Travel Days
It seems that every time you make a vow not to do something,
it comes full circle 5 times worse. That is exactly what has happened when it
comes to traveling. I thought it was awful that my TV didn’t work on my 15 hour
flight to China. Little did I know that would be first class compared to some
of my travel days this year. Let me give you a small glimpse of a travel day
for the World Race:
The trip started at 9pm on Tuesday evening in Hyderabad.
Twenty-four people loaded their packs on the bus and we headed to the airport.
We arrive to found out we have to sleep outside for 6 hours before we can ever
go through security. Nothing beats sleeping on the cold concrete ground with
one eye open to make sure no one steals your pack. 4:30am rolls around and it’s
time to get everyone through security. After a few minor arguments with the
airport staff we make it to our gate just in time to load. The 2 hour flight
was enough time to get into a deep sleep just to be woken up by announcements
saying “chairs need to be in upright position.”
Safely in Delhi, it took about 2 hours to figure out where
we could keep our packs for the afternoon- Evan is a freakin’ baller at this! The
12 hour layover was filled with food, fun, and no sleep! At 7pm on Wednesday,
six teams made their way to the train station to start our next leg of the
race. Everyone arrived at the same train station two hours early- could things
really be going this smoothly?!?! NOPE! Just a few minutes after the last team
arrived, we found out we are all at the WRONG station. We now had 1 hour to get
taxis, load our bags, race across town in traffic, get through security, and be
on the train. Was it possible?
By God’s grace the last person jumped on the train as it was
starting to leave! It took a few hours to get settled in (thank goodness it was
a 14 hour train ride). I have to admit, despite all the chaos, it was great to
see everyone again! Familiar faces with great stories seemed to lighten the
mood a little bit. We all safely departed the train at 11am on Thursday just to
turn around and put our bags on a bus to continue our journey. We drove 4 hours
to the boarder, got our Visas, and kept striving to our destination. The
supposed “eight hour trip” turned into twelve hours with random stops, sweater
vest jumping off occasionally, lots of laughing for the back of the bus,
sleeping with the Mexican blanket, and so much more.
FINALLY at 4am we arrived in Khatmandu just to find out, we
were still a mile from our hotel. Everyone piled off the bus, grabbed their
packs, and started hiking the streets of downtown. At 5am my head hit the
pillow… hoping I would woke soon and this was all a dream J
Welcome to the World Race travel days!
