I don't think I plan on going on another vacation any time soon...

So, I am back in Canada. Actually, I got back yesterday, and I would have posted but I was suffering from jet-lag, and I still am considering the fact that I woke up at 4:00 AM. Anyway, let me summarize my trip for you.

1. Arriving at Canadian Airport: First we went to the Air France check in counter ("We" referring to my mom, brother, and I. My dad was to drive our van back home and come with my uncle who lives across the street from my family. Anyway, at the check in we asked the lady if we could get my dad's boarding pass even though he was not present, the male at the next counter said it would not be possible, but the lady said she would do it anyway, to which the male replied "Your job sweetheart..." to which the lady laughed. Anyway, the lady did it and the male was impressed. Then, considering my mom used to work at the airport, we went all around the terminal "meeting" her friends-which may I add was tedious beyond belief. In one of the stores however, was a magazine, and on the cover was Cam Gidanet (or something like that), whom Twilight fans may recognize as "James". I was surprised. Anyway, after the little introductions with my mother's friends, we went to sit and wait for my dad- he arrived half an hour later. Because our flight was in the afternoon and I did not eat lunch, while I was waiting for him I ate several "Snickers" to satiate my stomach. When he did arrove we ran (and I literally mean ran) to the security check. There, we were to take our jackets off, and any metals. Then it was time to walk in, my parents ushered me to go first, but I was a little nervous about it so I sent Akus (my brother) first. He cleared it, then went my father, he cleared it as well, then went my mother, she cleared it also, then it was my turn, and I... cleared it. After that we grabbed our items and went to the "waiting area" to find out our flight was delayed 1 hour. You can only imagine how delighted I was... So we sat to wait 5 hours. For the first bit I listened to my iPod, getting bored I decided to read the Carniverous Carnival. That took up a lot of time, but by the time it was 1 hour until departure I felt tired and decided to look out the window. I watched the planes for what seemed like 10 minutes only to drift back to conciousness via my brother pulling my arm telling me it was boarding time. I was excited beoynd belief.
2. The plane: Pretty boring, but I saw Step Brothers, and read magazines. To diminish the stereotype, the food was not a half that bad.
3. Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris: This was out stop on the way. Another 4 hours to wait. In the meanwhile I ate an "authentic croissant", witnessed a very cool hand-drying system, and read over my geography notes.
4. Boarding of the connecting flight: Boring once again, but I watched an Indian movie and "tried" to sleep.
5. Landing: We were now in New Delhi, and I was excited. The pilot told us the weather outside was 28 degrees Celsius, very hot. While maneuvering my hand bag into the aisle, I had an unfriendly encounter with a French woman. She was wearing black pants and her leg blended in with the seat, so when my bag got stuck, and I pulled it to take it out, she yelled at me for "not seeing my leg! Don't you have any manners?!?" to which I responded "I am sorry I did not notice your leg there." Then she practically went crazy about children being "ignorant" while I nodded and agreed. She was puzzled, and I took this opportunity to switch lanes and get out.
6. Indhira Gandhi International Airport: Stepping outside it hit me. The fresh smell of... pollution. I am not kidding! It smelled terrible, like garbage, rotten food, sweaty socks, and burnt toast all meshed together. The smog was no help either. We were inside and yet everything was covered in a thick layer of smog, like dirty fog indoors. When we got off the plane and filled out the immigration papers we had to pick up our luggage, which does not sound like much, but we had to wait 1 hour just because it was the last off the plane. We were seriously considering leaving it... Then we went to the check-in one last time and then, then we were free to be greeted by the mass of family members waiting at the front. I certainly love my family, but I find it to be utterly tedious when each time they see you them claim, "You have gotten so skinny- are you feeding her?, Look how tall you have grown!, You are so pretty- you look just like your mother/father/me!, Why are you covering you nose?" As you can see, if you are not asleep already, this interrogation took up 30 minutes in the parking lot of the airport, so I was forced to cover my nose in order to attempt to remove that horrid smell.
7. Car ride home: Stepping into the car I noticed that no one besides me was wearing a seatbelt. Curious as to why the rules had not changed since the last 5 year when I came here in grade 3, I asked. "They are not necessary here." was the genius reply I got back. Alright, if you want to be cryptic... Anyway, I did not want to scrutinize their country in front of them, but in Canada, where driving is organized, we are heavily forced to wear a seatbelt, and there where cars drive in unbelieveable proximity with one-another, it is amazing as to why seat belts are not compulsary... Other than that not much happened, although I did see a truck of cows, dogs on the road, a road fight, a car accident in which one person was heavily bleeding, and garbage- namely litter, on my way to my aunt's home.
8. Sitting in the living room: Considering it was 4:30 AM, I was unfathomably tired and wanted nothing more than to go to sleep, but my parents "insisted" I stay and "talk" to the family (adults) while the children in their family slept soundly. It hardly seemed fair. Nothing interesting happened here other than the fact that I tried a candied almond and the political system has been facing turmoil...
9. Sleeping: The mosquitos were terrible... That is all I remember.

** Now that you have gotten the essence of my first day, I am going to skip to the important parts.

• I got my hair high-lighted (forcefully)
• Taj Mahal Day. We had to wake up at 4:00 AM in order to catch a train. Then waited for 2 hours (which felt like 5) in a crowded train. When we arrived in Agra, we had to book transportation, which was not difficult considering the swarm of vendors thrusting leaflets into our hands claiming their services were the best. As I mentioned, it was not difficult making arrangements, but my brother and I had to keep our mouths shut because if they found out you were a foreigner they would charge you extra, much extra. One taxi for a resident Indian, Rs. 150 per person, one taxi for an NRI/Foreigner, Rs. 1150 per person. You can see the difference. Anyway, after booking transportation we sat in the car and got a whiff of that Agra air, terrible, terrible, terrible, worse than my first day in India. Even the people living there agree, Agra is the dirtiest place in India. Anyway, the car ride to the Taj was a long one, and on the way I saw several pigs on the road. When we finally reached I was more than excited, only to have my mojo ruined by a poor little boy (with no legs) sitting on the road begging for money. Sadly I had nothing otherwise I would have given him something. The whole while I felt terrible. After clearing the security check we were free to go in. It was beautiful, but the people around it were horrid. They were spitting gum off the top, and kicking it, and disrespecting it in every way imaginable. It was unnerving to watch. Anyway, we went inside and saw the tombs of King Shahajjan and his wife, Mumtaz for whom he had built the Taj and were amazed by the intricate designs. All in all very pretty, here is a picture I took myself of it.

• Leaving for Goa. A few days later we had a flight for Goa, for which we were extremely apprehensive because of the rumours of a terrorist attack. In fact people were claiming there was a bomb blast on the international side which made me feel great... On top of that my parents were throwing around unpleasant phrases like "If it was in our fate to die, we will die anywhere." That made me feel oh-so-much-better... I was even more worried because our flight stopped in Mumbai, just days after the attack. Anyway, the flight turned out to be safe and Goa was amazing. It was so beautiful, the beaches, the churches, the temples, and the resort we stayed at we all breath-taking. One of the most exciting things which I did in Goa was go para-skiing. Yes, I was attached to a harness, which was attached to a parachute, which was attached to a boat. And, when the boat raced across the water I was launched into the air. A once in a lifetime experience. Here are a few pictures of Goa for you.

• Punjab. I will discuss this very briefly because I have a book I want to read. Punjab was very pretty and green, and I tried my first sugar cane here. I also saw the Golden Temple here, from the inside and it was marvelous. I went to a lot of homes. I saw an Indian movie and went to an Indian mall/theater. At the mall I had Subway (I do not know why I added that). In Punjab I also saw the Pakistan-India border and took pictures with Indian commandos. Other than that I do not remember much. Here are some more pictures.

Those are the high lights of my vacation. I am sorry if the post was not as long as you would have liked, but I have a book to read. I hope you enjoyed them.