Stuck in the Delhi airport

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I am in India. I probably should have gone for this whole visa thing. I'm sitting here waiting and have no idea what they plan on doing with me. But regardless, I am happy and excited, finally excited, it certainly took long enough! Hmm, slightly worried about my luggage, just need to scoop it up and check into another airline. Wish I wouldn't have run out of time at home, this would have been much easier.
Some woman came by and (very mysteriously) took my passport and escorted me up to the 'transit lounge'. She has my passport and tickets, I feel naked without them!
Sof rot the first time in the history of his life, my dad was wrong. Took the NE route from Chicago, over Canada, Greenland, Russia, Kazakstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and finally India.
My bum hurts. It would be a nice change of pace to sleep laying down at some point. Raisins! Way too sweet. But free. And free is good.
Have all personal documents back in my possession and have been sleeping on the floor with about 20 others for 4-5 hours, though it is difficult to tell. I have no idea what time it ise, though it's 4pm at home and I don't feel like doing the math.
The bathroom ladies gave me trouble for not tipping them, but I am not about to get Indian Rupees. Pointless. I feel like I'm halfway through this sleepover. There are scary uniformed officers of some sort wearing all beige with black berets. The man has a hand metal detector and looks pretty serious about his job. I feel like he'd whip out a semi-automatic if you tried to get past him.
It looks like we are somwhere like a mall. Lots of duty free shops but with the occasional gate sign... and guards, lots of guards. It's like at Grand Central or Penn Station in NY how you don't know from which gate you are leaving until 10 min before depatarture. A bit disorganized and terribly inefficient if you ask me, but I am pretty sure no one did.
I feel like I am in some sort of bad movie- and I'm not allowed to take pictures to document because it's illegal to take pictures at the airport- what? Okay, your country, your rules. I'll follow them just so I can get to Kathmandu in one piece.
There is a group of trekkers en route to Kathmandu who are leaving here on the same flight as I. The one guy is Nepalese and the rest are American. I just noticed he is wearing a Penn State hat- I love Nepal already! Not a bad first impression at all!
There are liquor stores all over this place, and cigarettes. Though it seems not TOO different here, I really have no idea what to expact after this hour flight. Ah yes, 15 hour overnight layover for an hour flight- glorious!
Even the pizza is spicy- mmm. I lvoe being in a place where vegetarian food is the default option and i"m not some kind of weirdo for that choice. Very comforting.
That $30 for 4-5 hours in the comfy lounge upstairs was worth every penny. Couches, a clean bathroom, free food and drinks were quite worth the upgrade from sleeping on the floor admist dust bunnies and peanuts.
Finally aboard flight #3 and nearing the 36 hour travel time mark. Gosh, this is such a production. Let's pray I can obtain an Indian visa in Nepal, please.
Turbans come in every color imaginable here- the most fashionable fellows coordinated with their outfits- very cute!
Oh the plane starts moving with people still standing up. I feel safe. But hey, we were handed individual damp wash cloths scented with some aeromatherapeutic scent- soothing!
PS- I am not particularly large, but this seat is entirely too small. I have to angle my legs so they don't jam up against the seat in front of me and my shoulders extend into the sculpted head rest area. I think people may be smaller in this part of the world...
The Indian houses appear very different from overhead. they look like little Leggos, perfect squares and rectangles with flat roofs. Looks like you could just stack them all up on each other!

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