Welcome to Delhi Claudia!

Here I am in India. I flew into Delhi and shared a taxi with a Kiwi, Neil, he was very helpful. After finding a good and cheap hotel in Main Bazar, we met again for a chai (tea with milk), my first taste of India, and it was good!
Delhi is huge, chaotic, dirty and very very noisy, but I found moving around pretty easy and I felt confident in the city from the first day.
My friend carles came one day later and we went to see the touristic places, the Red fort (picture on the right), the big mosque, the bird hospital, when we were in front of a Sij Temple started raining a bit, then a bit more and then suddently all the roads were floaded and we had water to our knees. We were completely soaked and some ladies from the temple offered us to enter in the shoe room (were they keep the shoes of the people going inside the temple) and we were offered chai (tea) and biscuits and they even put some kind of cloth to cover my head. Everybody in India has been so friendly, I haven't been harassed at all, maybe it's because I look Indian??
I have seen cows, dogs, cats, people from different places, sellers of false beards, people that offer you a ear-cleaning service in the middle of the street, little boys and girls with the school uniform, sij families looking grand, poor ricksaw drivers carrying lots of big boxes in their cycles, people sleeping everywhere, even by the dirty noisy roads...
On the third day I went to the Gate of India and to see where the prime minister lives, it all looks a mixed of British and Indian, very wide roads with lots of parks and grass areas, very different from Old Delhi. That day I moved around by metro, the best thing in Delhi! I can't believe more people use it, it is clean, dead cheap and it has air conditioned!

The trip

26th September: Barcelona - London (UK) -- British Airways
London - Delhi (India) -- British Airways
26th January: Singapore - Darwin (Australia) -- Qantas
6th February: Darwin - Alice Springs -- The Ghan (train)
11th February: Alice Springs - Adelaide -- Qantas
15th March: Sydney - Christchurch (New Zealand) -- Qantas
14th April: Auckland - Nadi (Fiji Islands) -- Air Pacific
29th April: Nadi - Los Angeles (USA) -- Air Pacific
18th June: New York - London (UK) -- British Airways

There are 4 big gaps where I'll have to make my own way.

• The first one is from Delhi to Singapore, I plan to visit Southeast Asia, but I will see how much time I have to visit all the countries. I would love to visit Vietnam and Myanmar (Laos, Cambodia and Thailand are optional but in any case flights can be postponed if I decide to stay longer).
• The second one is from Adelaide to Sydney. I would love to take a bus to Melbourne but I finally think I will skip that and go straight to Sydney and from there to Newcastle and Armidale where I still have friends :)
• The third gap is in New Zealand. I arrive to the South Island and my departure flight is from the North. I can't wait to be there, the South Island looks amazing and full of mountains, hopefully I'll be able to do some trekking! In the North Island I also hope to visit a couple of friends ;)
• The biggest and the last gap is in the USA. It's gonna be incredible: from the West to the East coast, wow! There are so many places I'd love to visit: San Francisco, Colorado (the great canyon), Seattle (yes, a weird one eh!), St Louis (because I have a friend there), etc etc... We will see...Hopefully I will stay for a short while with a friend in L.A. and then as in all the places above I will try to find cheap hostels, or stay with people from couchsurfing (www.couchsurfing.com)

Back at my parents' house

I am now back in Olesa de Montserrat living with my parents before I start my journey. I already have my visa for India and Australia and most of the shots needed for Southeast Asia (and it didn't hurt!), I have got my backpack and more or less those are the most important things...
I stopped going to yoga at the beginning of September and I am trying to practice it at home, but I am quite lazy, not good.
Above there is a picture of Montserrat taken on the way to Puigventós where my mum and me walked this morning. It is a great walk that I love doing Sunday morning, it is so peaceful up there, it is so good to feel the wind and hear the birds and see nature. I don't want to sound corny but being on top of the little hills I feel so free...

5 days in London

The day I moved from the flat I shared in Barcelona I went to London. It was the first step towards my round-the-world trip because it was there where I got the plane tickets. I stayed in East London with my friend Carolina, her partner David and their beautiful kids Audrey and Evan. Luckily for me the weather was not so bad, I even saw the sun for a few minutes! When my tickets were bought I had the time to walk about and see the old sites and remember old memories of my long stay there: Notting Hill, the neighbourhood I used to live, South Kensington, where I used to work, and of course my local pub... The Intrepid Fox!!! Sadly the old Intrepid Fox in Soho is closed now, apparently they are gonna build very posh apartments in there, but the new Intrepid Fox just opened with the same old manager, it is now below Center Point and it is as charming as usual, he he. I went there for a much needed pint of ale, after all day walking about and I found myself alone with the waitress, she was such a nice girl, we chatted for a bit and asked me which kind of music I would like to hear, "metal, of course!" It was very nice to have the pub for myself and listening to my favorite music as well.
The next time I will be in London it will be to catch a flight to Delhi...
(The picture on the right is a funny graffiti by Carolina's place.)

My last week in Montcada Street

It was around 3 pm when from my room I heard "Action", I looked outside only to realise that Woody Allen was shooting just below my window. My flatmate and me went downstairs like a couple of amateur paparazzi with our cameras with the hope of catching a glimpse of Mr. Allen. It was quite interesting seeing how the scene was shot, Scarlett Johansson had to walk up and down the street a few times before the director thought it was OK, and then they left. My flatmate took that picture of me, I am in the little alley behind Montcada street and to the left is the Picasso Museum, and to the right the entrance to our beautiful flat. Two days later I was gone...