Day 1- Saturday 1st March- Leamington Spa/London.

I woke up today with my first feeling of anxiety about this trip. After a shower and something to eat, I still felt shaky. I was going away for three and a half months and this morning was the first time that fact had hit home.

During the morning, I did the remnants of my packing but tried to chill out the best I could. I always freak out that I’ve missed something important, normally when I’m out for the day, but if I’d missed something this time, it’d be a wee bit more serious.

At 12pm, my dad and I set off. I said goodbye to my brothers, my house and my cat. The trip down south flew by and I was convinced that I’d forgotten my bag of mains chargers. We arrived at Sarah’s house at 2pm and Hannah was just arriving- these are the two girls I would be spending about 95% of my time with for the next few months and was kind of nervous about that. I said my goodbyes to my dad and he left us to it. We wasted the afternoon going over last minute things and playing Wii- we were all just desperate to leave by this point.

Eventually, it was time to go and at around 6, we left Sarah’s house and her dad gave us a lift in his van. I sat in the back, which was a bit like being kidnapped- a feeling I thought I might need to get used to, just in case the worst happens in India. There was a lot of traffic and I nearly fell asleep in the back, but we got to terminal 3 of Heathrow in plenty of time.

We tried to use Virgin’s self-check-in, but they predictably cocked up. After a manual check-in, we found ourselves in a crowded departures lounge buying last minute essentials, like bagels. The sunglasses hut proved to be a bit expensive, so I was lift sunglassless, but managed to change some pounds into Indian Rupees.

We boarded the plane at 9:45. Sarah and Hannah sat in the row in front of me while I sat next to a really rude, old, disabled lady who kept telling her mother to shut up. The inflight entertainment was awesome: I watched an episode of ‘Curb your enthusiasm’ and then began watching ‘No country for old men’, but it proved to be a bit much for me as it got late and I got tired, so I didnt finish it. I couldn’t sleep at all- sleeping upright is ultimate effort.