It’s 11:18PM in New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport and I’ve been here, dozing on and off in a lounge like chair, for most of five hours. I left what was my home about 48 hours ago. It’s no longer my home as I have moved out (the previous owners were foreclosed on and I was kindly given 60 days notice to vacate. I decided to leave in 30 and start travels) and currently have no permanent residence. ‘Permanent residence’ is a funny phrase and only one of those two words is ever marginally accurate.
What’s so boring about this post about traveling for two days straight to get to the far side of the world? It’s what most travel blog posts are not about. I didn’t get robbed, become shipwrecked on an island, meet the Pope or Michael Jordan or even some Hollywood star. I’m sitting in this lounge chair waiting patiently until four hours before my flight so I can check in and hand over one of my bags. I have four more hours until that time and I am listening to the Chinese girls next to me chatter on and on, endlessly it seems, while a man in white Pumas blasts his iPhone powered headphones too loud on my right.
It’s boring. But that’s not bad. I’m without internet access (gasp!) and my battery is nearly dead after lining up three weeks of guest photographer posts. That might be the most exciting thing I can subscribe to so far; that my laptop battery is nearly dead. It’s an artificially dire situation, but it beats me telling you how many laps the floor cleaning Zamboni has made in front of these lounge chairs.
My flights were mostly on time. We avoided some rough air out of Chicago. The meals were decent. I had a good selection of movies to watch. Immigration in India was simple and the line was short. My luggage showed up as planned. The bathrooms were clean. I had ample connection time in Chicago and didn’t have to run. I even had enough time to enjoy a sandwich. People let me into the aisle when it was my turn to exit the plane. The luggage carts are free in New Delhi.
Who wants to read about that stuff? It’s boring as hell. I’m well fed, have had enough to drink, TSA security in the USA didn’t suck. Blah.
Travel writing is almost always about the exciting times, and for good reason. Often they are the most thrilling and give a sense of adventure. But face it, not all travel is like that.
Some trips (so far) are a good kind of boring we often lust for but never report on. It’s often a compliment to the carriers involved when we report to friends and family, “It was a nice, uneventful flight.”
Uneventful doesn’t make headlines and grab readers though.
I will do my best to have some grand adventures and spice up future posts about this trip to Nepal, Bhutan and India (I’m here in the airport for transit this first time, coming back in five weeks for a one week inspection tour to decide if I want to offer photography tours in the country or not).
Until then you are left with this pleasant, boring, uneventful blog post without a captivating picture.
“Everything is going well.”
Sometimes boring is better and funnier. I let out a yay!…for free luggage carts, a personal win for humanity. Beating hunger would be better but one step at a time.