Author Archives: Luana

Day 1 of Mumbai

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… And I’m not a happy girl. In many ways it reminds me of London. It’s busy, no one really knows what’s going on, people aren’t friendly, they don’t tend to go out of their way to help you and prices shoot up. Though I did manage to have a slight crisis with my bus to Mumbai and so maybe these words are just words of a girl who happens to not be in the best mood possible. A conversation with the bus driver went a little something like this: “Do you speak English?” “Yes Read more [...]

I’m a Smith. This is what we do…

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Whenever I have felt slightly down in anyway and have discussed such with another person, they always end up saying something on the lines of ‘Things will get better’ or ‘You’ll be alright’, to which to this very day I have always replied ‘Of course I will. I’m a Smith. This is what we do.’ I’m not quite sure what it means or what exactly us Smith’s do but it has always worked for me. It always gave me that extra bit of strength to shove a smile on my face. And right here Read more [...]

Bollywood Cinema

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Today I decided to go to the local cinema in Jodhpur to watch a classic Bollywood film. I had been told by many that ‘House Full 2’ was the film to see as it was absolutely hilarious! I felt I needed to go and be able to share my own opinion. I went alone and so of course, was the only white person sat in the audience. This caused the usual pointing, which by now I was used to and generally oblivious to (other than the fact that the person directly in front of me stood up, turned around and Read more [...]

Spit splash back

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In Udaipur I took a taxi trip with three others. The journey was to take 2-3 hours which I spent mostly asleep. I was the piggy in the middle of the back seats. The poor girl to my right wasn’t so lucky with her plans to sleep as the driver (as many others here) was a tobacco chewer which meant that he was also a spitter. Given that the car wasn’t air conditioned, all windows were wide open to allow as much fresh wind as possible. I’m sure you can see where this is going. On every spitting Read more [...]

Differences in reactions

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  In regards to my broken camera, I think about how different this reaction was in comparison to how I would have reacted living in London. I would have gone mental. The old Luana would have made a scene and moaned about it forever more.  In regards to my past relationship I would complain about anything and everything possible. I wouldn't allow myself to be happy in a good situation. Maybe because I didn't feel I deserved to be happy and for everything in this very moment to be perfect Read more [...]

Udaipur

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I have been here for 2 days now and not really seen much of this beautiful city. I had been told so much about how romantic this place was to be. And it really is. With a huge lake which I circled on a boat to watch the sunset, I couldn’t have imaged a more romantic moment. I shared such a trip with a fellow Brazilian girl, Anna, which was lovely as I don’t think it would have been quite the same to see alone. There are a few things which I still need to see here like the huge palace, some Read more [...]

Karma

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It’s weird how strongly I believe in karma now. I feel like the Italian looking out for me and offering me to share his accommodation for free was a moment of karma to exchange the kindness I have given to other travels. For instance, I have walked a 29 American woman to her guest house in the middle of the night to ensure that she was safe, to then walk back to my guest house alone. I have looked after various older travellers who have gotten drunk and struggled talking let alone being able to Read more [...]

Camel Safari

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I decided to rope two single travelling girls (who both happened to be from America) into renting two mopeds to travel into the middle of the desert for a camel safari. I dislike tours with a passion and I feel restricted from doing what I want to do. I don’t like having to follow a program like sheep as we do the most touristic things possible for a high price. After having told a slight fib about having driven plenty of bikes in the past, I finally got them both in agreement. It was an automatic Read more [...]

Sleep on the floor of the train station?

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I had booked myself a train for 5:05am to travel to Jaisalmer and because of the fact that I would only be paying for 3 hours sleep in accommodation, I decided that it would be a waste of money and that I should instead just sleep on the floor of the train station for that time. The being in the dark and being surrounded by random Indian men watching me throughout the night didn’t bother me. I’ve always wondered if I’ve just had too much confidence for my own good. But so far it’s worked Read more [...]

5:02am – 5:44am

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At precisely 5:02am I was awoken by a strange sound. I know it was this time exactly because I instantly panicked that it was lunch time and I had missed my delicious breakfast which was included with my accommodation and so jumped at my iPod to see if that was the case. It turns out that someone on the other side of my rooms wooden double door was knocking. After ignoring such for 5-10 minutes, I assumed whoever it was would give up from trying to get my attention. Unfortunately, this was not the Read more [...]