Leaving

Finally the day arrived.... Tuesday 4th December 2007! I was up early to make sure I didn't miss Dad, Graeme and Keith before they left for work or university. Found it quite hard saying bye to them as I knew it would be the last time I saw them for 9 months!

I then had a final check through my bag, checking my list, looking in my wardrobe and drawers making sure there was nothing I hadn't thought about, or forgotten. Finally at around 9.30 or so I left with mum for George Best City airport (with Jonathan and Theo in the back). First stop Kane's to say cheerio to Anna, who surprisingly, was really emotional. We got to the airport and checked our bags in, had a coffee and then headed through into the departure lounge. It was hard saying bye to mum but I didn't really know how i was feeling. A mixture of excitement, sadness, nervousness, anticipation and fear! We got through into departure lounge and almost immediately i felt really low! It had finally sunk in that that was it, I wasn't going to see any of my family or friends for 9 months. Thankfully we weren't sitting around for long before our flight was called for boarding. Once on the plane to Heathrow I was fine, looking forward to getting to Delhi and finally being where I had been talking about for months!

Once at Heathrow, we had a long walk to the terminal for our flight to Delhi. It was around noon and our flight wasn't until 10pm, we were hoping we would be able to check our bags in. Thankfully we were able to and the 2 girls working for Virgin were Indian. tehy gave us a few tips and told us not to listen to anyone trying to sell us stuff or don't give in to the cute little kids begging, as they all go home to play their computers and watch TV. Once checked in we sat in a cafe and had lunch and remained there for the rest of the afternoon, spending the time sleeping or reading. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, our flight came up.... 'Proceed to Departures'. Away we went, not knowing that our flight was to be delayed until 12.30am, so we had another 2-3 hours in Departures.... I was getting sick of Heathrow. We may as well have already been in India, as there was flights going out to Calcutta, 2 to Mumbai, Dhaka and another to Delhi!! Anyway, finally we boarded and we were on the plane, next stop Delhi!

The 8 hour flight went ok, struggled to get sleep but got enough to not feel too tired! Finally, after a very long 24 hours or more and after flying over Afghanistan, we began our descent into Delhi.... the butterflies started.... what have I let myself in for? As we came down and the land below came into view, the butterflies grew worse. Everything was so bleak and barren, the buildings looked the same colour as the ground, there was no green, no water, it was desert-like!