India has the worlds most extensive rail network system in the world. There are trains going to and from everywhere, 24hours a day. It’s crazy.
Sometimes they run on time.. Most of the time they don’t. If even one train is slightly delayed for whatever reason, it has a domino effect on the entire country.
We’ve taken quite a few trains and, so far, have been pretty lucky! They’ve all either been on time or only half an hour or so delayed.
Knock on wood.
We really should have knocked on more wood….
We booked our train from Varanasi to NJP (the closest station to Darjeeling) and specifically chose the 9pm departure, 1:30pm arrival. We figured that Gypsy would already be asleep when we left, we would have breakfast on the train, and arrive just after she awoke from her nap. Perfect! A nice, easy 14 hour trip.
So we took our tuktuk to the station and checked the board. Delayed by 1.5 hours. Oh well, it’s coming all the way from Delhi on the other side of the country, that’s to be expected I guess. At least it’s not delayed 17 hours or 11 hours like the 2 trains above ours on the board!
We really should have knocked on wood..
So we casually make or way to the platform and started our wait. Inconveniently the board giving train times and expected arrival times for our platform wasn’t working so I found a page on the internet that I could track it on. Wait.. it’s now 2hours delayed.. Oh well.
2.5 hours.
3 hours..
4 hours..
Let’s go and ask the station master. Maybe this webpage is wrong.
“Go away. I don’t know. Leave now.”
Well that was helpful..
5 hours.. It’s 2am. Guess Gypsy and I are going to sleep here on the platform for a bit!
Okay this is getting ridiculous..
Oh yay! It should be here in 15 minutes time finally!!
Did we miss it? It’s been half an hour? Did they change the platform? Let’s go ask the train guy again.
“It’s late. Same platform. Go away!”
Oh hang on, the webpage just refreshed.. 7 hours now..
8 hours..
It’s nearly 5am.. They sun will be up soon..
Hang on, was that our train just announced? Yes! It’s arriving now to a different platform on the other side of the station and only stopping for 3 minutes!?! OMG! Quick! RUN!!
What carriage are we? It doesn’t matter! Just get on before it leaves without us. That would be the ultimate irony.
Okay, here we are. Here are our beds. Now lets get some sleep.
Seriously? I know it’s 5 am, and the sun is coming up, and some people are early risers but Mr room mate. Please turn off your music and stop talking so loudly to your girlfriend..
No? You are awake? Oh look! So is gypsy now… Thanks buddy… Just awesome..
Oh well, it’s only a 14 hour journey. We will sleep when we get there..
22 hours later…
Yes.. It was 8 hours late, and took a further 22 hours to reach our destination..
2 nights for the price of one!!
It was 3 am the following morning when we finally arrived.
Just in time to jump in a jeep for a 4 hour journey to Darjeeling.
OMG, is that the Himalayas? Is that Mt Everest?? Wow..
Okay, I guess it was worth it but still…
We really need to knock on wood more often....
Sometimes they run on time.. Most of the time they don’t. If even one train is slightly delayed for whatever reason, it has a domino effect on the entire country.
We’ve taken quite a few trains and, so far, have been pretty lucky! They’ve all either been on time or only half an hour or so delayed.
Knock on wood.
We really should have knocked on more wood….
We booked our train from Varanasi to NJP (the closest station to Darjeeling) and specifically chose the 9pm departure, 1:30pm arrival. We figured that Gypsy would already be asleep when we left, we would have breakfast on the train, and arrive just after she awoke from her nap. Perfect! A nice, easy 14 hour trip.
So we took our tuktuk to the station and checked the board. Delayed by 1.5 hours. Oh well, it’s coming all the way from Delhi on the other side of the country, that’s to be expected I guess. At least it’s not delayed 17 hours or 11 hours like the 2 trains above ours on the board!
We really should have knocked on wood..
So we casually make or way to the platform and started our wait. Inconveniently the board giving train times and expected arrival times for our platform wasn’t working so I found a page on the internet that I could track it on. Wait.. it’s now 2hours delayed.. Oh well.
2.5 hours.
3 hours..
4 hours..
Let’s go and ask the station master. Maybe this webpage is wrong.
“Go away. I don’t know. Leave now.”
Well that was helpful..
5 hours.. It’s 2am. Guess Gypsy and I are going to sleep here on the platform for a bit!
Okay this is getting ridiculous..
Oh yay! It should be here in 15 minutes time finally!!
Did we miss it? It’s been half an hour? Did they change the platform? Let’s go ask the train guy again.
“It’s late. Same platform. Go away!”
Oh hang on, the webpage just refreshed.. 7 hours now..
8 hours..
It’s nearly 5am.. They sun will be up soon..
Hang on, was that our train just announced? Yes! It’s arriving now to a different platform on the other side of the station and only stopping for 3 minutes!?! OMG! Quick! RUN!!
What carriage are we? It doesn’t matter! Just get on before it leaves without us. That would be the ultimate irony.
Okay, here we are. Here are our beds. Now lets get some sleep.
Seriously? I know it’s 5 am, and the sun is coming up, and some people are early risers but Mr room mate. Please turn off your music and stop talking so loudly to your girlfriend..
No? You are awake? Oh look! So is gypsy now… Thanks buddy… Just awesome..
Oh well, it’s only a 14 hour journey. We will sleep when we get there..
22 hours later…
Yes.. It was 8 hours late, and took a further 22 hours to reach our destination..
2 nights for the price of one!!
It was 3 am the following morning when we finally arrived.
Just in time to jump in a jeep for a 4 hour journey to Darjeeling.
OMG, is that the Himalayas? Is that Mt Everest?? Wow..
Okay, I guess it was worth it but still…
We really need to knock on wood more often....
Trying to sleep on the train platform.
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