Not all those who wander are lost - J.R.R. Tolkien

I’ve always thought that the best stories of travels are when you go outside and experience it in the cheap way. I mean, when you are facing them you think you are in a place called hell. Yes, while you are living them, you might not be so happy, but once they are in the past, you wish to be there again because even though you felt miserable at some point, that was an experience and you survive and now it’s all laughs.

India sounds amazing; it is exotic, a far away place full of colors and Bollywood, I couldn’t ask for more. I was so excited to go there but my first day there was slightly different from what I imagined it would be. First of all I am pretty sure I was pale and in my eyes you could see fear. India IS an amazing country, but it is so different from what I was used to, that I had a strong cultural shock. Thoughts like “What I am doing here? How many days till it’s over?” were running like Usain Bolt in my mind. I was freaked out.

First of all we arrived to the airport and a van from the hostel went to pick us up, so far so good. But then, we went outside the airport and this chaos of trucks, cars and tuk tuks were crossing our way like a cattle on E and no direction at all. It was three in the morning and it looked like everybody was awake and decided to take a night ride. The streets were full of crazy drivers trying to make their way. After around twenty minutes of that we arrived to a calmer area. The lights were faint, there was dust everywhere, and there were also piles of garbage every ten steps and cows sleeping next to them. My cousins and me were seeing this image with our mouths and eyes wide open. The van stopped in something that looks like an apocalyptic scene from a movie and I was just waiting for a zombie to come out and attack us. We took our big backpacks, we started walking to this not so bad building that had a bright sign on where you could read “HOTEL” and we thought that was ours. We were mistaken. The driver called us up and said that the hostel wasn’t that way and he pointed to a really dark and small alley. My heart started to beat so fast when I saw that. Everything was close and you could hear water leaking. At the end of the alley it was our hostel, and it said: “Sweet Dream INN, homely comfortable stay.” I can assure you it was everything except a homely comfortable stay. But after that, more minutes in India passed, and, the day I had to leave that amazing country, I was already thinking in coming back.