India was 11 months ago. Almost a year ago. This thought doesn’t seem to really settle in my head yet. Sometimes it feels like a lifetime ago. I’ll be honest, I dont even want to write this post right now. I dont know what to say– or really how to feel. I’m more sad now than I was 10 months ago that it’s over. I mean, I cried on the plane coming home– I mentioned this, but right now, I feel more sad than ever that it’s over.
You can see all India posts HERE if you’ve missed them and care to check out the wonderful journey 🙂
After Agra, we headed back to our first and last destination, Delhi. Still, almost a year later, I think Delhi was the perfect first (and last) stop to India. A good middle ground between rural life and huge city life. We had a few things planned in Delhi— but mostly dinners and goodbye and few surprises too.
This looks like I’m at a bachelorette party. Sort of. I mean, if I were to have had a bachelorette party (I obviously didn’t– I had ZERO desire to), I would have probably opted for curry and naan too. Cause I really like to party 😉
The driver points to the metal bar on rickshaw: “seat belt” Hailey points to guy: “air bag”
We all lived, no real seatbelt or air bags required. We all were over stimulated (in the best way) on this rickshaw ride. I don’t have pictures because everything was a literal and emotional blur, but driving through he allies of Old Dehli was a trip– so much glitter and gems and pom poms and all the things to drool after.
This was one of the craziest and most populated areas for sure. A real life game of frogger. We made a stop for spices and teas to bring home.
We then surprised the ladies custom tailored sari’s. We had a fitting at the beginning of the trip, telling everyone they were being filtered for their Holi (cult looking) outfits, but really, we were having each lady measures to have a custom souvenir to take home. While it was a bit difficult to go through and pick fabric for this occasion– it was so worth it. We later picked the pattern for each lady, after meeting them– and I think it went well! We asked the ladies to meet us in our hotel room where we had snacks, champagne, wine, and the sari gifts waiting. It was such a girly and fun moment 🙂 I think all the ladies were happily surprised! And they all looked so beautifully stunning for sure!
All the saris matched somewhat in color or pattern– but Lisa convinced me to purchase a different one– “a birthday one” if you will. And so I did 🙂
I’ll be completely honest— I think most of us were half asleep at this dinner. We were TIRED! Two weeks of non stop traveling in India can be a bit tiring— I mean, two weeks traveling ANYWHERE can be a bit tired, but in India? We were wiped. We had a good time, but I think Lisa and I could have maybe scheduled a later morning or a nap on this day 😉
The next day was pretty easy— there was a good amount of free time to allow the girls to rest, pack, explore last minute markets, or do whatever they needed to do. I took this day to find an extra piece of luggage to carry all my souvenirs back home 😉 We then set up a last meal at Dhaba to send the girls off with before our 3 am flights out of the country.
There were goodbye gifts and photo mementos for all the ladies, chocolate cake, spicy food, and some of the best (sleepy) company around.
I’m grateful for the lifetime friends I’ve made through this experience. And grateful to Above The Clouds for helping me put together this dream trip. I’m grateful that I even got to go on this trip at all— just weeks before a series of unfortunate events and poor choices led to the sudden decline to my health. If moments and timing were different, I may have never had have the opportunity to go— this magical dream would have never happened. I’m grateful I did. Timing is everything, and this happened. I’ll say it over and over again, what a magical dream, I am grateful. And who knows, now that life and health is finally on the consistent upswing— maybe another trip will happen again!
2 Comments
I have so enjoyed these India posts. I am planning a trip for my 30th birthday as well and wanted to know where you got your pants for this trip? They seem so appropriate and light and breezy!
The ones in the top photo are from hanna anderson. I did write a post about what i packed –> https://ohdeardreablog.com/2015/02/packing-for-india-how-to-travel-across.html
but honestly, I'd probably recommended traveling with one, maybe two pairs and then just buying some there!