TRAVEL

My Travels began on Monday June 27th at 11:30 with a ten minute car ride to the bus station. I took about an hour ride in a Peter Pan bus to Logan airport; I got checked in at Logan and stood in the security line for about an hour before getting to my terminal half an hour before boarding. My flight from Boston to Newark took a little less than two hours. Then I waited in Newark airport... where you have to pay for the internet... and there are no outlets, except for Samsung stands every other gate which were crowded by dozens of people. I don't like Newark airport. I think it is like being in Purgatory, though I have never been there. I think that is where God will send people He is not sure what to do with. The only thing good at Newark airport is the Starbucks shop where not only did I get a small sip of heaven, but I also found an outlet for my computer and phone.

Then I boarded the jet for Deli and we took off at about 8:30pm on Monday. Our flight took us north towards the arctic circle. We just barely crossed into the Arctic circle at the northern most point over Scandinavia. I actually watched the sunset at the same point in the horizon for the first two to three hours of our flight.

We then headed south through the Caucasus region and actually flew over Kabul, Afghanistan at about 37,001 feet, which was our peak altitude. Here is a picture of the mountains just north west of Kabul as we flew overhead. It is pretty desolate.

After spending a little over 14 hours in the air we touched down in Deli at 7:47pm on Tuesday, almost "24 hours" after take off. There is actually a nine and half hour difference (I will explain later.) Customs was easy, getting our luggage went smooth. The guys who were supposed to meet us at just past baggage claim were there and ready to go. I stepped outside the airport and despite all the heads up I recieved about he smell, I did not find it overwhelming, it was just like walking out of the Mexico airport or the Guatemala airport; so nothing terribly new there. I did see this fancy cab that I had to get a picture of though...

AAHH... my first sight in India...
Our guides got a cab for us (not like the one above) and we headed to the train station about thirty minutes away where we waited for about two hours for our train. They said that sometimes trains are delayed as much as thirty hours, usually becuase the weather conditions in other parts of the country get really bad and there can be land slides that cover the tracks. If that happens a train has to back up to the last crossing and take a different route to get to Delhi. It was a common sight to see people laying on the ground, on mats or newspaper, sometimes whole families as they wait for a train that may be a day late.

The train station was the first experience of something that was uniquely Indian. It was 10pm and the train station was pretty full. I am told though that it is nothing compared to rush hour. People consider the train tracks as a place to through waste and a place to do their business as there are not portapoties there. It smelled like human waste.

There were people walking along the tracks picking through whatever garbage was there in order to find something that could be of use to them. We boarded our train on time and found our bunks in our sleeper car... with air conditioning and we headed for Dehradun. Our train arrived in Dehradun at about 5:30am on Wednesday or 7pm on Tuesday EST welcomed by the Monsoon rain... YUP... MONSOON...

We arrived at the guest house shortly before 6:30am here or about 8pm in Boston.

It comes to a total of 32 and a half hours of travel. Yeah... sleep...