I.N.D.I.A.

In Agra, we got separated from the other girls, and with no way of communication, we just went to the train station and hoped that they showed up. Earlier in the day we had talked about catching the 4pm train to Delhi. We arrived to the train station and it was an absolute mess. It was so crazy and stressful that I didn't get any pictures at any of the train stations. There were people everywhere. Everyone was in a hurry. There were small children beggars everywhere. There were people curled up in the middle of the walk way asleep. It was loud, it was smelly. There is no air conditioning at any public place in India. The platforms were full of people sitting waiting for the train. There were many stray dogs and other animals wandering around. I went to stand in line to buy 4 tickets, while Ashley waited outside to see if they showed up. There were about 12 different lines and only 1 of them was for women. So I waited in the line patiently. As I got to the front, women were shoving me out of the way and reaching their hand to get in front of me. I was not the only one, I watched this happen to everyone as I got closer. I had my bags and I stood with a firm foot as I bought the tickets. 4 tickets to New Delhi (3 hrs away) cost US$5. Concerned that the man had not asked what class I wanted, I found someone to ask where we were to board the train (the ticket was in Hindi). We found an English speaking man who told us that they were bad tickets that we bought because there were no assigned seats. When we got on, we would have to fight for seats, and there was a chance that we would be standing the entire time because of over crowding. 30 minutes until the train was to leave, the other girls were still not there. We were so stressed out that we decided to ditch our bad tickets and purchase bus tickets.

We found a driver to take us to a travel agency that would sell them to us. (By the way, notice how trusting we had to be of strangers...). When we got the agency, the man said that they bus would leave in 15 minutes. There were pictures of nice coach air-conditioned buses, so we paid and got our tickets. When the bus arrived, SURPRISE! We were on a “local” bus, which meant that every seat was broken, there was no air-conditioning, and it looked as if they picked it up in the junk yard. Me and Ashley were 2 of 3 women on the bus. By this time, the sun is starting to go down, so we find our seats and again, and say a little prayer! Exhausted from the day, we both fell right to sleep. About an hour passed and I woke up. We were pulled over in a random small town somewhere between Agra and Delhi. The bus had broken down. GREAT. Have no fear though, they got it running again pretty fast! As we were pulling out of a mechanic, the bus backed in to a person and a pole! Someone looked back and said “they're ok!” and we continued on our way. The “2” hour drive turned in to a 6 hour drive. We kept stopping for breaks at some more random truck stops, but this time, we decided it was safest to stay on the bus. It was around this time that it hit us.. “what in the world are we doing?! We are so crazy!” We had no idea where we were, no idea that this bus was actually going to Delhi, we had no plans of where to go when we got there. We met a couple of Germans on the same bus, that we conversed with about how crazy we all are to be in this situation right now. They were our age, brother and sister, traveling around India. Finally, it was after 10pm and the bus pulled over on the side of the road. I guess we were in Delhi? We got off to find men swarming us trying to get us to get in their taxi. We tried to explain that we needed to get to a hotel by the airport. Language barrier hit us hard.

We finally found a man who spoke enough English to get us in to his car. Again, no proof that he was legit, or that he understood what we were saying (which he didn't). Drivers in India work off of commission, so every time they take people to their friends, they get a cut of what we pay. This driver was the WORST. First, he did not speak English, and had no idea of where we wanted to go. After taking us to about 9-10 nasty hotels, we asked him to take us to the Radisson that we had passed a while ago. He didn't understand, so when he took us to some one else, we asked them to translate. The translator was just as bad! He told us that there was not such a hotel, even though we had just seen it, and he said that it would be 20,000 rupees for one night. Ashley got mad, threatened to call the police, and the guy finally took us to the Radisson. When we got to the 5 star hotel (which was really nice), we were desperate. It was almost midnight, and we were beyond frustrated and tiered. The Radisson was completely full, so they helped us find another hotel. After calling several hotels, they finally found a hotel that had rooms available. We asked to use the Radisson's driver because ours was not going to take us to the right place. We finally arrived to the Hans Hotel. It was paradise. It was a “5 star hotel”, which was really like a 3-4 star according to American standards. After filling out some paperwork and paying for the room, we were escorted to a room with 2 beds, and a Western flushing toilet. AMEN. By the time we got to our room, it was already after midnight. We had not eaten a single thing ALL day, since the night before at the truck stop. I had been wearing the same shirt for 4 days, and had only brushed my teeth once. I took the longest and best shower of my life and ended the night with room service dinner, before climbing in to the hardest/ most comfortable/ stained sheet bed. That night, I slept like a baby. In the morning, we had complimentary breakfast which puts to shame American continental breakfast. It was a feast! After being refreshed, we headed for the airport via subway. Once on the subway, we randomly saw our German friends again! What a coincidence that we were in the same place at the same time! They were too headed for the airport. We told them about out horror story, and then exchanged contact info with them. Once at the airport, we could finally breath. Things started getting SASy as we ran in to some familiar faces headed back to Cochin.

2 connecting flights later, and the biggest sense of accomplishment I have ever experienced, we landed in the Cochin International Airport. Waiting for us right outside was our driver who dropped us off. He took us back to the ship and we returned home.

The first thing that I did once back on board was head straight to the 7^th deck and ordered a Cheeseburger and Fries. NO SHAME. I deserved it! We met up with our other friends to make plans for the last day in India. We ended up taking a water taxi in to town to do some more shopping and exploring. I was told on multiple occasions throughout my trip that I look 100% Indian, especially with my name. I also had 2 different people on 2 different occasions say that I look 16. In Agra, I had another old man propose to me. He said he was in love with me. He also confessed that he was married and had kids my age. Gross. Crazy.. There were articles published in the local Cochin newspaper about our visit. They said that the program costs 1.5 million rupees, and that if someone had that much money, they would never have to work another day in their life. This explains why people inflated the prices so much. Something that I am grateful for from this trip is that I did not get travelers diarrhea as predicted from the ship doctor. This was good and bad. It was good for obvious reasons, including the lack of toilets, but it was bad because we didn't get sick because we barely ate anything the whole week, and we were also VERY dehydrated. Because we were backpacking, we couldn't carry much, and there was very limited safe water for us along our journey. The next week after returning to the ship, I had to replenish by eating fruits, veges, and meats, and drinking A LOT of water. India was a success! I am alive. I am well. I am blessed. As our German friends said “Nepal stands for Never Ending Peace And Love” and I recited from a movie “India stands for I'll Never Do It Again”. I am very happy that I went, I am very happy that I did everything that I did, but my India urge has been satisfied, and I will most likely never do it again.
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