India. Day 1.

Yikes! After months of waiting and planning, here I am!  Well, by "here" I don't mean I'm in India quite yet, I'm in a Vancouver hotel. The flight leaves tomorrow morning, and not until almost noon which is so incredibly fantastic. No ungodly early rising. Nothing starts a holiday off worse (for me) than getting up at 4 or 5 AM.  I haven't seen a sunrise for about 3 years now. Seen one, seen 'em all.

So anyhow, some blog info. I've kept a blog for lots of years, but generally just for myself, like an online journal, and then I shared it with a few friends and family. So if you're new here, look around and I hope you stay awhile. 

I am a bit of a grammar freak, and I do try to double check my punctuation and spelling, however I don't understand commas at all, I use them far too often, and I think I use them in all the wrong places as well, so please excuse the plethora of them. I use commas like I talk, which is with lots of pauses.

I write like I talk, which is a bit disjointed with lots of side-stories.

I start too many sentences with "so" and "anyhow", and sometimes even "So, anyhow"...a double annoyance, but, again, that's how I talk. So if you're ok with all of that, hang around and read my stories.

Here's the first one. 

I'm traveling to India sort of solo. There are 7 other people from Cranbrook, maybe 9, who will be on the same flights and the same hotels and we will have the same guide. We won't always be doing the same things, so it's sort of solo, sort of not.  

I don't want to be the kind of person who writes like they're an inspirational meme, everything all rosy and wonderful as I travel through far away countries. You know the kind I mean. Every picture is captured "seeing the real part of the country" and "not a tourist!" or an artfully positioned selfie; hair blowing in the wind, or yoga pictures on the beach....you know what I mean. But sometimes I do get a bit passionate about what I'm seeing, so excuse any spewing of prose that might flow from my fingertips. 

I had my hair cut the other day (this ties into my story, so be patient). It's short, and blunt and swings when I walk. It still has some pinks and purples in it, and my bangs are sort of edgy.  I actually get a lot of compliments from total strangers. (Thank you Heather!)  So, I'm striding through the hotel restaurant here, well, striding as best I can with my stubby little legs, and a woman leans over and gently says "Excuse me...". and you know, because I'm a strong, independent, travelin' woman with an edgy haircut, striding through a hotel on my way to India, I turn and say "Yes?", fully expecting a compliment of some sort. She leans and whispers "You have toilet paper on your shoe".

Ewwwwww. Oh my god. How embarrassing. What does one do? Does one scuff it off and kick it under a table and run away? Does one pick it up and hold it arms length away from one's body as one runs away? Does one pick it up and scrumple it into their hand as one runs away?  Or does one just say "oh, thank-you" in a small voice as one scurries around the corner to remove it discreetly?  You decide. I'm not even going to tell you which one I chose.

Anyhow, I will try to not write about the next few weeks in a pretentious and arrogant way. If I do, please excuse me, because remember, at the end of the day, I'm just a chick with toilet paper on her shoe.