I love following other travel photography blogs and seeing images from others' experiences of the world, but sometimes I want to get beyond the beautiful pictures and ask, Didn't you have just one flight that was delayed? or Please tell me I'm not the only one who fights with my husband on travels.
The truth is, things go wrong. It wouldn't be an adventure if it were all perfect images and sunshine, so in the interest of full disclosure, here are a few of the "behind the scenes" moments of our travels in India - the good and the frustrating, both of which I'm sure we'll remember with fondness one day, turning to each other to say, "Remember that time in India when...?"
- ...upon arrival in Delhi, I picked up a newspaper and read that the airline we were taking to Dehradun just went bankrupt and was no longer operating.
- ...we found another flight and had to rush to our gate, but I was so exhausted I could hardly stand, so when we got there, I sat down and cried and had you get me some apple juice. Then, boarding the plane, you looked at me and laughed, with my juice box in one hand, granola bar in the other, pregnant belly sticking out, and tears running down my face.
- ...a few pairs of my earrings were stolen from my checked bag.
- ...it was way colder than we expected, so we had to shop for hats, gloves, and more clothes, all of which we slept in.
- ...the place where we stayed had a leaking water tank directly over the toilet and thus a flooded bathroom floor at all times, no hot water, a fuse that kept blowing with the space heater, and a missing window pane, so I didn't shower the whole first week and we slept in our hats, gloves, and 2 layers.
- ...we went with our friends to see the most popular Bollywood movie of all time.
- ...many of the car rides and the crazy driving made me sick.
- ...the other place we stayed had no toilet paper, no soap, and no towels, which was not good news after a week of no showering.
- ...my first shower started out pleasantly steamy and switched to freezing cold just as I had wet my hair and drenched myself.
- ...you were my pack mule and carried all the bags because my back hurt so badly and I was so tired.
- ...I was really excited about the wool sweater I bought, but it had prickly grass interwoven into it everywhere and was way to itchy too wear.
- ...I thought being 5 months pregnant wouldn't affect my energy level, but days spent walking totally exhausted me and my body hurt all over.
- ...we thought we could show up at the train station and book tickets to anywhere, so we didn't plan ahead, but almost all the trains were booked.
- ...we got in a fight over which bus to take to Jaipur and gave each other the silent treatment for 1/2 a day.
- ...we were tired of Indian food and so excited when we saw a Dominos Pizza and Dunkin' Donuts.
- ...I kept confronting the men staring at me everywhere we went.
- ...we fought on Christmas day because you were walking too far in front of me and I was tired of being harassed in the streets.
- ...we went site-seeing in Jaipur on Christmas Day, but we ended up being the main site, with so many people wanting to take our photo.
- ...we came home and food poisoning hit us both a day later, so on New Years Eve we went to bed at 9pm because our bodies were in major recovery mode.
And in the further interest of self-deprecating humor, I leave you with selfies gone wrong: