Welcome to On•the•Move Musings: a weekly-update-series where I reflect on my time exploring the globe; a place to record all the little details from travel that, despite being so special, my pigeon brain could likely forget; a space to show gratitude for where life’s daydreams have taken me; a few moments to stop and write during the chaos of long term travel. I’ll be posting every Friday (at least trying to!) to share some good vibes and wanderlust before we head into the weekend!
Hello from: Newark, New Jersey. My flight home from Delhi was delayed more than 15 hours, and then I also missed all the connections to Chicago they tried to get me on. Hopefully I’ll be home later today! But for now, a nice hotel and room service is more than welcome. But it does mean you get another iPad version of the blog, sorry!
Musings: I’ve been trying to think about how to describe my time in India– it’s hard to put into words. It was completely exhausting and uncomfortable. The country is home to 1.34 billion people (as of 2017) whereas the population of the United States is 327 million (as of 2018). India has a billion more people than the US (a billion!!), and it’s expected to overtake China as the most populated country in the world by 2050. So you have to imagine what that translates to when you visit… it’s crowded and loud all the time. To be fair, we only visited cities, so I’m sure peace and quiet could have been found elsewhere.
I remember being a week into my trip and realizing I had heard a loud noise (whether that be a car honking or call to prayer blasting or street animals barking/mooing) every millisecond of everyday for a week straight. And it hardly ever stopped the whole time we were there. One night as we were going to bed, it was the most quiet we’d heard and we actually thought something was wrong haha. Was there a fire and they were evacuating the city? The constant noise definitely contributed to the exhaustion in a way you can’t anticipate until you experience it, and that’s just one of many things that made us tired everyday.
One night, we were going out to dinner, so we had showered and I was putting on some mascara to help me feel like a woman again. Ellen looked at me and said, “Oh I love your eyeshadow.” I started dying laughing because I did not bring any eyeshadow to India. At least the brown tint of tired, grimy eyes suited me! Haha.
But besides being uncomfortable and low on energy most of the time, I also had SO. MUCH. FUN (and saw some truly impressive buildings, like the Taj Mahal and Mehrangarh Fort). I got my birth chart read by an astrology guru and learned how to cook from a woman with an incredible life story. I met fellow travelers and laughed more than I have in a long time. I gained confidence in myself and made memories with my cousin that I’ll cherish forever. I know I’ll be thinking about this trip for a long time.
Journey: This was taken at the beginning of the 10-hour train from Varanasi to Agra. Well it was meant to take that long, but I swear we were sitting there stopped more than we were moving, and it ended up taking 17 hours. Have I mentioned India was exhausting? 😂
Currently Watching: The King on Netflix starring Timothée Chalamet. I love me a good period piece, but I mostly wanted to watch because I’m a huge fan of Timothée (and I knew nothing about King Henry V). It also has Robert Pattinson in it with an interesting performance by him.
If you want to watch Timmy’s best movie so far, go watch Call Me By Your Name. It’s about being young and falling in love for the first time. It perfectly captures those emotions you’ll remember feeling as a teenager… when everything is so intense, so deeply felt, and so confusing but real. ALL THE FEELS. And the acting is amazing.
Words: “Everything will be alright in the end and if it’s not alright, then it’s not yet the end.” –The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
2 thoughts on “On•the•Move Musings: 12/20/19”