The next round of travel will involve a tour of Asia. I will spend seven weeks in India, two weeks each in the Philippines and Nepal, then a week of vacation in Vietnam and Singapore. Flights between the US and Asia are rough and there's just no way to make them any easier.
The first part of my journey was an overnight flight to London. My flight arrived just before 6AM and was faced with a seven-hour layover. I debated whether it would be worthwhile to venture into the city but then decided against it. The college-aged me would have definitely jumped at any opportunity to run around London for a couple hours, but the world feels smaller now. I will have plenty of other opportunities to visit London again in the future.
The next challenge involved staying awake in the British Airways lounge while I killed time during the extended layover. I watched a little TV on my computer until the other travelers arrived and took all the Internet bandwidth! By lunchtime, all I wanted to do was take a shower and sleep.
My second flight to Hyderabad felt really long and I, once again, couldn't sleep. I get so jealous of the people who can just doze in any airplane. Arrival in India the next morning had me feeling like a zombie but at least the passport control line was quick and easy (an amazing feat for India...)!
On the way to the hotel, I noticed this strange fish-shaped building along the side of the highway and I thought I had completely gone insane.
Turns out, it wasn't just my imagination. This building is the office of the National Fisheries Development Board. First question: What is a land-locked city in the middle of India doing with a fisheries development board? Second question: Has this architect ever heard of subtlety!?
I arrived at the hotel around 5:30 in the morning - two days after departing and without any real sleep. I set my alarm for noon and slept like a rock.
Unfortunately, jet lag is the next challenge to conquer and it is not easy when traveling to a place that is 10.5 hours ahead of my sleep schedule. It usually takes almost a week for me to get completely accustomed to Asia time because I am literally flipping my internal clock. During the transition, I wake up SUPER early (3AM) and start to feel like a drunk person by 4 PM. Needless to say, the first couple days of work are never very productive during the mid-afternoon until I get my second wind.
Visiting Asia from the United States is always an exotic experience but I wonder whether the biggest challenges are the long overnight flights and the jet lag. Hopefully my sleep pattern will be back to normal soon.
The first part of my journey was an overnight flight to London. My flight arrived just before 6AM and was faced with a seven-hour layover. I debated whether it would be worthwhile to venture into the city but then decided against it. The college-aged me would have definitely jumped at any opportunity to run around London for a couple hours, but the world feels smaller now. I will have plenty of other opportunities to visit London again in the future.
The next challenge involved staying awake in the British Airways lounge while I killed time during the extended layover. I watched a little TV on my computer until the other travelers arrived and took all the Internet bandwidth! By lunchtime, all I wanted to do was take a shower and sleep.
My second flight to Hyderabad felt really long and I, once again, couldn't sleep. I get so jealous of the people who can just doze in any airplane. Arrival in India the next morning had me feeling like a zombie but at least the passport control line was quick and easy (an amazing feat for India...)!
On the way to the hotel, I noticed this strange fish-shaped building along the side of the highway and I thought I had completely gone insane.
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| Fish building in Hyderabad |
Turns out, it wasn't just my imagination. This building is the office of the National Fisheries Development Board. First question: What is a land-locked city in the middle of India doing with a fisheries development board? Second question: Has this architect ever heard of subtlety!?
I arrived at the hotel around 5:30 in the morning - two days after departing and without any real sleep. I set my alarm for noon and slept like a rock.
Unfortunately, jet lag is the next challenge to conquer and it is not easy when traveling to a place that is 10.5 hours ahead of my sleep schedule. It usually takes almost a week for me to get completely accustomed to Asia time because I am literally flipping my internal clock. During the transition, I wake up SUPER early (3AM) and start to feel like a drunk person by 4 PM. Needless to say, the first couple days of work are never very productive during the mid-afternoon until I get my second wind.
Visiting Asia from the United States is always an exotic experience but I wonder whether the biggest challenges are the long overnight flights and the jet lag. Hopefully my sleep pattern will be back to normal soon.
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