When the world is spinning around you, just sit and shut your eyes.

It has been a whirlwind of two months.  Here I want to share some of my reflections on Delhi,  unexpected changes and life in general.

A whole lot of changes require a whole lot of flexibility. None of my plans to stay on a farm in India for over a month, head to Nepal with friends and then to Iceland went as intended. There were a few contributing factors to this, on the farm I got pretty ill with no sights of getting better (lack of clean water, food that I was able to eat, etc.) and of course, there was the tragic earthquake in Nepal which continues to be a concern for those involved. Despite all of this, I had to find a way to feel content and confident in the many directions that I have been moving. 

If you have ever backpacked, you know the feeling of being unsettled. I know this feeling very well, but it is much different with 100 pounds on your back at almost 28 years old then when you are 20 and anxious to meet people and see everything. After all of this commotion, Mike decided it was going to be best if he left to go back to the USA and wrap things up at home with his business and our house. I went back to Delhi because I have commitments that I needed to attend to in Europe at the end of May. 

I spent two days on my own in Delhi. I do not recommend for females to do this. Though I never felt unsafe, I took every precaution imaginable. I rode the women's only section in the train, came home before dusk, carried pepper spray and a knife and stuck to the areas that were suggested to me. Having to be so vigilant really takes away from being able to enjoy where you are. Delhi is also very dirty, you can wipe the pollution off of your face at the end of the day and your throat will most definitely feel sore. I don't mean to diss Delhi, there are some great places and great people, but you will quickly want to head out of the city and into a place that is more manageable.

On May 2^nd my friend Brittany arrived in Delhi, she has quite a story of her own. Brittany's husband was already in Nepal before the earthquake volunteering for the Himalayan Rescue Association, he had no idea of the gravity of the earthquake until a few days after it happened. Thankfully he was fine, but it really changed things. Originally the four of us (Mike, Remi, Britt and me) were going to meet up in Manang, Nepal. The details don't matter, but things changed a lot. 

Brittany changed her flight from Nepal to go to Delhi a few days before arriving, we took a chance and waited to hear more on the conditions in Nepal. It was a day to day thing, we really had to think on the fly in addition to being in a hyper-aware state of your surroundings.  We decided that we could spend a few more days in India touring the Golden Triangle which is much safer and more touristy and that I would fly out to London on May 15th on my originally booked flight back.

The only problem was that my visa was going to expire on May 5^th  and the office I needed to extend my visa at, wasn't open until the 5^th. MAY 5th WHAT A SHIT SHOW! Going to the FRRO (passport agency for foreigners) makes the DMV look like heaven.  We woke up early with all of the papers that I thought I needed and sped to the office. We had two plans- one with visa extended and one with visa denied. If we failed, Brittany would meet Remi in Kathmandu, and I would be on the next flight out to anywhere. Keep in mind we had shoddy internet access on my inconsistent Indian Airtel phone and were taking a huge risk! If I got denied and couldn't get on a flight I faced huge fines and potential jail time. 

Here is where it started to get fun :) 

We got to the office and it looked like the wall street trade room of Afghani refugees. In no way do I mean to offend anyone by that statement, but it was true. We met some great people that were trying to migrate into India from Afghanistan... but there were so many of them! The security would try and push back the crowd and they would wander straight back up to the front. Chaos, confusion and clearly frustrated employees- I knew I had a very unlikely chance of getting my visa extended. 

It failed. I didn't have the right papers, no one cared to help, the issue wasn't an emergency and certainly I had the money to buy a new ticket and fly home because I am white. No one wanted to hear the case. That was fine. Thankfully we sort of had an escape route, it's just that we hoped we weren't going to have to use it! 

We used our fitness skills to get us quickly back to the hotel. Sprinting up stairs, jumping through crowds, pushing our way to the front of lines. We were sort of laughing and smiling all the way through, every few minutes stating that we couldn't believe we were doing this right now. The poor girl just needed a break. I am so thankful that I was with her though. She is the best person to be with in this situation, when we sat in the back of the tuk-tuk, she was like "ok, let's meditate" ha! She is probably one of my only friends who could handle that without a breakdown. Resiliant and smart, she's the best.

Now I am in Milan, it was the cheapest and most familiar destination that I could have gotten to in three hours notice. After a few days in Milan I head to Portugal to stay with family.  It actually works out quite well because now I can work on planning our wedding. 

Recommendations for Delhi:

Lodging: If you want to stay out of the madness of the city and get some quiet time at night, stay in Guragaon, it is a bit out of the way but worth it in my opinion. At a reasonable price you will get clean rooms, sheets, pillows and a pool. You can easily take the tuk-tuk to HUDA City Center and ride the metro in. If you want to stay in the city, stay at the Hyatt Regency near the FRRO Office and Hauz Khas Village, go any further in to the city and you will not feel safe at night walking, in order to really enjoy where you are, I recommend staying close to Hauz Khas.

Transportation: Take a prepaid taxi from the airport to your hotel. Use tuk-tuk to get from your hotel to metro, and metro to get anywhere. It is clean, fast, cheap, EASY TO UNDERSTAND and free from pollution (do expect to wait in line and but cut in line for tickets, you must be aggressive and push your way to the front- they mostly all speak English. You will also have to go through a pointless security check point). In Chandni-Chowk go by rickshaw, they are unbelievable at navigating on their bikes, plus if you want to avoid stepping in God knows what, you should do it. Never take a bus, always keep your bags on your front side, bargain your rides they will try to charge you way more than it's actually worth.

Top Three Eating:
Karim's hotel- best food ever.
Old Jalebi Walla
Select City Walk ( has a plethora of trustworthy, clean and delicious restaurants. I recommend to go to the food court, where you buy a card and fill with rupees and use this to pay at each vendor stall- this food court puts the best of the US to shame)

Top Things to do: Go to Chandni Chowk, eat some jalebi from the “old jalebi walla”, butter chicken at Karim's and then head to the spice market for an authentic experience. Also visit the Sikh temple for the best tour of all- it is free and you get a guide, you will have to take off your shoes but it is very clean compared to the hindu temples, it was a beautiful experience for Brittany and I. Visit the Ghandi Memorial, India Gate, Red Fort and Qutub Minar. Visit Select City Walk (a mall where the wealthiest people of India shop) for a western oasis of air conditioning, clean water and food- best store here: The Good Earth. Also worth a visit is Hauz Khas Village, this is where you will find the trendiest bars, shops and restaurants. The upper casts definitely are hanging out here. Lastly if you do anything: GO TO THE KINGDOM OF DREAMS, it is like the Universal Studios of all that is India. I can't explain, just go, if you did only this while in India, you would have gotten a very westernized, but very accurate taste of all that is India.

What to buy: Camel Leather Slippers, Pashminas, Saree, Kurta, Spices- drive a hard bargain and watch out for fake Saffron- real saffrom will be 200/300 rupees per gram.