Pre-Poned

In our extensive pre-trip meeting, along with talking with friends, i have heard that in India, it is possible for a train to be not only postponed, but also pre-poned, this meaning that the trail will actually leave before its scheduled time. Little did I know that about 4 months ago, i had accidentally pre-poned my flight to India. This shocking realization came to fruition at about 5:00 pm tonight when, after a bike ride with my brother, he looked over my confirmation email from Orbitz, and told me that my flight was supposed to leave tonight, rather than tomorrow night as i had planned. After a frenzied double check, I realized that this was true, and that i had booked my flight an hour early. What ensued can only be described as organized chaos.

I thought that my flight was the same as the organized group flight on which most of the EAP students were flying, so i would get a chance to hang out with the few people i do know on the trip, as well as meet others. I had been telling people this entire 4 months that i was leaving on the night of the 18th, a fact that increased my level of disbelief and shock when my original plans were shattered. In effect, i screwed myself over. However luckily, this entire week i had been slowly packing and gathering the things needed for my trip, so that my packing process wasn't too bad.

When my mom got home, my brother took out his iphone and began recording a video to document her response to the news. I explained how i had messed up and i was actually leaving tonight. Naturally, she freaked out, and then a beautiful thing happened, the Zimmerman's buckled down. I immediately went to the garage to rifle through the boxes from school, to see if there was anything else from them that i needed in india. Josh got on the phone, calling the credit card company to notify them that i would be in india, so they shouldn't freeze my credit card when there was foreign activity on it. He also registered me with the US embassy, and called our indian friends to tell them I was coming. Josh also figured out where i was staying the extra night in Delhi, and how i was getting there from the airport. Mom took my notebook, and grilled me on my packing list, making sure that i didn't forget anything. Dad went to Darrow's house, where i had forgotten my jacket, and then picked up dinner for us.

Before i knew it, it was 930, and time to leave for the airport. So here i am, 1 packed duffel bag and backpack later, sitting at gate 104 in the china airways terminal, waiting for my 14 hour flight to Taipei. I also recently just learned that there aren't any chargers on the plane, so I'll have to make the most of my electronics while i can.

And so my adventure begins...