The flight

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May 6, 2012

Namaste..well not quite yet!

I am traveling to Delhi with seven other students from Ottawa University.<span> Everyone gets a long really well so far; probably because we are all a little bit crazy to be going to live and work in India for three months.

Traveling to Delhi has not been without its challenges.<span> Most of us only slept a few hours before our flight to Toronto in anticipation of sleeping on our flight at 2:30<span> p.m from Toronto to Delhi (which would put us on Delhi time as our flight would have been during night time Delhi time…if that made sense).<span> I was particularly hungover and, have yet to<span> gain my appetite back but maybe I am just nervous.<span> As the universe would have it, the flight was delayed not by two hours…but until two in the morning.<span> So here we are…8 students from Ottawa U in Pearson with a looming twelve hour lay over.<span> Luckily, Michelle’s dad offered to have us all at their house for dinner/naps/relaxation until we needed to be back at the airport.<span> Michelle’s house is in Burlington and I took advantage of the opportunity to see my aunt Celine and cousin Katherine.<span> I was able to put in a three hour nap and come back in time for a BBQ dinner at Michelle’s.<span> Despite napping and eating everyone was pretty zoned out and we all laid down to watch Jurassic Park III and the beginning of the Day After Tomorrow before heading to the airport.

Flight to Delhi: Take Two.

The flight was delayed because the pilots from Air India had called in sick.<span> They were protesting a change in their training schedule- clearly taking a page out of Air Canada’s book.<span> I had assumed the plane never showed up, OC Transpo style.

We checked in, triple checked that our luggage had made it from our connection twelve hours prior and everyone got to sit together on the plane.<span> The seats have more leg room than regular planes so I wasn’t as bummed that they refused to give me an Exit Row (Yes dad, I tried but apparently only able bodied persons can sit there).<span> I took some melatonin and passed out for the first six hours.<span> I watched the Descendants and thought George Clooney did a very good job in it.<span> It is very slow to pick up and I don’t think I would be able to sit and watch it at home alone.<span> We had dinner shortly after take off, needless to say I picked at it.

When the flight attendant asked me if I wanted “Vegetarian or chicken?” I asked “What’s the difference?” and she literally snarled at me “The difference is chicken or vegetable.” Yeah I know my question was dumb, lol, my bad.<span> I ate most of that and two pieces of cucumber followed by a spoon full of plain yogurt.<span> Not really my style but I have this feeling in my gut that plain yogurt will follow me these next three months.<span> I figure if I can acquire a taste for Sushi…I can suck it up and like plain yogurt.

Our group sticks out like a soar thumb being the only group of students traveling on the plane.<span> The flight attendant was even curious as to what we were going to do in India and Stephen went to the back of the plane and got some insider information on the place he would be staying once we leave Delhi.

I am kicking around the idea of whether to try to sleep some more or if that will just screw me over.<span> We are landing at 12:50 a.m Delhi time and I slept six hours from 2-8am Ottawa time (during the day if you look at is as Delhi time).<span> I hate math- stupid time change.<span> I think I’ll try to stay awake the rest of the flight so that I will probably be tired by the time we check into our hotel in Delhi.<span> I was really excited to arrive in Delhi in the day time to really take it all in.<span> I wonder what things we will see while traveling to our hotel under darkness.<span> Spooky wooky I am sure.

We are currently flying through the daytime and into night time shortly.<span> When the windows are shut it is soo dark in the plane perfect for sleeping.

MOM: the inflatable pillow saved my life.

MYTH: The plane will smell really bad on the way to India.<span> It doesn’t smell bad at all- except the washrooms.<span> But I mean come on- we are 9 hours into a packed flight to India.

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