Chapter 1 - arriving in Delhi

 With so much anxiety leading up to this trip, it was a bit surreal to sit my butt down on a plane. The first flight to Adelaide only took a couple of hours,  which I slept for most of. Then on to the long flight from Adelaide to Delhi. There was a girl sitting next to me, around my age maybe, I thought I was an anxious mess! I guess I just don't portray it outwardly, she was very.. jittery.  I didn't manage to sleep, started watching a couple of movies  but grew bored quickly, watched a few episodes of a couple of shows, I don't remember what they were now.  I spent some time on the plane journalling.

Landing was a  bit stressful, I just kind of followed everyone else through the airport. I wasn't sure where my parents would be, I paced a bit around the exits, and then spotted my mum through one of the doors. It was a relief to see them, but I think my parents were more relieved to see me. Last time they saw me, the day they both left, I was very thin, and a total mess. I've come a long way since then, I guess I'm only realising that now.  


Getting from the airport to the hotel we stayed at in Delhi, omg the drivers here! No one seems to follow any road rules, there's lanes on the road no one uses, and constant beeping! People whizzing around on scooters and motor bikes, often with 3 or more people on them. Seeing 2 adults and 3 kids on the back of a scooter, no one wearing helmets...! apparently the only person who has to wear helmet is the person driving the bike or scooter, so if there is an accident, they know who to blame!

 We had dinner at the hotel, and I was exhausted. The next day we did a long drive down to Agra, to see the taj mahal. That was a challenge, everything still felt so surreal, and I was trying to manage anxieties around a new place, a completely different culture  and covid anxiety - the taj was very busy. It was beautiful architecture, guess I could tick that off my bucket list if I had one ha.

 We stayed in a hotel in Agra called the taj view, which was a bit fancy. Dad quickly commented "don't get used to this, samrat isn't like this at all" we took a tuktuk from the taj back to the hotel - my first experience on a tuk tuk not gonna lie, it was terrifying! At this stage I was still trying to manage a lot of covid anxiety (I've since managed to let go of that and relax a little). Breakfast at the taj view was yummy,  I had a perfectly crispy dosa! Yumm (once a foodie always a foodie!)

 The drive up to rudraprayag where my parents have been living took all day, i  spent most of it looking out at the different scenery, as we whizzed thru cities and towns, hills and cows, people, poverty, pollution,  noise. 

As we approached Northern India, the landscapes changed dramatically. Hills became mountains, greeted by beautiful rivers. It all still felt very surreal.