For March break, I went on a wonderful trip to India with my mom and sister. I went to visit my grandma, who was in the hospital in India, getting treatment for cancer. She is almost done getting treated. My experience was amazing!

First I went to the Toronto Pearson airport early in the morning to the airport. It was pretty familiar to me because I went to Tanzania only a few months before. I was so excited for my trip because I have never been to India and I was going to see my grandma. The airport was super busy because so many families wanted to go away for March break. Luckily, we were early so the line wasn`t too long. We took Air Canada to Munich, Germany. It was a long flight of about 9 hours!! But I was living a good life on the plane with a TV, average food (I prefer my mom’s amazing cooking and dads BBQ), and a bathroom. The Germany airport was bigger than Toronto airport. I went on a German plane called Lufthansa to India. I enjoyed it just as much and it was 8 and a half hours! I finally got to New Delhi, India. My brain told me it was morning, but in India it was midnight. India is nine and a half hours behind of Canada. I drove to the hotel I was supposed to be staying in to get a rest from my long journey.

The next day I went to the hospital which is so big. I saw my Grandma and my Great Aunts right away. I was so happy! I stayed in the hospital for a while to catch up with my grandma. She had just finished that round of chemotherapy. Soon, my Grandma went out of the hospital to the hotel. The hospital had very good cancer treatment. I got to meet my grandma’s doctors and nurses too. My Granma says she felt a lot better with our presence.

I could already tell the major differences between Canada and India other than the culture. An unfortunate part is that there is so much poverty in India. When I was walking on the streets, many poor people were trying to sell things or to beg for food. Also the traffic is ridiculous. I don`t remember a second a horn wasn`t being honked. When you think of a hot summer sunny vacation, you usually don`t. think of India, you would think of hot beaches in the Caribbean, but it was super-hot in India.

The food in India was very good. It was so full of flavour, culture and…. SPICE! I have never tasted food so spicy. They put spice on everything. There was something that had the label: medium spicy, so I took it. After one bite I spit it out and chugged down my water. Need I say more? I had lasagna at an Italian place and it was too spicy for me to eat! Anyway, I always had something to eat. They have very unique food that I tried.

With my Grandma, I saw many things. I visited many tourist attractions such as the Taj mahal, different types of forts, a gift shops. The Taj mahal was a thrilling experience but it was very crowded. And it took forever to get to walk from the gate to the Taj mahal. The drive from New Delhi to the city Agra was four hours! I took some pictures by a professional photographer. Inside the Taj Mahal is a tomb of the queen and king. The other forts I saw were more peaceful. I took a lot of pictures. My hobby is that everywhere I go; I collect a keychain to put on my keys. I have one from Disney, Zanzibar, India, and Jamaica. We also got tons of other cool souvenirs that we will keep forever.

My amazing trip finally came to an end. It was hard to say good bye, but I managed. I took Air India from India to London airport. The flight was pretty good. London airport was amazing. I almost felt like I was in the real London. One terminal felt like a mall times 4!! There were shops and restaurants everywhere. We ate food and I bought a souvenir. Once we got through the security, we sat on the plane thinking about our amazing trip to India. I hope you enjoyed my experience.

Maxine Mutasingwa.