Day 1: May 1st - 3rd... Happy Travel Day(s)!

Hello everyone!

I am Daniella, a rising junior studying Computer Science, and I will be blogging this year’s SWIndia trip!! I am super excited to see India for my first time and to bring everyone who is reading along on our trip.

Before we officially get to our destination of the school we will be teaching at for a week, our group has to embark on a 34 hour trip. Yes, thirty four straight hours. Not including the train ride to Pune, where we will then get picked up to go to the school.

Our group started our journey bright and early at 7am to DTW. Thank you to our drivers, Sydney and Isabelle! After a cozy car ride and a lil hectic check-in, we were in and ready for our first flight to Shanghai, China.

13 hours later after many meals, movies and naps, we made it to China for our six hour layover!

We decided to make the best use of our time by going on a food tour in the airport. From matcha to baked goods to ramen, we hit up as many places as possible. Check-in and security for our next flight was cutting it close but it was worth it for the good eats. 

Then we boarded our next plane, a six hour flight from Shanghai to New Delhi. At this point it was 10 pm on May 2nd.  

Good morning! It’s 2:30 am and we are finally in India! Don’t be fooled, we still have one more flight from Delhi to Mumbai. 

After long customs, many fallen bags, and tedious security, we had to run (literally) to make our flight that was leaving in a few minutes (also literally). But by a miracle, we all made the plane and were finally off to Mumbai! 

Two hours later, we were finally free from the airport. Met up with Sanjana at the luggage claim and headed to the train station.

Shoutout to Varsha for leading our group after hearing our confusion on the airplane. 

After our initial confusion, many turns, and some stairs requiring us to haul up our heavy bags, we made it. 

We had a couple of hours to spare before our train had to depart so we decided to grab lunch in Mumbai. 

The group ended up at Boojee Cafe and indulged in their specialized drinks.

Afterwards we headed to Kitab Khana, a local bookstore with a cafe inside, so we can finalize our activities for camp. 

We have a few more hours of travel today, with a three hour train ride to Pune and another three hour drive to the school but this will be the end of the Day 1 (despite it being three days) blog. Come back tomorrow for our first day at the school!