Namaste everyone!

So about 2 hours ago I arrived at the Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, India. I had a 7 hour flight to Brussels, Belgium followed by an 8 hour flight to India. While reading this it probably sounds like a lot of time to be stuck on a cramped plane but, to my surprise, it wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. For one, the airline was really advanced and modern with a huge selection of various movies and shows to watch. I literally had my jaw dropped while I was browsing at the selection list. I winded up watching The Hobbit, Horrible Bosses, and Les Miserables during my flight. There were, of course, a bunch of Bollywood flicks and I thought it appropriate to watch one but I opted out since I just wanted to watch something I was already comfortable with. Also, the food was actually really good. I know right airline food is infamous for it's horrible food but the airline I flew with served us great dishes and ice cream! I had free ice cream made with delicious Belgium chocolate on my flight. That was something I never expected to have while on a plane.  They also had free liquor on the plane but I chose not to drink in fear of being drunk on a long haul flight. Aside from movie watching, I spent a lot of my time just looking out the window and observing the view below me. At one point that I distinctly remember, we were flying over Afghanistan and all these thoughts suddenly flowed into my mind. The fact that below me was a country in a war zone and in turmoil boiled in my head and I thought about what it would have been like to have landed in Afghanistan and to travel around and see with first-hand eyes the situation that our country is so heavily involved with. Anyway, a huge point to mention....I was so fortunate to, during my flight from Belgium to India, have two seats to myself which allowed me to lay down. It was like being on first class! While we were boarding, my heart was literally beating whenever somebody walked by because I thought they might be sitting next to me. However, nobody did and I got the whole thing to myself-Yay! Right now, I am sitting in a airport Lounge in the India airport awaiting my flight that arrives, unfortunately, 6 hours from now. The lounge has unlimited wifi access, all-you-can-eat and drink (alcohol included!) buffets and comfy sofas.I can already get a sense of the warm hospitality of this area--hopefully more to come!

So I also wanted to make a short list of random tips on how to survive long-haul flights that I learned through experience; Here goes

• Do many different things- I found that one the best methods in making a long flight seem like a short period of time is to always keep yourself busy with various different activities. Don't just think that it'll be a breeze if you just watch the entire trilogy of the Lord of the Rings (I thought that and it didn't work). After one movie I just got incredibly bored and irritated with movies and had to switch to another activity. In my view, the more activities you engage yourself in, the more time seems to fly by fast. 
• Check out the magazines in the compartment in the seat in front of you. I just did this today actually and I occupied my time for a good hour and a half. They usually are filled with articles and pictures that pertain to the destination your going to. That being said, you can find lots of travel ideas in those magazines.
• Bring extra snack food! You probably heard of airline food being one of the worst things humanly possible. While it can be manageable at times, it can be hard to swallow. And not to mention your following the food schedule of everybody else so if your hungry and don't have snacks packed with you, your out of luck.
• Put your carry-on in front of you. Although you might sacrifice ample leg space, it sure beats going up into that compartment every time you decide you need something. I used to put it up there and it just became such a huge inconvenience.
• Get up and move- I usually like to go to the bathroom 3 times while I'm on my trip even if I don't have to go to just relax, wash your hands, wash your face, etc. You'd be surprised how good hot water feels on your skin while stuck in a plane. 
• While it might make sense for you to stay up extremely late the night before so you can easily sleep on the plane I wouldn't advise doing it because you just don't know if you can or can not properly sleep on a plane the same way you can do in your bed. I did this when I went to Japan and regretted it because not only did I not get sleep before my flight, I didn't get sleep on my flight and I had to adjust to jet lag. Not a good mixture at all. You should get adequate sleep before your flight so your well rested and feel fresh as opposed  to tired and mopy.

Well guys today is the day I depart for my flight to Nepal. I wanted to make a short blog post conveying my current feelings as I wait.

• Everyone always asks me prior to going somewhere "Are you excited?" or "Are you nervous?" and, quite frankly, I just do not feel any of these things or be it anything! I got this way before I went on my one year journey to Japan. It's strange because you know your excited and you've waited for this moment for so long yet, internally, you feel apathetic to the fact. Granted, occasionally I get little spurts of either excitement or anxiety here and there but it isn't consistent. If I try to think back to when I went Japan there wasn't a set point where I fully acknowledged where I was; it all came in stages. So, it's probably going to be the same way with Nepal. Come to think of it, while I was in Japan there wasn't really a time where I fully acknowledged and appreciated where it was. It was actually after returning home to the United States that it all sort of sunk in sporadically. After you get over the initial hysteria of being home you kind of sit down and just think to yourself of the times you had and how much it changed your life. While I was in Japan, I never thought of it as life-changing until after I came home. So, with all this said I imagine a similar reaction from Nepal but this time it might be even more significant. I guess I should brief you guys on what exactly I'll be doing in Nepal. Basically, I'll be volunteering with this program called ELI Abroad (Experiential Learning International) in which I'll be working in an orphanage helping the children get ready for school in the morning and also playing with them. Also, I'll be working at a Buddhist monastery during the afternoon to teach Buddhist monks English. This kind of freaks me out sometimes because I'll be given two big responsibilities. So yeah, that part makes me a little nervous. While I did teach English in Japan, I'm still a little insecure since I haven't done it in a while and the environment might be different in Nepal. And for a while I've been freaking out on how I am possibly going to establish bonds with the children with the huge language barrier and then I thought to myself: If I can have a great time with my 9-month old niece, Abby, who obviously doesn't speak yet, then I can do the same in the orphanage. This was a recent revelation that left me relieved. Well, my flight leaves at 6:30pm tonight so I guess I'll write back either in the airport or in Nepal! Wahoo!

What Travel Means to Me: A Short Tidbit

To start off my blog I just wanted to write a short paragraph of what travel means to me.
By the way, welcome to my blog! :-)

Definitely one of my favorite quotes about travel:

"Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends."

-Maya Angelou

• Travel, to me, is much more about the gorgeous architecture and stunning natural wonders. Sure, that's an important factor that draws us into travel but there is a much deeper meaning that travel results in. I found that the more I travel, the less I see myself and my country as a separate entity from the rest of the world. Before I began traveling, I viewed the world as "them and us". Until engaging myself in the world, I never realized how flawed that perspective was. The world certainly gets both smaller and larger the more you travel. Smaller, in that we begin to realize that while our customs may be different we are all human on the inside. We all laugh, cry, play, sin and each find a unique way to live our lives in the utmost significance to the world around us. We begin to come to the realization that we are, in fact, in this together. Bigger, in that as you continue to travel you simultaneously begin to realize the enormous density in the world and the complex yet interesting places the world has to offer. Also, I found that when you travel you naturally establish a personal connection with the land you visited. You feel intertwined with things that are happening in that particular country. Subsequently, we naturally exhibit more care and passionate interest in world events and current affairs when we travel. I found that when I returned from a particular country I was much more interested when the mention of a country's name appeared on the news screen than I normally would have been. That being said, the more we travel the more we become engaged in places we previously thought of as unimportant and insignificant. This makes travel an imperative aspect in our lives. There are thousands of different stereotypes of other countries due to various factors like media bias and political quarrels and discontent between nations. I found some people go ahead and blindly believe these stereotypes without even traveling to the said country. Rather, let us actually talk to the people of a country and unravel the truths that one might not get via partial media exposure. We will truly never know until we actually go "there" and meet "them" and begin to contextualize the core truths of an issue and find a mutual understanding that we all are surviving in this world together and the best thing to do would be to see every person equally as a human being. At least, this is what I get out of travel. While what you get out of it may be different, there's no denying that travel plays a huge role in our lives.