Rajasthan- Day One- Leaving Mumbai

We had a 14:50 train leaving from Bandra Terminus. I spent my morning packing, buying birthday cards (both Carey and Rachel would have birthdays along the trip), and preparing myself for the adventure that laid ahead of me. We headed to the train station, leaving late as usual, and as soon as we arrived were hassled by porters (typical Indian style). We had e-Tickets but were unsure of the protocol so we walked much of the station looking for a customer service booth, stood in multiple lines, until we finally realized it would be best to just go to the track to ensure we didn't miss the train. For those of you who know me, I am a very anal/organized traveler, so the fact that I had not made any of the intinerary for this trip was quite bothersome to me and I was anxious about the details. We finally located our track and car number, and waited patiently (or not so patiently) outside the car until a roster was pasted to the side of the door, and we were granted entrance. Our "berth" was two benches facing one another, with two bunk beds. It was called 2 AC. Our windows were cracked class, the conditions were less than clean, but overall it didn't defeat my expectations by too much... my standards are much lower now. I mostly read and listened to music during the 10 hour ride. I finally, unfortunately, had to venture to the toilet after drinking a couple of liters of water. The toilet was a squat-style (aka hole in the ground) with a bar to hold onto. Not only is this not preferrable, but peeing into a hole on a speeding train is an art to master. Needless to say, I only went once, and held it the rest of the way. Ocassionally there would be venders passing through (there was no dining car) that would hop on a stop quickly run down the aisle "khana" or "chai" and then jump off. There was no announcement of stops, so the fact that we were arriving into Ahemedebad in the dark had me nervous we would miss our stop... as we had NO way of knowing, unless the train was precisely on time. At one point I asked the boy sleeping in the linen closet by the door (which remained opened the entire trip) and he informed me in broken english that the train was running on time. We hopped off at the station closest to 23:45 and hoped it was the right one! We might be the first tourists to EVER go to Ahemedebad! The rickshaw drivers circled us practically salivating at the thought of being the ones to win our business. We were hassled and frustrated, but finally agreed to pay Rs. 20 to one driver to bring us to our hostel for the night. Ahemedebad, if possible, is even dirtier than Bombay! My conclusion is the entirity of India smells and is covered in trash. We checked into the Balwar Palace Hotel, were escorted to our rooms, where we were handed a roll of toilet paper and a man sprayed a room deodorizer around. Our bathroom was tiny, with a non-working toilet... and the best part... the roaches. After killing 3, I slept with the lights on (so they wouldn't sneak up on me) and slept at the very foot of the bed with my feet resting on an adjacent table and used by backpack as a pillow... thinking to myself since I had seen most of the roaches at the head of the bed, they wouldn't find me at the bottom of the bed. I tried to stay awake all night, reading, but I was never successful at pulling all-nighters, and I finally unwillingly fell asleep. We were up early to catch a bus... little did I know. We didn't have a bus reservation. After Day One, dirty and exhausted from my one hour of sleep... I wasn't hopeful for Day Two.