Let me just say upfront, this was one of our longest and most exciting travel trips. It took a few days so I'll start at the beginning. If you love details, read along. If you get bored you don't have to finish it all, I don't mind. This just gave me something to do with my time!
Friday, Sept. 9th
- 5:46pm – Leave our home in the village by Targu Mures for the train station. Last team photo with Pastor Zsombor.
- 6:50pm – Interesting bathroom visit with Blake and Sarah. First we accidentally went into the men's WC (water closet), then we had no TP, then we found some leaves and thanked God for the free TP!
- 7:15pm – Train leaves for Bucharest. It got a little chilly at night!
Saturday, Sept. 10th
- 5:40am – Arrive in Bucharest train station. Grab some McDonald's for breakfast.
- 7:30am – Navigate the metro and arrive at the Happy Hostel.
- 8:30am – 11:00am – Nap 🙂
- Rest of the day – spend time catching up with squadmates, go out for a good meal, rest.
Sunday, Sept. 11th
- Early til night – Spend time with the X-Squad women in the park, prepare for the "front lines" of India with worship and prayer. Walk around the mall, buy our last chocolate milks and candy bars for the trip. Find some $5 headphones to replace my broken pair. Eat some pizza with Jill, Frank, Kelly and Sarah in the mall food court.
- 9:45pm – Taxis to airport
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10:10pm – at airport, set up camp.
- 11:25pm – sleeping on the floor in the airport with my mat 🙂
- 2:05am – wakeup, eat potato chips (don't think I can sneak them by security)
- 2:15am – play Bananagrams
- 3:45-4:15am – attempt a nap. Failed.
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5:04am – abandon sleep and play Settlers with the group. Jam and bread for breakfast.
- 6:40am – check-in
- 7:30am – long line for security
- 8:40am – plane to Moscow!
- 11:45am – Arrive in Moscow (Time change to 12:45pm)
- Layover – Skype with Caleb, check finances/team receipts, T.G.I.F. with Steve, Sarah and Blake
- 6:45pm – Get on plane. Excitement over good movies, comfortable plane.
- 7:45pm – Taxi back in, check system failure on plane?!
- 8:15pm – Get off plane, receive a free drink ticket for inconvenience.
- 8:45pm – Enjoy free Coke, new plane is prepared.
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9:00 – 9:50pm – Talk with Vlad, a Ukrainian Hare Krishna Hindu. He is very open, joyful and even shares his yogurt snacks with Steve, Val and I. He quit smiling for the picture 🙁
- 10:00pm – attempt to board plane. Checking in by hand…slow process.
- 10:50pm – songs on the shuttle bus, delirious by now – everything's funny.
- 11:04pm – actually make it to the plane, strive to stay awake for the in flight meal.
Monday, September 12th
- 1:00am – 4:00am – Sleep!!
- 4:30am – Descent into Delhi. (Time change, 6am)
- 6:15am – Airport, border control
- 8:30am – Metro (delayed for 35 minutes)
- 9:15am – Cross the street to train station. See cows, trash, fast cars, lots of Indians.
- 9:18am – reality check…I'm in India!!
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11:05am – Board train
- 11:35am – Train leaves the station, team eats spicy Indian "sandwiches".
- 12:00-1:30pm – attempt sleep. Wake up because someone touches my feet. What I thought to be a passerby was in fact an Indian man sitting on the end of my "bed" to watch my teammates play cards. I lay there awkwardly as he continued to sit and thought this must be what Boaz felt like waking up with a creeper Ruth at his feet. I hoped this would not end with a marriage proposal…
- 2:00pm – Fun conversations with Sarah
- 6:00pm – 4:30am – Sleep!!
Tuesday, Sept. 13th
- 4:40am – "Western Style Bathroom" experience. No words can describe.
- 4:50am – eat my last melted Lion bar from Romania
- 5:00am – Play Battleship with Frank
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5:30am – Fruity cake for breakfast. See the sunrise, random wild pigs in the field.
- 6:30am – Cockroach scare. Brandon and Frank freak out as our Indian friend flicks it to our seat. I laugh 🙂
- 7:05am – Chips for a snack.
- 7:25am – Battleship with Sarah, conversations with my new Hindu friend
- 10:30am – Cake #2 eaten.
- 11:00am – 2pm – "Sleep"
- 3:00pm – Get off train
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3:20pm – People stare at us for long periods of time/video tape us while wait for the next load to go in the car.
- 3:52pm – Car to bus station
- 4:15pm – Bus station, more waiting.
- 5:30pm – 6:00pm – Get on bus to Ongole/struggle with loading packs/figure out prices
- 9:30pm – arrive at bus stop.
- 10:00pm – arrive at our home for the night.
