This story begins in a land far, far away. I was booked for a morning safari in Ranthambore. The safari was to start at 7 am but we were to assemble at the hotel’s reception 15 minutes before time. I had arrived at the hotel late at night after travelling all day, so there was a tendency for me to oversleep since I was completely worn out.
In a bid to avoid this, I set an alarm on my phone but I had developed trust issues with my device ever since it automatically reset my time back by two hours in a previous city. (Why phone? Why would you that to do me?)
Sometime later in the morning, my eyes fly wide open as a horrid realization dawns on me. My body clock tells me I have overslept but none of my alarms has gone off. I try to convince myself that I haven’t. I turn on the light by the bed and look at the time on my wristwatch. 6:50 am!!
I bolt out of bed and rush to the spot where my phone is charging. The time on it reads it 1:20 am. But I know that couldn’t have been correct. There was no way I had been asleep for only one hour. I sprint into the bathroom and take one of the quickest baths of my life (also known in medieval times as rub ‘n shine), get dressed in another two minutes or less, yank my camera battery and charger off the socket and practically run out of the room.
The hallway is noticeably quiet and empty, no one’s coming out of their rooms. I’m really upset at this point and trying to come to terms with the fact that I might have just missed my morning safari. I begin to run to the reception. Why didn’t any of the alarms go off?! Why phone? Why would you this to do me again?
When I am almost there, an eerie silence surrounds me, making me pause for the first time since I got out of bed. I look at my wristwatch again. 7:10 am. I realize that I have missed the safari.
By now, I am fully awake and for some reason the date on my watch is unreadable and the roman numerals that represent the hours appear strange. I blink several times and stare at the watch again.
Blimey! My wristwatch is upside down and the time is just 1:40 am!
I literally laugh out loud and head back quickly into my room before anyone noticed the crazy person walking along the hallway. About five hours later, my alarm goes off as planned and I am able to catch the morning safari (even though that ended up being a cold trail)
Thus ends the tale of my time travel. I did have a similar issue that involved me heading to the airport before I had to fly and I still have trust issues with my phone and now, my wristwatch!
But again, all is well that ends well and I sincerely hope these are the only ‘horror’ stories I have to tell about my trips!
Ever been in these shoes? Let me hear about your ‘horror’ stories in the comment section below.
