I had folded the piece of paper with my flight reservation exactly where the departure time was printed. And consequently missed my flight to Amritsar. Spent a night in a nice hotel, with the first bathtub I’ve seen in India, and caught a flight to Delhi the next morning. On the flight, I met a guy who does political work in India. He put me up in his state’s residential house for free that night, not far from the Prime Minister’s house. Went with “his boys” to the Indian airlines booking office and ended up getting my flight to Amritsar booked for free as well. People like meeting foreigners! While sitting around with this political guy, who was constantly on one of his two cell phones, I was engaging in one of my guilty pleasures here… watching American movies on HBO India. My friend handed me the phone and said, “Talk to the King of ____.” So, I spoke to the king for a few minutes, who was quite fun, and also according to wikipedia, one of the most elligible bachellors in the country.

Turns out flights to Amritsar leave from the Intrnational airport–9 kilometers from Domestic! I had 45 minutes to drive there, check in, go through two security checks, customs, and find the gate. I ask the taxi driver, how much to the International terminal? “As you like.” he says. So now it’s two drivers, who are trying to rush me to the airport for my flight are also trying to rip me off. Consequently, they emit an air of danger that put me on high alert. They wanted 20 American dollars for the ride. I said, “You’re joking, right?” and then after a moment said, “Whatever, just bring me to the airport” and thought I’ll deal with it when I’m safely there and in public. I arrived fine, took my backpacks, threw them 200 rupees, and took off, shaking, for the ticket counter.