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Shares
It was a few days after the new year had begun. I was left heartbroken after my relationship ended with who I thought was the love of my life. I couldn’t stand to be in my town any longer, full of memories and pain, I thought to myself, “I need a change of pace”. Without any second thought, I bought a plane ticket to India for my daughter and I. When my family and friends found out, they were all full of fear. They were scared of me traveling solo as a woman but add my five year old girl to the equation and they were terrified. I arranged to get my passport and visa as this was my first trip out of the country in over fifteen years. My family begged and pleaded for me to leave my daughter here in California while I ventured off to India for two months. As a mom, I couldn’t think of being away so long but I decided it would be good for me to go alone, after all I was on a journey to discover past-life regression and find healing and solace after my ex and I split. I arrived at LAX at the end of the first week of January. I was excited, nervous, overwhelmed and overjoyed all at once. I said goodbye to my loved ones and ride the escalator up to the security line. I was running late for my flight because there were many tears while saying goodbye to my precious daughter and family. After I got through security I sprinted to my terminal and boarded my plane just in time. I realized that when I was younger I had no fear of flying, I sat down and as the plane took off I did some meditation to clear my mind. After 14 hours I arrived in Shanghai, I was able to get a ten year visa so that I could leave the airport and explore the city during my 16 hour layover. It was rainy and cold and I got to my hotel and tried to catch up on sleep. The next morning I went back to the airport ready to be in India already. I sat in the chairs at my terminal looking for a place to stay on Booking.com, I had no itinerary and no plan. As I was walking onto the plane I booked my room for the night in New Delhi, embarking into the unknown, with no direction, no guidebook, just my intuition and a heart open to a journey and adventure of a lifetime. There was turbulence on the plane and I was more anxious than ever. After 12 hours in the air we finally arrived, walking through the airport, I was filled with so much gratitude to be on solid ground. After going through immigration I found my way to the exit and as I walked out of the airport doors my mouth dropped open. It was 8pm, dark and dusty, I seemed to be one of the few women around. My phone didn’t charge on the plane and as I went to message family of my safe arrival my phone died. I thought, “great, alone in India at night, phone is dead and I don’t know how to call a taxi. No travel blog or website could prepare me for what I was getting into next. i finally found a taxi who took me to my hotel, the city was noisy, cars honking, so many different languages being spoken, the smell of Indian food filled the halls. I ordered room service and tried to catch up on some sleep. Almost three days of travel and I was exhausted, I cried myself to sleep from being so overwhelmed. In the morning I hired a private car to take me six hours north to Rishikesh, the yoga capital and one of the Holy cities of India. As I rode in the taxi, I knew I was exactly where I needed to be. Taking everything in driving from the busy city to small towns in the foothills of the Himalayas, with views of the Ganges river. What happened next was unreal...