India Stories Part 3 - Wyatt Goes Missing by Matty Y

So this is an email that my friend Matty sent out from his Blackberry in India:

Ok fellas, please don't be upset...I think I lost Wyatt Gallery at the airport. Let me start at the beginning...

We had a 10:30am flight to Dubai on monday (wyatt was 10am to sri lanka)...so working backwards...3 hours early for the flight plus the 4 hour ride to the airport plus saying goodbye to the folks, relatives, and packing up the jeep...gets you to leaving my dad's house around 1am on no sleep sunday nite.

We get to the airport around 6-6:30am...a good hour or so b4 anything opens. When everything does, its a madd rush. Add in that all computers are down and we are dumb tired. Since we are on diff flights we stand in diff lines and I can't pull any frequent flier magic for him. I check my mom and bro in, then see wyatt at the head of the line and looking very distraught. They make him check his camera and are about to make him check his handbag b/c its over the 5kg weight limit. Mind you I haven't yet seen anyone weigh hand baggage. Also, I have 2 hand bags with me and they easily weight 30-35 pounds each. If you call, this sri lanka trip is like the holy grail for wyatt but there have been madd obstacles. After some sweet talking and what not by both of us, they finallu let him go with only checking his camera. He has never done this anywhere and is reluctant to. I stay as long as I can since my flight is apparently leaving in an hour and I haven't gone thru customs yet. When I last saw him, he was getting on a flight to sri lanka...

I go thru customs and get to the gate area. I am relieved they have a duty free shop...I buy 2 liters of JW blue label and get two 1/4 liters free...$135 each!!! I digress...

I find out our flight is delayed 2 hours and wyatt's flight hasn't yet arrived from wherever. Wyatt should be right behind or coming thru any second, but he is nowhere to be seen. Our flight ends up being CANCELLED til the next day (someone had a stroke on board the incoming flight so diverted to mumbai). Still no sign of wyatt and his flight is boarding. I talk to the head cheese and he says 'mr. Gallery decided not to take the flight and took his bags back' WHAT!?!?

The kid has nary any money, doesn't speak the language, has no mobile phone...oh, did I mention he was white in an otherwise caramel countryside? I have him paged but to no avail. I even left a msg and text for amy.

The airline ends up putting us up at a nearby hotel for the next 12 hours. Flight is scheduled to leave here on tues at 2:30 and arriving at 6am in dubai, then catch a 8am flight to nyc (15 hours long).

So I am currently in the hotel writing this and worried sick that I lost/left my boy in india somewhere. He has a ticket back to the states, so my guess is he may try to change it and skip sri lanka altogether...seems like it may not be meant to happen.

Not sure what to do now...on email and celly for the next 8 hours (we are 10.5 hrs ahead).

Cheers,

Matty