There is no Such Thing as a Typical Day

Start out in One Place, End up in Another, Here's a blow-by-blow account of today's activities

    We woke up this morning in Sri Lanka, our last day there.  I went for a run, and we had to pack up our stuff because we were leaving for the airport later in the morning. 

    Went down for breakfast at the Hotel guest house where we were staying, it's called the Norfolk Airport Villa, and is owned by a British guy who was born in Sri Lanka.  He lives in Norfolk England, hence the name. 

    At breakfast we sat next to, and had a long conversation with, a couple who were traveling.  The man was Austrian, and his wife was Hungarian.  It's common to meet other travelers while on the road yourself. 

    We went to the airport and got there a little early, which is a good thing because it took a super long time to check in.  One of the biggest irritations while traveling is dealing with airports, and customs, and check-in, etc.  They seem to apply the rules differently all the time, and it can be a real drag, especially in countries who are not very efficient. 

    The flight left on time however, and we were on our way to India.  They actually served a meal on the flight, Indian curry, not bad for airplane food.  I love Indian curry, and I'm looking forward to enjoying several curry meals and other Indian foods while in the country.

    There are a lot of quirky things that can happen in other cultures.  For example, on the plane, the flight attendants went down the aisle to clean up the food trays, and they did one side all the way down, and then went back and did the other side, weird.  They also collect the headsets about halfway through the flight, like they start to clean up way early.  "Hey, I'm watching a movie!  Can't I just wait until the movie's over?  The flight goes on for a long time."

    So we arrive in New Delhi, India late in the afternoon, almost evening.  We have another hassle getting Indian visas to allow us to visit the country.  You would think that countries would encourage tourists to come and spend money, but they make it really hard to get permission to enter.  You have to really want to go to India, because you have to jump through a lot of hoops to get there. 

    We were met by a driver - a first for us - we usually make our way to the hotel or wherever we're going.  But we have actually hired a car and a driver for the time we're in India.  We had planned to maybe rent a car, because we're going to be moving around a lot, but we got a lot of advice: You can hire a driver and the car for as much as it would cost to just rent the car, and you really don't want to drive in India. 

    The driver took us to our Hotel in downtown Delhi, and by the time we got there, I was already glad to not be driving.  This place is intense!  

    We walked around the area by the Hotel, and the nightlife was buzzing, just a whole buncha people out doing shopping or going about their business.  It was fun.