Namaste from New Delhi

I can hardly believe that I am in India. It feels a bit decadent to be taking a trip so soon after my last, but the timing could not be helped. Compared to my journey to Egypt, the journey here was unremarkable. The flights were on time, there was no airline strike, and no strange co-passenger talking to the TV in front of him. This time, all I had to contend with was a loudly snoring woman behind me and a strange woman who commandeered the empty seat next to me, ostensibly to give her husband/child/whomever more room in which stretch out and sleep.

You have a lot of time to think when you are traveling across the globe. Time to feel the weight of the trip before you, to roll new words around on your tongue, and to contemplate the adventure that awaits. I tend to use the time unplugging from my ‘previous life’; that is, letting go of the stresses and tedium of my life in Portland, and plugging into the the travel life, which is complete with its own unique stresses and tedium. As much as I complain about the time and effort of international flights, I find it vital to my mental preparation for a new country. It gives me time to ease into the right mode. To reset my mind.

As usual, I am meandering through my thoughts when all I really want to say at this early stage is that I’ve arrived safely. The weather here in Delhi is warm and a bit humid, but not overly so on either accounts. The city is loud, chaotic, hazy, and exactly as I expected…so far. I find that Egypt was good preparation for the pace and the decibel level 🙂 Later this evening I will be on a train to Jodhpur and will travel through Rajasthan for the next two weeks, then I will return to Delhi for volunteer work during my last week in India. I will write more as events progress. For now, however, it is time to check out a bazaar and see if I can hunt down some decent coffee. Preferably not that blasted Nescafe that seems to haunt all of my trips (and which is here in India as well). And you thought Starbucks was ubiquitous…