International Trip - Part VI: The flight to India (aka The Cheap Uncle and the Stolen Camels)

After our few days in Dubai, we traveled to India (with our second layover in Bahrain) via Gulf Air. Before leaving Dubai, I thought it would be fun to get my nephews little stuffed camels. As we were waiting for our flight in the Dubai airport, I visited numerous gift shops to find that the only stuffed camels that they had were rather large and expensive. I didn't have much room in my bags and didn't know if the camels would fit. Plus, after splurging on Deidra's ring, I was trying to conserve my spending. So I decided that I would wait until we got to India to see what I might be able to find there that would be smaller and cheaper.

On the second leg of our journey - from Bahrain to India - a cute little Indian family with two little boys sat in the row directly in front of me. Before take off, the male flight attendant approached the family and gave the boys each a little stuffed camel, with a tag that said "Gulfy."


When I saw those camels, I was a little bit jealous. That was exactly what I was looking to get for my nephews! I suppose I could have told the flight attendant my story and asked for a couple of camels myself, but instead I just resigned myself to looking for something similar once I got to India and soon forgot all about it.

Upon touching down in India, everybody began disembarking from the plane. As the family in front of me left their seats, to my astonishment, they left both camels on their seats. Apparently, stuffed camels aren't much of a novelty in the Middle East or something. I quickly swiped them both up and stuffed them into my bag. Leaving the plane, I felt like I was getting away with a crime and that somebody was going to stop me and confiscate my goods before I made my getaway. But I acted cool and nonchalant, and nobody suspected anything. I made it off the plane, through security, and through customs without any incident. Of course, so did my roommate, who smuggled beef jerky into the "holy cow" country. I'm still not sure how he managed that.

Anyway, Bentley has since received his camel and the one pictured in this post is awaiting a new home with Hudson.