored to have joined him on this journey.

The other reward - of course - was being able to have this experience with PJ. Not just knowing he had this experience….but actually SEEING him experience this trip. His expressions, his emotions, his curiosity…and even sometimes…his discomfort. I wasn’t sure how he would do on this trip and I knew in the back of my head it was a bit of a “gamble”. What if it was too much? What if he didn’t enjoy it here? What if he was terribly homesick? Along the way….I’m guessing he had moments of feeling all of those things. But I have never been prouder of him than I was on this trip.

He pushed through his fears, his discomfort, his anxiety at the beginning of our journey and by then end was an absolute rockstar of a travel companion. It was almost as if I saw this incredible growth happening right before my very eyes. This kind of trip challenges anyone at any age, but for PJ to do this as an 11 year old boy, and do it as well as he did will be one of his life’s great accomplishments…and I hope he remembers that always.

Our plan was to meet at 6:30 for a quick cocktail and a celebratory “cheers” that we made it safely and soundly through this trip. I think we’re all ready to go home…but I think we will also miss the adventure.

The group started with a cocktail party overlooking the City. You could tell everyone kicked up their fashion game for this one. There was lots of reminiscing about the trip, lots of exchanging of email addresses and a few final photos. It’s a weird emotion because here is a group of people that you just spent the last two weeks with - literally just about every minute of the day - and in just 24 hours, they would all be gone. Back to reality. Back to their people. Back home. I’d like to think that I will keep in touch with everyone I’ve met here, but the reality is that I probably won’t. I think there will be concerted effort on everyone’s part, and I’m sure there will be a few that I do keep in touch with. Without question though, I will remember them all every time I think about this trip.

What was waiting for us around the corner from the reception was dinner in what I know is the most magnificent dinner venue I have ever experience. I know, another platitude. But when you’re eating dinner with 80 other people - at the same dinner table - in a Palace…it is entirely warranted.

Of course, as someone who is in the “events world” in my professional life, the first question that came to my mind - only after I took in the incredible sight in front of me - was: “How in the hell are they going to serve this entire table dinner at the same time?” I mean - I know that there are dinners far larger than this at weddings and other social events. But this was not a situation where one table gets their food first and the next maybe five minutes later. That would be really difficult at a table like this. It would also be the longest dinner in the history of dinners to serve just a few people at a time and in waves. I decided to stop worrying about the finer details and just enjoy the dinner as a guest.

Once everyone was seated, a gentleman walked over a giant gong hanging at the front of the room, gave it one large swing and out of the kitchen came no less than 50 servers who surrounded the table with our first course. The gong sounded again and the servers each dropped the plate to one guest on their left and one guest on their right (so if you’re doing the math here, there was one serve per two guests). Once guests were finished with the first course, the gong sounded yet again and out the servers came and cleared in the same fashion as they set. This impeccably choreographed service happened throughout each course of the meal (6 total) and by the time dinner was through - not one dish was left behind. Perfection.

Because so many people on the trip were leaving the following day - including us - we ended up calling it an early night. But that was okay for us, because I think we wanted that dinner to be our best memory of the day. We wanted that to be the way we ended this incredible journey. A once-in-a-lifetime experience.

And with that….I will throw it over to PJ.

PJ - take it away:

Hi, PJ here.

If someone asked me whether we stayed in a hotel or palace in Hyderabad, I would say, “Yes”. It was an old palace to begin with and then was turned into a hotel by Taj Hotels. When we arrived, what I thought was a building was a GATE. Yes, this place was so big and fancy, the GATE tricked me into thinking it was a building. They took us up in horse-drawn carriages. Yes, I said horse-drawn carriages, to the front of the hotel. We walked up the stairs and were given flower bracelets, and we got our key and went to our room.

Ok, this room was AMAZING. It was huge, first of all, and second of all, the bed was amazing, the robes were amazing, the shower and bath were amazing, the WiFi was lightning-fast, and everything in between was amazing. Slap a refrigerator in there and move it to Chicago, and I could definitelty LIVE there. 

The first day, we had a late lunch and then went to the pool. I took a dip in said pool, in which I experienced the Polar Vortex all over again. This. Pool. Was. FREEZING. Like, I-don’t-know-how-it’s-not-an-ice-skating-rink-kind of freezing. I got used to it eventually (kinda), and luckily did not die of hypothermia. A couple hours passed by, and we ordered dinner to the room. There was dinner as a tour group, but we figured we needed to wind down a bit before our final days in India. We ordered pizza and rice pudding, ate, and went to bed. 

The next day had a similar format. We woke up, had breakfast, went to the pool, did schoolwork, ate lunch, and chilled out in the hotel room. Dinner, however, was the final dinner. We got dressed (I put on my Indian outfit from Bollywood Night), and went to this HUGE venue. It was the biggest banquet hall I’ve ever been in and they were serving about 80 people at the exact same time. The way they all walked out at the exact same time with the food reminded me of the hot chocolate scene from Polar Express, actually.

I had amazing sorbet, got full on bread service, applauded the tour guides, and the dinner was over. We decided to go right to bed because we’re leaving for Chicago tomorrow and it was going to be a long day of travel. I’m sad to leave because of the great experience and memories, but also really happy because I want to be back in Chicago super badly.

That’s all I have to say! Goodbye for now, but you all will hear from me once we’re back safely in Chicago.