A Sri Lankan Adventure

The thought of going to Sri Lanka on my own must have been one of the most petrifying I’ve ever
had. Everyone kept saying to me ‘You must be really excited by now!’ Honestly I wasn’t. I was just
completely scared. I couldn’t think any further than ‘ok tomorrow I need to pack’. Once I’d packed I
thought ‘Ok on Thursday I have to get the train to London.’ Once in London I didn’t think any further,
I just enjoyed seeing my brother and visiting the science museums (a little geeky I admit, but it’s
what I enjoy). Then on the Friday I could think ‘Ok tomorrow I have to get the tube to the airport’
and once there I thought ‘Ok let’s check in’. I knew if I thought about the steps any further on I’d be
too scared to get on the plane. As I have only been to Europe before I had absolutely no idea what to
expect once I got to Sri Lanka. I was soon about to find out.

My plane journey there didn’t go

all that well. My television didn’t
work which meant I couldn’t
watch the in-flight films which I
was hoping was going to make
the time on the plane fly. The
remote also didn’t work which
you needed to be able to switch
on the reading light. Because I
was flying at night and it was
dark, I was unable to read my
book on the flight as well.
Perhaps because I am not used to flying, or because Sri Lankan airlines have the most uncomfortable
seats in the world I couldn’t sleep so I basically sat and stared into space for 12 hours!! Not
enjoyable at all.

After what felt like a life time we landed in Colombo. I managed to find the baggage reclaim and had
to wait quite a while for my rucksack. I was getting a little concerned it had been left behind but
eventually it appeared to my relief. I lugged the bag onto a trolley and found my way into the arrivals
area. I spotted the currency desk where I changed the $100 dollars that I had received for my 18 th
birthday just 1 month previously. Changing the dollars for 16,500 rupees made me feel rather
wealthy. I then headed to the phone counter as I had been told it was handy to have a cheap Sri
Lankan mobile phone as it was much cheaper and easier to contact other volunteers. This cost 4000
rupees. This is about £23 but it included £5 worth of credit.
 My next task in Sri Lanka
was to find the taxi
company which Project’s
Abroad should have
alerted that I would be
arriving. Crossing the arrivals section men kept
asking me ‘Hello? Hello? Do you want taxi?’ I had
been warned of this so I just headed straight to the
taxi company stand I had been sent a picture of. At
the taxi desk I was rather unsure of the man in
charge. He was not the man in the picture that I had
been sent but he told me that he was his brother. Then two other girls (I later found out their names
were Holly and Roxy) around my age arrived at the taxi. They said they were also with projects
abroad. I asked them which hotel they were meant to be going to as I hoped it would be the same as
mine. They didn’t seem overly sure but they did think it wasn’t the same hotel as me. I was a little
disappointed. The taxi man made a few phone calls and eventually led me away from the two girls. I
walked outside of the airport with the taxi manager and the Sri Lanka heat hit me. The air was thick,
hot and humid. I was taken to a min-van where another Sri Lankan man was waiting. I was told this
man would take me to my hotel. My bags were loaded and I got in. My English habits made me
attempt to put my seat belt on but the Sri Lankan driver said ‘No No. No seat belts in Sri Lanka’. I
immediately became worried.

We pulled out of the airport taxi rank and onto the craziest road I’d ever seen. There were lanes
marked on the road but no one seemed to take any attention. Hooting and honking was continuous.
Tiny tuk tuks were overtaking big lorries. It seemed so dangerous. At the side of the road were
countless stray, skeletal dogs and cows and piles upon piles of rotting rubbish. This town looked like
a favela to me. The feeling over regret was overwhelming. I couldn’t understand why I had wanted
to come here. I was a young girl in a strange van, with a strange Asian man, in a strange town, a 12
hour flight away from a place which now seemed to be heaven. We’d been driving quite a while now
and the surroundings weren’t improving. I was getting more and more concerned that this man
wasn’t going to take me to the hotel. I could feel my eyes filling with water and I just wanted to go
home.

After what felt like a

lifetime we arrived at a
hotel where it felt like I
was the only guest. The
porter showed me to my
room where I tried to
find out when someone
from projects abroad
would be meeting me
but I couldn’t
understand anything. I
thought I heard mention
of 7.30pm. He left and as
soon as the door closed I burst into tears. I was alone and I didn’t know what to do. All I knew was
that I was going to have to pull myself together. Not having slept and being sticky from the heat
wasn’t helping me so I decided to have a shower and calm down.

After my shower I decided I may as well go and get a drink from the restaurant. I turned the corner
in the corridor outside my room and relief flooded me. I saw the two Holly and Roxy from the
airport. I chilled in their room for a bit and felt so much happier. Later Holly and I went downstairs to
have a drink whilst Roxy did geography coursework! Coca-cola cost only 80 rupees, about 50p! I
found out we all were meeting the projects abroad people at 7.30pm. When we’d finished our drinks
we both decided to try and have a nap as we were tired.