Third Time’s A Charm

It was about 11:15pm on Monday, February 1 when we arrived at the Jaipur Junction, just in time for our first overnight train in India.  I had been on one other overnight train in my life and that was in Spain with my dear friend of twenty nine years, Lindsey.  Hiiiiiiii Lindsey.  Vinny sure has a lot to live up to as a bunk mate.

As we entered the station, it was like Best Buy on Black Friday.  Hundreds of people all of over the place, all with their own agenda.  Some were rushing to get their bags through security, some were running to make their train, some were laying on the ground wrapped in blankets, some were frantically lost.  Everywhere you looked, it was mayhem.  But all this craziness made us feel safe.  The platforms were brightly lit and people were so consumed in themselves, they didn’t even notice two white people with backpacks.

Our train was perfectly on time.  Amazing.  What positive luck we’ve had on our side for all three railroad adventures.

I booked these tickets two and a half months ago and first class was already filled.  Seriously?  That is insane.  We had to settle for second class which is obviously a step down but looking at the glass half full, it was still better than third class or sleeper class or no class at all.  As we boarded our cabin and slowly walked to our beds, we noticed there were already people sleeping in them.  Oh geez.  Were we double booked?  Did we get the wrong seat locations?  No and no.  Instead, a woman and her daughter decided they liked our beds better and set up shop with our blankets, our pillows and our space.  They boarded the train at an earlier location so they probably where there for at least thirty minutes already.  They even had the nerve to close the curtain as if they were going to get away with it.  There were four beds in total – two upper and two lower.  Vinny and I had the two lower ones.  Luckily, a very nice gentleman, who was a local Indian but spoke perfect English, came to our rescue because he had one of the four beds.  He was explaining to them that these were our seats yet they still weren’t getting up.  It was almost as if we were the rude ones for disturbing their peaceful sleep.  At this point it was around 12:15am and this was the last thing we wanted to deal with.  After about ten minutes of going back and forth (but what felt like an hour), they finally got up, gathered their stuff and transitioned to their actual beds.  Phewwww.

Now that we were able to settle in, we did.  We made our bed which consisted of a sheet on the bottom, a sheet on top (we didn’t use the blankets because we had no idea when they were last washed) and pillows.  I laid my pillow against my backpack and Vinny put his stuff to the side of him so we could feel if anyone tried to take anything.  To be overly protective, we put our money wallets with our passports around our neck just in case someone decided to be shady in the middle of the night.  We didn’t really think we would have an issue, especially in second class, but you never know what someones intentions are and we would rather air on the safe side than the naive side.

Since we both didn’t have very high expectations of getting any rest, we were very pleased when we slept for a few consecutive hours.  At around 6am, I woke up to pee (sorry for the over sharing of information).  Oh no.  Please go away.  Did I really have to walk to the bathroom, in the dark, at 6am while the train is moving to pee in a hole?  Ugh, yes.  Come to find out later in the morning though that there was an actual toilet right next door.  Epic failure.

Everyone on the train started to walk up, open the blinds and make lots of noise around 8am so good morning to us.  Then, some of the workers started walking up and down the aisles selling Chai Tea or breakfast omelettes.  And they don’t walk in silence.  They start singing and making the world know they are present.  It’s extremely entertaining.  Here’s me looking like a trash bag.

For the next four hours, we listened to music, enjoyed the people around us and eagerly got excited for our sixth city on this wild journey, Jaisalmer.  We were in the home stretch as we nearly survived our third train ride and our first overnight experience.  I patted myself on the back because only the strong survive and we sure have become strong.

At around 12pm, we gathered our stuff, jumped off the train and was greeted by a Tuk Tuk driver from our next hotel, Pleasant Haveli.  We look forward to sharing our golden moments from the Golden City!