October 16th, 2011
Here we are, finally in India after over 30 hours of travel. We left the Berkshires on Thursday morning and took a train to the city, it was standard procedure for Justin and I. We stayed over night in a little hotel on the Upper West Side. The trip through the city was a nice way to warm up to the billion people we would soon find upon arrival in India--a big difference from the suburban, and somewhat rural, Berkshires. We woke early on Friday morning, because we couldn't wait to begin the journey, and also to get the plane trip out of the way. Our shuttle got us to JFK airport with plenty of time to change our money. So we watched as our American dollars multiplied by 44. Man did we feel like we were getting a great deal.
Everything went smoothly for us as we easily made it through security, and then on to have a lovely last non-veg lunch at a little irish pub. There we overheard a mother explain to her young son about how he needed to hydrate, and use hand wipes and how everything would be a little bit different once they arrived in India. It was very sweet, and in someways I felt like the mother was speaking to me.
So then we boarded, and although we took off from JFK a bit later than expected we were not kept waiting. We flew on Air India so all of our announcements were first made in Hindi and then in English. I was left enough time to try and remember some of my Hindi vocab. Our trajectory took us up through Canada, over Iceland and Greenland, then came Russia, Kazakstan, Ubekastan, Afghanastan, Pakistan, and then to a safe and early landing in Delhi 13.5 hours later. Justin was on the window as we passed over the beautiful snow-covered mountains of Afghanistan and he shot some photos. It was so clear he was able to pick out Kabul from the sky. Neither of us slept much, but that was okay because by the time we caught our connecting flight to Hyderabad and then a taxi to our hotel we felt it was truly 11 pm (although it was only 2 in the afternoon EST).
The Taxi ride felt like a whole other trip in and of itself. Justin's first experience in Indian traffic didn't dissappoint. We left the airport at 7:30 pm and didn't quite understand we would be dropping another passenger at his home first, and then continue onto our destination. Our driver had to stop about four times to ask for directions and then while in traffice asked another 3 or 4 people for directions to our very lovely and quiet resort--off the beaten path.
We were relieved to see it was clean and quite comfortable against many other Indian resort standards. We have a tub, a western toilet, TP, and hot water. Now we just have to get used to the heat and the power outtages "cuts" and we'll be all set.
All my love and thanks for reading. Stay tuned for more....
