A Long-Expected Journey

Originally written July 17, 2014

In less than 12 hours, I will be in Kathmandu! I don’t think it has quite hit me yet, even though I am sitting in the New Delhi airport where all prices are in rupees and the chips come in flavors like “magical masala.” 

Ellen and Caitlin, two of the other ETAs, are here as well. We departed the United States roughly 19 hours ago—yet it feels as if time has stopped moving, like we are in a bubble. In a way, we are time travelers, moving into tomorrow well before our friends and families back home reach it.

***

The journey began at 4:30 in the afternoon of Wednesday, July 16, as my mother and I left our house on the way to Newark International. It halted temporarily at, of all places, a Sam’s Club, where I ran inside to pick up photo prints destined to become an album of American life for my host family. Subjects included family, friends, the Hudson Valley, and of course, my precious poodles. 

Traffic made the ride stressful, but even worse was the airport official who insisted that my lack of an Indian visa would result in my being sent home with a $5000 fine. He was wrong, thankfully, and I boarded the plane successfully after an emotional goodbye from my mom.

The flight passed quickly in bursts of fitful half-sleep. I lost awareness over Greenland and awoke over the snow-capped peaks of eastern Afghanistan. There were many awesome movies that I wanted to watch on my little personal screen, but in the entire 13-hour flight, I only managed to watch Muppets Most Wanted. 

Some interesting experiences:

-landing in the middle of a thunderstorm

-an intimidating airport security guard with some sort of automatic rifle

-a luxury sari store

-from the lips of a bathroom attendant, my first “Namaste!”