The Travelers' Abyss

When you are travelling like we are – On a budget – sometimes you end up having to take a round-about and longgggggggggggg route to get where you are going. Sometimes it can even result in a few days of what we have termed “the traveller’s abyss”. This is when you find yourself in the midst of days of travel without ever sleeping in a bed, never quite being anywhere, but all over the place – essentially in transit for days on end.  For our last few days in India we were entering into the “traveler’s abyss” as we made our way to our next destination – BALI, INDONESIA!

It started with a 4:00 am wake up to catch a shared jeep from Darjeeling down to Siliguri so we could catch an overnight train to Delhi. Eleven people were cramped into this jeep where the trunk was converted into sideways facing seats. Jonny and I shared an Indian seat for 2 (meaning it should have been for 1) allowing us only 1 butt cheek each on the seat. Any attempt to sleep in the jeep was rendered useless as we were thrown around like ragdolls on the terrible streets heading downhill from Darjeeling. It is almost as if it’s meant to be some sort of driving video game on these streets. Dodge left. Dog. Dodge right. Pothole. Dodge left. Kids. STOP. Oncoming cars. Back-up the hill and squeeze past.

After 3 hours we had finally finished the 90km journey to Siliguri, just the beginning our route through the abyss. Next we had to take a bicycle rickshaw with all of our bags about 10km over to the train station. WORST RIDE EVER.  For future reference, 2 people, 2 big bags and 2 day bags do not fit in a bicycle rickshaw.  After a 4hr wait in the “upper class” waiting room at the NJP train station, something reminiscent of a waiting room at a back alley doctor’s office in Mexico, yet still better than killing time on the platform,  we finally got onto the Radjani express. We had a 3AC berth, which was much like the 2AC style we had been used to but with beds stacked 3 high. Our man Shafi at Destination !ndia hooked us up with these tickets, a very comfortable ride where they served 4 meals.

Cards to entertain ourselves on the 22hr ride

Sunset view from the train

Twenty two hours later we arrived in Delhi around 10am, and since our flight to Bali was at 11pm we didn’t have a hotel or anything booked for the day. Luckily the nice people at Destination !ndia let us leave our bags at their office for the day while we wandered around Delhi, taking in some of the sights one last time. We picked up our bags at 5pm as the agency was closing and took our last Indian rickshaw ride to the airport to wait for our flight. It was a 5 hour wait before boarding…….so is the life in the travelers abyss.

An overnight flight to Kuala Lampur was followed by an 8 hour wait in the KL airport. If we had to kill time in an airport however KL would be at the top of our list. Its clean and modern, but wasn’t too busy, plus they have these amazing little movie stations (free of course) that are surrounded by chairs and love seats, one of which I used for a 3 hour nap to make up for my lack of sleep on the overnight flight. 

KL airport free movie lounge

Samsung internet hotspot

KL airport

We finally left KL around 3pm for a short hop over to Bali where we met our driver and new friend Wayan who drove took us the 1 hour drive to Ubud where we finally arrived at Sardu guesthouse, our finally destination.

Somehow I woke up on a Friday morning and now it is Sunday night - 52 hours have passed, we haven’t been in a bed, we’ve used every mode of transportation and have made our way through 4 cities in 3 countries. This is what we have termed the travelers abyss.

All of it – totally worth it though! We are already totally in LOVE with Bali even though it’s only been 3 hours and the guesthouse we are staying at is GREAT!! Clean, comfortable and run by a totally sweet and welcoming family. They happen to be good friends with my Aunt and Uncle who make the trip to Bali annually for business.

The 3 days of travelling has now caught up with us and we are off to get some zzz’s before getting to know the town of Ubud, Bali tomorrow!

OOO_Talia and Jonny