For a place that I have been dreaming about visiting for over five years, Leh doesn’t seem to like me very much.

Yesterday, I got completely lost and sun burned.  I gave up and only went out for dinner and water.

Today I got up early to go get a sim card so I would have Google Maps.  I read online to get there by 9.  I was so worried about finding it but I did!  And they were closed.  Tried a second place, they told me to come back at 11:30.

I found the place where I need to pick up my certificate to stay in a hotel on a tour in a couple of days. Why do I need one?  I don’t know.  I cannot figure out how to get upstairs to the office.  I asked a man working in an art gallery and he brought me to the tour guide next door to see if he knew if they were open up there.  He tells me to call them, I cannot.  I don’t have a fucking phone.  He gives me his phone, nicest guy.  They are not open.

Later on I walked by again and art gallery guy asked me if I got in touch with the woman.  Yes, thank you.

About that hotel I got the voucher for – When I booked the hotel, which isn’t a hotel, it is a homestay, I noticed that the bathroom was outside the room.  No big deal.

The owner then emailed me and messaged me to tell me the bathroom is outside the room.  Yes.  Then he asked if he could call me.  WHY.  So he calls me on the telephone from the middle of nowhere India to tell me that the bathroom is not inside the room.  Yes, this could not be any clearer.  He said that when foreigners visit, they get upset and leave bad reviews.  Then he sent me their brochure and I suddenly want to fight every person who ever gave these adorable people a bad review because they cannot read descriptions.

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OOOOH TAJ MAHAL!

The most popular tourist attraction in India. One of the New Seven Wonders of the  World.  A place I never thought I wanted to see because I don’t like crowds or people.   But today I went.

I needed to travel from Jaipur to Delhi and looked into getting a driver.  As I am working while traveling (until tomorrow when I am free!) I want to make things as easy as possible for myself when traveling to cities.  Well lo and behold, not only did I find a driver, I found one that stops at Taj Mahal and said fuck it.  Let’s go!

My driver picked me up at my hotel at 3:00 AM, which is the same time I got off work as I am working EST.  I slept off and on a bit until we stopped for the restroom and I got a coffee that was absolutely fantatsic.

Back in the card for the rest of the way.  I did not realized I had unintentionally booked a guide.  I don’t want or need one.  I just want to see the pretty building.  And pretty it was.

My guide grabbed my phone and told me he is a professional photographer and took photos for me.  I didn’t want him to.  Sure they came out much nicer than my always-crooked photos.  But like, it is MY trip and ME seeing it and I WANT TO TAKE MY OWN PHOTOS DAMMIT.

His fancy pants photo:

Some other photos:

We did the tour thing even though I honestly only needed a photo.  And then as I was melting, we sat down and the guide began pitching me on both carpets and his family’s pashmina business.  I will never understand why people try to sell me carpets when traveling.  Do people really buy carpets and have them shipped home while traveling?

I did get taken to the carpet store where the owner was miffed I didn’t want to purchase a carpet.  The funniest thing to me was him showing me all the carpets without any conception that I live in an NYC apartment and zero of these carpets would actually fit into any room I have that is not already carpeted.

Somehow I escaped not going to the pashmina shop.

My driver continued on towards Delhi and I got a little bit car sick again.  I pulled out my phone to see how far we were from my hotel.  SIX MINUTES WAHOO!

I got very confused, as did my driver, as his GPS led us to a residential neighborhood. But then we were here.  I love it here.

I was asked if I wanted tea but I wanted coffee.  They brought me a tray with coffee and some cookies. I love you so much.

I took a nap and cooled down after being trapped in a car for hours.  Then got up and had to go outside to get cigarettes.  Which of course, I forgot to get because I got sidetracked by actually finding Diet Dr Pepper in a store.

Now I am “at” work for my second last day of hell before being free.

I don’t know that I will keep up posting every day once I am no longer “at” work.  I did zero research on wifi speeds for any hotel following the one I am currently in because LA LA LA LA LAAAAAAAAA I AM FREE DON’T NEED TO WORK NO INTERNET NECESSARY LIVE LIFE FUCK YOU.

I do hope I keep a diary even if just for myself.  I want to remember all the things.  How it feels speeding down an empty highway in India.  In what feels like the middle of nowhere as there is nothing around.  Sitting at a rest area drinking coffee that probably costs a dime, but I can’t be sure since my driver refused to let me pay.  Smoking a cigarette sitting on the flimsy plastic chair that is a staple in Asia.

I love my hotel so much.  The room is great.  Ordering breakfast to be delivered to me tomorrow is even better.  And the best is how I am surrounded by greenery and pure silence while being in the middle of the tourist center of Delhi is amazing.

I keep daydreaming about what it would be like to be retired and not have my trips planned out to get the most I can out of them.  What if I arrived here without a flight booked out.  What if I had arrived and checked into this hotel and had zero plans and could just stay here for a week sleeping and enjoying relaxing and order trays of coffee and biscuits and sit out on the balcony just enjoying NOW rather than wanting to fast foward to the next exciting place because I AM SO EXCITED but yet I am never content to just be in the now.

And with that, I am off to bed to dream about tomorrow ending so I can finally be freeeeeeeee for the rest of my travels.