Road to acceptance - Discovering the traveller within the rider

[raaghave]

Day-1
Date: 25th October 2025

It’s really hard to push yourself out of your comfort zone. Every time you make a decision, the first option that comes to mind is always the easiest one.

This morning, I woke up at 3:30 AM. The first thing I did was check Uber Moto for Secunderabad Railway Station — it was showing ₹150. My first thought was, “Let’s sleep for another half an hour and then take Uber.” But then I realized, if I keep doing this, I’ll never achieve the goal of this trip — to come out of my comfort zone. So, I pushed myself, got ready, and went to the bus stop instead.

I had to wait for about half an hour, but finally, a nice electric bus arrived. Luckily, I got a seat right from my stop, and it was comfortable too. The ride took around 45 minutes, and I reached Secunderabad station by 5:30 AM. The station was under construction, and the washroom conditions were quite poor, so I decided to just wait for the train instead.

The train (Telangana Express) arrived around 6:30 AM. I boarded and was actually surprised — the sleeper coach was clean, with new seats and a decent washroom. After settling in, I had breakfast and tried out my new neck pillow with blindfolds. Honestly, I didn’t expect them to be this useful! Especially during day travel — the blindfold really helps you sleep peacefully.

I spent a couple of hours scrolling through my phone, then took a nap. Around 2 PM, I started feeling hungry. The train food didn’t look great, so I decided to order from Swiggy instead. Since Nagpur was coming up around 3:30 PM, I ordered a Haldiram’s thali. When it arrived, I was asleep, so the delivery guy had to wake me up. The food was a bit cold but tasty, so no complaints.

I always thought sleeper coaches are chaotic — full of people without tickets. But surprisingly, this one was quite peaceful. Even the general coach next to ours wasn’t crowded, though I know the scene will be different once I move further north.

One thing I really don’t understand is when people will stop watching videos loudly on their phones in public places. It’s such a common scene — kids crying, people talking loudly for no reason, and someone playing reels on full volume as if the whole coach wants to watch it. India will take a lot of time to come out of this chaos.

Another random observation from today — upper berths in sleeper coaches are actually better than those in 3-tier AC coaches. There’s more headspace here, so you can sit properly without feeling cramped. No AC ducts hanging right over your head.

With my blindfold on and AirPods in, the only real bother was the occasional smell from the toilets. Otherwise, the journey was quite smooth.

I’ve decided to start writing my daily travel experiences from today. This trip is all about exploring and learning — but with minimal expenses. Today’s journey: Hyderabad to Delhi in the Telangana Express, sleeper coach.

[raaghave]

@sajeesh I planning to write daily blogs from my recent solo backpacking trip before the bulletiapa. Let me know if this can be moved to blogs section, also I want to know if I will be able to continue write in the same blog section daily or I need to write in general discussion section daily before you move it to blog section?

[sajeesh]

@raaghave moved topic to blog section. You can continue adding your journal as a reply to this topic

[raaghave]

@sajeesh thanks bhai