BEEP BEEP!

(Jan 28th)

Approximately 12:30 am we arrive in Chennai airport. As we're walking out of the airport, the sea of Indians holding signs with names emerges. Thankfully we saw "Miss Cassandra, Miss Kelly, Miss Cassie"

That was our driver, and that was almost the extent of his English capabilities.

As we left the airport, I truly felt like we left everything I was familiar with.

There were so many people.

There were so many people staring at us.

There were so many people honking.

I'm talkin', there wasn't a two second period without some sort of vehicle honking.

At the airport, as you can imagine, the traffic is ridiculous - bumper to bumper everywhere you look. But that heavy traffic doesn't mean anything to those behind the wheel: They're literally just laying on their horns for minutes at a time as if they have no understanding of the fact that there are indeed people in front of them. And as a traffic jam would have it, people in front of them as well.

So, we loaded up into our car, taking a second to get used to the fact that the driver's side was now on the right, and we would be driving on the left. It's funny because as much of a familiar concept that is, it took us all 5-6 times of trying to get in on the wrong side of the car to remember how things were configured.

On the 3 hour drive from Chennai to Vellore, in the state of Tamil Nadu, we were like the kids who could see disneyland, or the beach, outside of the window. But instead of 100% excited, I was about 50% excited, and 50% reeeeeeally nervous about everything.

"Yeah, that was a cow. Did you see that?!" "Yep, there's another, and another......there was one in the middle of the street - we just swerved around it!"

After a few cows, I started to realize this was a normal thing.

And this honking business, was apparently normal too, because our driver honked at every, single, car, we passed. Some of the big semis even had signs painted on the back saying "SOUND HORN."

Even though my amigos and I were beyond tired from all of our traveling, mixed with the fact that it's about 2:00 am, there were still people absolutely everywhere. Besides those that were awake and walking around talking to others, there were also those that were obviously homeless, and were literally lying/asleep any place they decided to stop: Middle of the sidewalk, on the side of a pile of gravel, on their bicycles that had actual seats on them, anywhere.

About 30 minutes into the drive, I had experienced enough, and needed sleep. See you in Vellore in a couple of hours.

Namaste.

Where you book matters.

(Jan 26 5:00am)

It's true-where you book DOES matter. What they don't tell you is, read the fine print when booking flights.

I'll skip the long saga of trying to book my tickets to India, including the not one, not two, but THREE times my bank shut my debit card down for trying to book them. To make a long story short: Bank of America has a really great fraud protection program, they thought I was an imposter trying to book tickets to India.

When I was standing at MCI Airport, in Kansas City, none of that mattered anymore. I had finally booked my tickets - much thanks to Kelly Scott and Judith Reagan and others for the help! I had my tickets, and my "lightly" packed bags and I was ready to go.

Until, that is, the man behind the desk for said "Uh-oh..." followed by "We have a problem."

Come to find out, the policy for my particular airline says you have to have at least ONE hour between connecting flights to check baggage. Between Dulles, Washington D.C., and JFK, New York, I had 49 minutes.

What does that mean?

All of my baggage will have to be carried on. There I stood, 6 a.m., with one duffle bag inside of a giant suitcase, one duffle bag that contained another smaller carry on bag that was going to be my "purse". Immediately I nixed the giant suitcase. Originally I had planned to take this along to pack all of the things I was to acquire over the next 5 weeks.

Down to two oversized bags, my next task was to convince the security guys at the airport that my things could fit in the overhead compartment. You know those obnoxious people you see on movies, and sometimes (unfortunately) experience in real life, cramming their enormous luggage into the overhead compartment, and all you really want to say is, "Seriously? That's not going to fit, my friend."

That was me. Hello, nice to meet you. I'm the obnoxious traveler.

In the end, my bags managed to fit - but all of the liquids I had that were more than 3 ounces had to go. Apparently, I am a serious threat with my shampoo, conditioner, hairspray, mousse, and toothpaste. Let me tell you! After parting with my lovable liquids, all I really missed was my toothpaste. I'm finicky about my toothpaste - I've used the same type for at least the past 6 years that I can remember.

Moral of the story: where you book matters. I sincerely blame this entire incident on the online booking website for not informing me of this discrepancy in time. Sure, as the picture shows you above - they guarantee you the best price. The price you pay in the end, is a small token of your sanity, and a lot of fatigue hauling your 60 lbs of luggage through busy airports for the next 36 hours of travel.

Namaste.

The Daunting Task:

Today I begin the process of archiving my entire experience of India. It's going to be a long, daunting, and difficult process - especially one that will be of a slightly skewed perception since I am archiving rather than recording my journey in real time.

Who knows, maybe reminiscing will help me to learn more about my travels, and process ideas or events I hadn't even thought of before.

I ask you to please bare with me in this process, hopefully you'll find something interesting in my updates. Feel free to ask questions about anything you think of.

Namaste.