I left Los Angeles and flew to India. Two days of travel with layovers in Minneapolis and Amsterdam. This was my first time flying overseas.

I arrived in New Delhi around 2 in the morning. The first thing I noticed was how packed the airport was. Wall-to-wall people even at that hour. At customs, I got held up because I wrote the wrong flight number on my paperwork and had already thrown away my boarding pass so the customs agent didnt want to let me through.

Quick tip: Don’t throw away your boarding pass. Also, bring a pen in your carry-on.

Eventually I made it through and headed to baggage claim to grab my luggage. I had a domestic flight booked to Dehradun at 6:30 a.m., so I needed to recheck my bag. The line to do that was unreal, hundreds of people, barely moving. It felt like the line moved one foot every ten minutes. Some people were very irate and a woman was screaming at one of the employees.

Quick tip: If you’re flying domestic out of DEL, allow at least four hours or you might miss it.

I barely made my flight. Easily one of the most stressful moments of my life. Staff were shouting, people were arguing and nothing felt organized. If you’re flying through Delhi, prepare your mind in advance for a rough experience.

The flight to Dehradun was short and smooth. The airport there was calm and easy to navigate. I picked up my bag and headed straight to the official taxi booth.

Quick tip: Don’t go with the guys waiting outside asking if you need a cab. Go to the booth.

The ride to Tapovan (just outside Rishikesh) cost 900 rupees. I had already exchanged dollars for rupees before leaving LA, which was helpful.

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My driver didn’t speak English. The guy at the booth told him where I was going, and that was it. The drive was aggressive. He weaved through traffic, got close to motorcycles and trucks nearly missing head-on collisions with on coming traffic and talked to me in nonstop Hindi. I didn’t understand anything he was saying but I did catch that he liked to drink and smoke, though I wasn’t sure what exactly.

I didn’t have an address to where i was going, just a phone number. Eventually he dropped me near a sign that said Tapovan and pointed. That was the end of the ride. I was now on the street with all my stuff and no cell phone service.

Quick tip: Get a local SIM card as early as you can. It makes everything easier.
Also, get the Google Translate App before you leave and download Hindi before you arrive in India.

I tried calling my host from the the homestay that I had previously booked, but nothing went through. I was exhausted, slightly panicked and standing on the side of a road trying to figure out what to do. A woman approached me asking for money. When I told her I didn’t have any, she gave me a nasty look and cursed me in Hindi. She was persistent but I had bigger problems.

At that moment, I felt like a lost five-year-old. My brain wasn’t working right from the travel and I couldn’t think straight. I just started walking with my heavy backpack.

I came across 2 young children who were being cornered by a snarling dog, so I stepped in to help them. I then ducked into a nearby business and asked a teenager if I could use their Wi-Fi. He said yes and gave me the info, but my call still wouldn’t go through.

Then a nice woman walked in. I explained my situation and she offered to call my host from her phone. He told her to send me down the street to the bank and that he’d come meet me. I thanked her and walked past some cows to the meeting spot. A guy pulled up on a scooter. It was him.

I got on the back with my 50-pound backpack and held on for dear life as he took me up the mountain road. He seemed nice. He said he was busy teaching a mantra course and would give me a full intro tomorrow. He showed me the filtered water upstairs, pointed to my room and that was it.

I told him I planned to sleep for a day. I got settled in, took a warm shower and tried to reset. At one point I heard a commotion outside. It was a pack of dogs fighting in the front while people tried to break it up with sticks. Then I passed out until 11 p.m., woke up, messaged some people on WhatsApp and Instagram, then went back to bed.

Quick tip: Bring earplugs. The dogs bark all night.

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