airport – Laurens Traveling

7 years later, in an airplane to Bangalore

It’s been too long.

I feel exactly the same, yet everything is different.
Here I am again, 10660 meters above ground, in an airplane fulfilling its purpose of taking us all to Bangalore.

The last time I was floating here, it was 2016.
And I can’t believe I’m typing these words in the year humans call 2023.
The most lovely love of a woman in the seat next to me.
7 years since I’ve seen my dear friend Danish, and 1 day to seeing him.

In the airport we already got a sneak peak of the Indian chaos.
The boarding line was long,
and moved from one side
to another,
and back to the first side,
and back to the second.

Yet here we are, floating, in a clear direction, and it truly feels like going home again.

So much has happened, yet I see the world through the same eyes.
Albeit with more experiences, more memories, more lessons learned and a different perspective on today and tomorrow.

I am so excited to bathe in lush Indian craziness again.
To be thrown in the beautiful, colorful chaos.
The richness of the vibe in the air,
the adventure movie superhero embodiment feeling,
the spirituality which is everywhere yet unnameable.

Although these are expectations, and they are based on the past.
On a distant memory of the land that left a permanent impression on me.

Time to let that go, and experience it all today.
Eyes open, brakes loose. Let’s go!

@Bangalore Airport

My face in a park in the midst of the city - look how green — My face in a park in the midst of the city – look how green

Hopping in a friends taxi to drop me off at the bus station that would drive me to the airport, was the ‘plan’.
The taxi didn’t know where the bus stop was, the tuk-tuk driver after that dropped me off somewhere quite randomly.
But I found an ‘airport taxi’ and got here 1.5 hours earlier than expected, for a very good taxi price of 400rs. He was hoping to pick up more passengers on the way but unfortunately that didn’t happen.

So here I am, 15:00 at the airport, and the flight that was supposed to leaveat 18:40 is delayed by 2 hours. So I have a nice 3 hours of time to kill before checkin =D

At least I’m well in time.

I had an awesome stay in Bangalore, very much unlike my previous big Indian city experiences.
The thing that stood out maybe the most was the amount of trees and green in Bangalore.

Botanical garden in the midst of a busy city

Today I also visited Cubbon Park and Lal Bagh (a botanical garden).
Those places were truly amazing, midst of the busy traffic and horning, some huge grass fields with massive trees and their boughs shadowing the pathways.
It was such a relaxing experience, to be amongst the green, the horns merely a vague whisper in the background.

Then my Ishanian friend took me to the greatest Masala Dosa place known to men kind.
Seriously, we all (the 4 of us by now) didn’t have breakfast or had a very small one, and were so hungry, we just kept the Dosa’s coming.
Another one, more tea, more dosa’s, more coffee. It was a huge feast.
The deliciousness of the dish seemed to only increase, and in the end the 4 of us were fully stuffed and our tongues were almost dissolved from the unbearable deliciousness of the tastes. We payed a grand total of 400 rupees… The equivalent of a 1 person bread + raw vegetables in Belgium, after which you’re potentially still kind of hungry.

Anyone in Bangalore, get to Malleshwaram, near 9th or 10th cross, and find the restaurant called Shri Sagar. Seriously.

Airport and Arrival nonsense

I guess I came here for adventure, and boy did I get some.

The battle between sleep and caffeïne went on for hours as I sat at the airport.
On the screens, I would have to board on gate 10. Then the gate disappeared.
Then gate 10 appeared again. Then the gate disappeared. Then it showed gate 9.

With no personnel in sight to ask help from, or any idea where or when I was (time had no meaning anymore), I just tried to stand in line in the awake state.
Asked around to a few very helpful Indian dudes, and they kind of confirmed that I was in the right row. Hooray.

The plane took off, the plane landed. A 7 hour wait for a 1.5 hour plane ride – worth it.

Time to go to the ATM and withdraw some sweet ass rupees.
If only …

3 different ATM’s failed the transaction and I started to get worried as fuck.
Without money, it’s kind of hard to BUY something
.
I did have a hotel booked but it was a pay on arrival. A taxi driver genuinely asked if I needed a taxi ride, when he saw me cluelessly circling around for some kind of magical money withdrawal that would appear out of nowhere.

That’s right, he genuinely asked, not shouting and starting to take bags out of my hand together with the rest of the swarm of hasslers. I was amazed.

Now at this point, the worst-case-scenario thinking and concerns of my parents did save my ass, as I had a dollar emergency fund in my backpack.
I changed a few dollars for rupees with the taxi driver, so I could pay that taxi ride to the hotel and my room there.

I think I found a way to withdraw money which is extremely inconvenient, but if I can get internet connection and have time, it should be fine. I made a bank transfer to another card and should be able to withdraw as soon as that money arrives. No idea how long that will take.

But now away from financial survival, into the depths of first impressions.

There was a huge difference between this side of India and the northern side.
People came to me and actually tried to help, they were really friendly and not charging 10x the price or shooing me away.

Sure, there was horning. But not that insanely ridiculous, psychopathic nerve crushing 24/7 all together pointless horning that I remembered from last year.
Sure, there was filth, but the streets were quite amazingly clean here.
And there were traffic lights! I am very amazed and have a great first impression.

It feels alot more like Nepal here than it felt in northern India.
I hope this feeling can stay.
Tomorrow I will hopefully make my way towards the yoga center, and will have to see what happens there.
Time to take a rest from 30 hours in airports and airplanes, with just some 20 – 40 minute snoozes now and then and no deep sleep.

One could say I’m exhausted.