Mooventures

We landed in London around 7:45am, and were welcomed to the U.K. with a 2.5 hour wait at customs to exit the building.  Apparently the lines have been long the last few months – I hope they can get a more efficient system before all the Olympics traffic begins!

A friend I met while traveling in Mexico several summers ago, came to pick me and Laura up at the airport. We went back to his place where we got a proper welcome with authentic English tea.  Then we were off to do a little sightseeing of London. We started with lunch near Charing Cross station and then walked through Trafalgar Square, past Westminster Abbey, and made our way to Buckingham Palace. While we enjoyed seeing the sights of London, both Laura and I were struggling to stay awake due to our lack of sleep on our first flight.  We forged through the day, and were able to meet up with some other friends (shout out to Doreen and Devon for their patience with us during our “zombie” hours!) before we headed back to Heathrow for a 10:00pm departure for Delhi.  At this point, we were exhausted and really hopeful for some sleep on the flight. I was hoping to make it without getting sick. Fortunately, both goals were met and we arrived on an uneventful flight this morning at 11:00AM. I managed to force 2-3 hours of sleep, but by the time we landed I was delirious!

We were welcomed at the airport by one of the coordinators of the program.  He got us into a cab and were taken to the place we’ll be staying for 2 weeks. I’d heard time and and time again about how hot it would be here, and so far it really is THAT hot!  Even in the cab with the windows down and the air coming through, I could feel the intense heat emitting through the windows.  In the short 30 minute ride to the complex, my arm that was by the window got burned!  We finally arrived at the complex and another coordinator of the program met us at the door.   We were then taken to our rooms and  which are much nicer than I anticipated.  I’m not able to post any photos right now (I’m at an internet cafe on a time crunch).  We will each be sharing an air-conditioned room with a bathroom.  The downside? We don’t have an actual shower – just 2 faucets over a large slab of tiles with some buckets.  Interestingly enough, there is also no cold water coming out of any of the faucets – only warm or hot.  Hopefully having AC will help counter the warm washing.

After a quick snack and catching up with our friend Jami (she arrived last night) I went to my room and slept till dinner at 7:30.  Right now it’s just me, Laura & Jami, but everyone else in the program should be arriving tonight or tomorrow.  There is not wireless or internet connection in our complex – so far this internet cafe is the closest thing I’ve been able to find. As a result, I’m not sure how often I’ll be able to blog, but when I get a chance, I will. I’m anticipating many more stories as the adventure continues!!

The last 72 hours (including any and all time zone changes) have been…eventful! This post is about the first flight of 2 to get to Delhi.  Our flight left JFK airport on Tuesday evening.  All day leading up to the flight, I had a slight headache but right before we boarded I took 2 advil hoping it might help.  About 3 hours into the flight, I made my way to the bathroom and got violently ill! As soon as I stopped puking, my head instantly clogged up: my nose was stuffy, my ears popped, and my throat closed up and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Fortunately, that feeling only lasted a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity.  I was washing my hands and face and when I looked in the mirror, I noticed that in the top corner of my right eye, there was a huge red splotch. I looked closer at it and started to worry as it seemed to be getting more red as I looked at it.  I finished washing up and made my way back to my seat, knowing there wasn’t much I could do until we landed.  It wasn’t till we got off the plane and my friend Laura looked at it and said it looked like some capillaries had burst there. So after a sleepless night on a 6-hour overnight trip, I learned a new meaning to the term “red-eye” flight.

I’m one step closer to leaving the country! I arrived in Long Island last night to meet up with my friend Laura, who I’ll be traveling to India with. We were chatting last night that the anticipation around this trip has been building for so long, that we’re both ready to just get there.  We’ll spend the day here and our flight leaves tonight at 7:30pm.  Our first stop will be in London – we have a 15 hour layover so we’ll be able to get some sightseeing in. We both have some friends we’ll be able to meet up with and it’s nice to break up the very long flight to Delhi.

I’ll be in the air during the NBA draft, so I’m hoping someone (I’m looking at you Leon, Sekou and Jason) will please comment with the highlights (Anthony Davis, Dion Waiters, Austin Rivers) and any big surprises! I might be leaving the world of sports for a bit, but my sports pulse will always be alive and kicking!

Well, I managed to set up a blog before leaving the country- it’s a miracle! I can’t believe I leave in 5 days! The last several weeks have been nothing by packing, packing, packing! Not only for the trip, but also prepping my place for the two fantastic friends who will be staying here for July and August. While it has been stressful at times, I’ve found it has forced me to purge unnecessary “stuff” in my house. Very symbolic since I’m hoping this whole adventure will help me purge of some of the mental baggage I’ve acquired over the past several months.