welcome to india!

|| india || 

 tastes like: fresh naan • smells like: sweet

 smoke & dust & curry • sounds like: car 

horns & "namaste" • looks like: color and

 culture • feels like: beautiful chaos. 

we have loved this adventure and once-in-a-

lifetime trip. wow! i don't even know where

to begin. i can't wait to share highlights of

delhi, jaipur, and agra. i can't wait to edit

the video with chase full of so much beauty

and color and the feel of india. i'm thankful

that we can document travels in order to

always remember them and live them again

and again. i hope we can show the beauty

of this faraway place and do it justice.

today i'm just sharing a few iphone 

snaps from our flight and first days. 

i won't lie, i am pretty ready to head home

today. this was a nonstop, tiring, dizzying,

crazy adventure. our stomachs feel funny,

our sleep patterns are off, & our clothes and

hair still smell like curry, but it was all worth

the adventure. on one of the days we were

talking about if people could just instantly

travel places by snapping their fingers

right away. although that would be nice,

i told chase i like the effort and time you

have to endure to go to faraway places.

it is rough, but it makes the places that 

much more beautiful when you realize

how far away you are. {i have to remember

this attitude during the actual 12 hour 

flights when i am going crazy, but it's true!}

^^ a good breakfast before 24 hours of travel

^^ here's chase reaching the point of desperation at

hour 11 of one of the flights. he kills me. this is

a pattern of his, like this time last year :) 

^^ our hoodiepillows actually saved our lives. 

i am so obsessed with these things. the flights were 

freezing like most flights are, and they were

overnight -- so having a warm comfy hood attached

to these inflatable neck pillows was the bomb.

everyone around us wanted one! there i am looking

fly/AKA knocked out after taking 1/4th of an ambien...

it was the first sleeping pill we've ever taken and we 

both PASSED OUT. chase looks much cuter sleeping than i

 do but i did need to share how much we loved these :)

^^ we had a layover in beijing and had to walk out on 

the FREEZING, smoggy tarmac in the middle of the 

night to get on our next plane. it was so weird to be back

in china when it was freezing since our trip there was

probably the hottest i've ever been. the smog was worse too.

we did, however, get to slow dance at 4 am in the beijing

airport because we could not sit down one more second

and there was no wifi or anything to distract us. it was

practically empty with pretty music playing so we

deliriously slow danced and it was kind of my favorite.

^^ we landed in the middle of the night in delhi,

greeted with leis and a sign for us! i don't know

how it was this crowded at 3 AM but it was.

there were also stray dogs running around in

the airport chasing each other, so that was a nice

little greeting when we walked outside. we were

also greeted by the insane haze/ smog!

got our passports stamped and got in a car to be

taken to our hotel. this is a blurry pic of the 

freeway because we were in shock right away.

1) again -- how is there a traffic jam at 3 AM, and

2) notice no use of lanes. at all. chaos.

*not pictured: nine million horns honking nonstop,

cows on the side of the road, and my nervous laugh.

really really nice to get to a hotel after 24

hours of travel. we didn't get there until 

almost dawn, but it was worth it to have

somewhere to relax/shower/sleep for a bit

before the first day. this was the surya hotel.

*weird fact- all of our hotels in india had

security machines you had to walk through 

every time you entered the lobby. every. time.

^^ indian food breakfast, interesting! i thought they

were making crepes so i ordered one and found it

filled with potato something + sauce. still good!

^^ if we thought the streets were crazy at night,

we were in for a mini heart attack the first day.

our driver was amazing but it is truly insane.

i've never seen anything like it. you can see

this cute little guy hanging on the back of a

moped holding onto those shoe boxes for dear

life. // also it's hard to tell, but our van passed a 

bus soooo close. i don't know how we didn't hit it.

our driver told us that to drive in india you need 

2 things: a good horn and good luck :) 

^^ first sights of the street = tuk-tuks.

^^ immediately fell in love with the crafts

and colors at all the markets as we walked the

streets of delhi. i did not fall in love with the 

constant harrassment to buy touristy things though! :)

//also, they have so many flavors of tea. chocolate?

^^ colorful streets

laughed so hard when i saw chase's 3 recent searches

on the translation app of his phone he used in india.

he also had to try on a turban! he keeps me laughing.

^^ i may or may not have lived off naan {SO good}

and also their corn was for some reason amazing. 

and all the candy i packed before leaving.

we LOVED all the darling kids in india and

made friends with them all. they loved to take

our picture, shake hands with us, and say 

"hello nice to meet you! can i click a picture?"

could they BE any cuter? ^^

i really wasn't kidding about the naan.

SO good and helped us survive through

all the crazy meals during the trip ^^

these random photos off my iphone

give a little glimpse of our time in india.

more coming from new delhi tomorrow!

xo