Of all my travel stories I think this is the craziest, juiciest, and hardest one to believe. But I promise it really did happen! š
The plan was to spend about 6 weeks backpacking around India; and even before I left on this trip my parents were SUPER nervous about me traveling there. But I was going with a handful of friends who I *knew* would all look out for each other. So I assured my parents I would be fine and promised to contact them every day to let them know where I was and that I was safe.
Well, toward the last 10 days or so of my time in India there came a point where I wasnāt sure if I was going to continue traveling with these friends of mine or if I was going to do something different than what they had planned. I called my mom that morning and told her I wasnāt quite sure what my plans were. I told her I might break off and do my own thing in India- go to a city there I wanted to see that my friends werenāt going to make it to- I had talked to a roommate earlier that morning before calling my mom and she had suggested that I go to China to visit a friend who had just moved there to teach English- so I told my mom that that was an option. I told her I was thinking about maybe going to Thailand to hang out on my favorite little island and see some friends I had there, or that I could even just come home and not do any of the above. So these were all just my thoughts (and maybe some wishful thinking in there too; letās be honest š) but I hadnāt quite decided what I was going to do yet. My mom told me, āOh Chelseaā¦ Oh dear, honeyā¦ Whatever you end up doing LET ME KNOW so I know where you are in the world and I donāt worry about you!ā I told her, āI know, I know, I will Momā¦ No problem!ā Well that afternoon I decided to continue traveling with my friends, and that evening we took an overnight train to the Northeast/tribal states of India. I figured I would just let my mom know that I had stayed with my friends as soon as I found wifi or computer access again. Well, when we arrived in the tribal states the next morning I immediately found out that there was no running water, very little to no electricity, and absolutely NO wifi or computer access ANYWHERE. So I figured I would just contact my mom as *soon* as I was able to. (Because at this point what else could I do?! š³)
About 3-4 days went by and we just so happened to be in one of the bigger ācitiesā in the tribal states (though it was still pretty much a village). We were staying at the ONLY āguesthouseā in the area and in the middle of the afternoon someone came knocking on our door. My friend Bart answered it and it was one of the guys from the UK that we had met at the entrance of our āguesthouseā earlier that day. My friend Bart said, āHey whatās going on? And the UK guy said, āHey, umā¦ the girl youāre traveling withā¦ is her name Chelsea Espiā¦. Espiā¦.ā And Bart saidā¦ āEspinoza?ā The UK guy was like, āYeah, yeah, thatās it! Umā¦ The US Embassy is on the phone for her.ā When I heard this my immediate reaction was, āUmā¦ WHAT?!ā š²š²š² My friend Drew sat up from his bed real quick and said, āCHELSEA!!!!! HOW MUCH DO YOU WANNA BET YOUR MOM IS LOOKING FOR YOU?!ā And Iām thinking, āOH MY GOSH!!!!!ā (Because I already KNEW thatās what it was!!!)
I ran upstairs to grab the phone and the man on the line said, āHi this is so-and-so from the US Embassy in Calcutta. Iām calling because your parents are very worried about you. They havenāt heard from you in a very long time and they want to make sure youāre ok.ā I explained to the US Embassy that I was fine, I had just been without internet access for a few days. I also gave him permission to call my parents and let them know he had made contact with me and that I was ok. So at 3 in the morning my parents got a phone call from the US Embassy in Calcutta saying I had been located and that I was safe.
I think it was about 2 or 3 more days before I was out of the tribal states and back in an area with internet access. You better believe that when my phone connected to wifi I had a BILLION texts, Facebook messages, emails, and everything in between from family and friends. š When I FaceTimed my parents for the first time since the debacle my mom gave me the sternest most serious face you could ever imagine and said, āDonāt you EVER do that to me again.ā š³ Haha, so hereās what I found out was happening at home while I was ālostā in India…
Up until I was in the tribal states I had been consistently posting on Facebook and talking with my family. So when I suddenly went silent on social media and no one in my family heard from me for a few days, they started to worry. Apparently it was my sister, Melanie, who talked to my parents and said they should do something. So do something they did. š My mom called the dad of one of the travel compadres I was with and asked if he had heard from his son recently. He told my mom he hadnāt but that that was normal for him. He assured her that he was certain we were fine and probably off somewhere where we couldnāt get in touch with them. (Totally nailed it. š) But of course my mom was still worried.
Through Facebook my parents sent messages to my closest friends back home to see if they had heard from me, to the friends I was traveling with currently and a few travel friends we had parted ways with. My dad contacted my brother in law who worked in law enforcement at the time to ask for his opinion on what he should do. Iām not sure where the idea to call the embassy came from, but thatās what happened next. My parents had gotten in touch with the friend we had most recently parted ways with and she told them where we were headed next and gave them information about the exact train we had gotten on.
From there I have absolutely NO IDEA how the embassy found me. I meanā¦ when we arrived at the train station in the tribal states we took a 7 hour jeep ride to our final destination. Furthermore, every record in every hostel and guesthouse we stayed at in all of India was kept with pen and paper- there was nothing electronic, we always paid for everything in cash, and I hadnāt used my passport in any way for a few weeks. But SOMEHOW the freaking US EMBASSY contacted me by calling the PERSONAL CELL PHONE of the owner of the “guesthouse” we were staying at. š³ What the heck?!?! šš
I donāt think my travel compadres realized the seriousness of how important it was that I contact my parents every day until after that experience. They had actually been teasing me about how much I had been calling home! š But you better believe it became a TOP priority to them after that. š
Since that experience all those years ago the whole “calling the US Embassy” thing has sort of become a joke with my parents. Any time I travel anywhere they tell me, “Call us. Or we’ll make friends with the US Embassy in ___.” š I’ve learned that if there’s even the *slightest* chance I may be away from internet access for more than 24 hours to warn my parents ahead of time. And I’m happy to report I’ve never had another experience where the US Embassy has come looking for me. š
Moral of the story: Donāt go off the grid without warning your parents first. They might just send the government out looking for you. š
Safe travels, friends!
CE
