I'm a huge fan of executive airport lounges. You pay 20-30 quid for a comfy seat, wifi, a plug socket, a shower, all the alcohol you can drink, and some (admittedly questionable) food. I consider it as much of a holiday essential as the SPF 50.
However. I did not fully appreciate the Delhi climate (37 degrees today), and the effect this would have on recovering from a skinful of gin.
The standard of driving here is far worse than in Africa. The horn is used frequently and liberally, no-one pays any attention to lanes, and people drive the wrong way down dual carriageways. My taxi ride from the airport took 50 minutes, and the driver used the horn 71 times - I counted (with clenched, sweaty fists) as a way of controlling the urge to scream/vomit.
I'm hoping to have some memories of this trip and not spend it entirely pissed (especially in light of the weather!) but, to be honest, I'm going to do whatever I need to do to get through it. My fear of being a car passenger or pedestrian is no better, and being a driver or cyclist is just unthinkable at the moment! I did wonder whether or not I'm currently strong enough to face my fear of traffic on this trip, but I think the 'sink or swim' philosophy is the way forward, I'll travel by train quite a lot, and if I need to hit the bottle - so be it!
I've met some people I'll be hitting the road with, and one girl I'll be sharing a room with is a nurse from Nottingham! There's a rooftop bar where I'm staying tonight, and then we went out for a curry. The spiciness scale in the UK in no way translates to Indian perceptions of spice (even the poppadoms had pepper in), and I'll be sticking to kormas from now on! Tomorrow I'm heading off to Jaipur, neckig prophylactic loperamide, and trying to pluck up the courage to ride in a rickshaw!
Love Emily x
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