Hello India!

Originally posted on September 3, 2011

I’m here! And let me just say, airplanes are not glamorous in the least.

After 23 hours on 3 different planes, I finally made it to this very sweaty country! Eating a total of 4 airplane meals, reading numerous magazines, watching tons of movies, and getting hardly no sleep is just the beginning of my travel adventure. Turns out, my one checked in bag is about 9 hours behind me (luckily, I planned that out and have all my clothes in a carry on). The unlucky part, an unexpected surprise came my way on the plan, which I was only barely prepared for, and am now make-shifting my ideas to accommodate. Not fun!

But it hasn’t been all trouble! The New Delhi Airport is HUGE. I almost didn’t make my connection as I walked through the halls filled with gorgeous statues and random paintings on the walls. This is where my bag got a bit lost and didn’t keep up with the planes. My first time going through immigration and customs was interesting and educational. Fortunately, the man who helped me was a real sweetheart and knew exactly what I needed. When I finally made it into Chennai, and after figuring out the lost bag situation, I exchanged my money and headed to get a pre-paid taxi. There are pre-pay taxi booths everywhere, and all of them look extremely sketchy! Afterwards, the younger guy walked me all the way over to the taxi drivers, and as i walked up a huge hushed whisper started. Then a few ‘woots’ and i head the word ‘american’ bantered around. The guy who took me in his taxi high-fived others on the way. Sketchy! At this point, I was not going to get in the car! I was was a bit nervous, but I felt peace that I would be safe.

Roads in India are completely different. If you think a taxi driver in America is pretty bad, he doesn’t compare at all to the man who took me to my hotel. He was going 90 and slamming on his brakes. We ran through 3 stop signs and a red light. (I’m thinking he is a good example to me.) He honked at other cars almost the whole time, enough to make me think that sometimes he was just honking to honk. But he got me here all in one piece! And this hotel is absolutely gorgeous with some amazing service!

I am exhausted though and ready to pass out. With time to get some sleep before heading to Rising Star! I’m so excited! Soon, I will post pictures and keep updating!