Saturday 17th

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I tried not to think of the flight too much before but this morning I had the heebie-jeebies. I thought food might help to take my mind off things, but it was so hard to find food, which I could ‘trust’ there were so many unknown foods and so many flies. I settled for some marble cake and a muffin, both of which were covered in cellophane. I did indeed feel unprepared to leave V behind and start my Indian adventure without the guidance of a friend and local.

On the plane I started to freak out, as I had been unable to find a flight attendant to make them aware I was scared and when I found my seat I realised I was sitting in the emergency exit. This is both a no-no for myself and for the airlines normally but the stewardess I had told about my problem did not seem to worried to move me. As the doors closed and the plane started to move, with me still in the emergency exit seat I started to cry and panic, as I did not want to spend the whole flight in that position of jeopardy. A kind passenger told me to move a few seats back and I ended up sitting among a crowd of pilots and stewardesses on the way to Delhi for work. They spoke to me throughout the flight to keep me distracted and only my shaking legs gave away my fright. It was there that I learned it is possible to buy baby saris, this concept I found cute but also bewildered me as how it would not come undone on a child is a concept I cannot get my head around.

I got to Delhi after a slight delay and was worried I had missed my ride as I could not see the boys in arrivals. So I went to try find a phone, to call up the driver and check he was waiting for me, as once out of the airport we were not allowed back in. Unfortunately I managed to roll my baggage cart over my flip-flop causing it to break. So I had to find a phone with one bare foot. The driver said that he was waiting for me so I headed out. The journey was long and I fell asleep but woke up for the last leg of the drive. Delhi was not as I had imagined, I was later to find this was due to the fact we are at least an hours drive (in good traffic) away from Delhi in Faridabad. Faridabad should be synonymous with the middle-of-nowhere.

I dropped off my bags and went to say hi to the boys. I was starving and they said the only place to eat was McDonalds, so we all went and had a snack, as dinner was not until 9/10pm. I cannot believe I ate McDonalds at all, let alone in India, (let alone multiple times now!). However the vegetarian options are rather tasty and definitely help to fill a hole.