Without the knowledge of travel days, one may be tempted to believe that we just glide effortlessly from country to country when actually quite the opposite is true. Therefore to enlighten people to the reality of travel days here is the account of my (and c-squads) journey to Nepal.
Thursday August 30th:
8:00am: I wake up with the very real dread of packing.
8:30am-3:30pm: I very successfully avoid packing.
3:30pm: I complain about packing, pack for 15mins and then take a nap (to further avoid packing.)
5:00pm: After pounding all my stuff down in my pack by jumping on it for ten minutes, I am officially done packing.
7:30pm: The bus, that we were supposed to be packing up by this time, is nowhere to be found.
8:00pm: We are informed by our logistics guys that the bus is in traffic, but will be here in 30mins.
8:30pm: No bus.
9:00pm: The bus arrives.
9:30pm: We are finally on the road! One step closer to leaving India!
10:10pm: I notice the panic on the face of the guy who is in charge of logistics and I hear rumors of our 8am
flight being cancelled.
11:00pm: The rumors are true. Our flight has been rescheduled to 10:40am Saturday September 1st.
Friday August 31st:
12:00am: We arrive at the Mumbai airport to drop our squad coaches off.
12:15am: Our squad leaders go in to the airport to fight our case to the airlines. Meanwhile everyone is praying for a free hotel.
12:15am-2:30am: The whole squad (minus the squad leaders) tries to sleep in a hot overcrowded bus. Picture bodies’ everywhere and sighs of exasperation every few minutes.
2:30am: Squad leaders return with the news that we cannot sleep in the airport, and they will not pay for a hotel. The hunt for a cheap hotel that holds 30 begins.
2:45am: We arrive at a nice hotel. Logistics and squad leaders go in to investigate and of course because we are white they raise the price.
3:00am: We arrive at a very sketchy hotel the “check Inn”. Squad leaders go in to investigate while everyone who is awake in the bus laughs (and maybe cries) at how awful and scary the “check Inn” looks. Pretty sure if you check in you don’t check out.
3:15am: To everyone’s relief the squad leaders announce they don’t have a good feeling about the “check Inn” The new plan is to drive an hour and a half away to a YMCA. Looks like sleeping mats and hopefully a fan for us tonight.
4:45am: We were all pleasantly surprised when the bus stopped at a hotel with A/C that was located right around the corner from a McDonald’s. I don’t think twice about McDonald’s at home, but McDonald’s on the race is like a little piece of nice, comfy, a/c, America.
5:00am-10:30am: I sleep in a small room with 5 other girls. It was a bit crowded, but it was clean and cool which equals the best night of sleep I had in India.
10:30am-5:00pm: I spend my time enjoying my extra day in Mumbai with my best friends, with shopping of course.
Saturday September 1st.
5:00pm-9:00pm: I eat, complain about packing (its what I do best) re-pack, and finally go to bed.
5:00am: All packs are ready and set in the hall.
5:20am: Our packs are carried downstairs by our manly men.
5:50am: Packs and people are loaded and the bus leaves.
7:00am: We arrive at the Mumbai International Airport.
7:00-10:00am We do all those important airport things. Check in, go through security, and get coffee.
10:55am Plane takes off. GOODBYE INDIA!
1:30pm: We land in Kathmandu Nepal.
1:30-3:00pm: Time is spent doing tedious things like applying for visas, going through immigration, and getting our bags. Trying to get a group of 30 through immigrations is a long long long process.
3:15pm: We meet our contact Reuben and head to our placement.
3:45pm: Home sweet home (for a month).
So there is a little glimpse into World Race travel days! If you have made it through this list then congratulations! The list is long and tedious, but the most I can do to paint an accurate picture of travel days.
So next time you wonder how world racers get from country to country, recall this list and say a prayer…because Lord knows we need it!
