Planning Continued - Leaving Soon

The planning process has been casual and smooth. I’ve pretty much got my gear together and have made necessary reservations etc.,. By the good fortune of having friends from India, who live in Houston, I was able to book my long distance Indian trains online without a hitch. Many thanks to Pradeep and Neeraj! In India booking a single train use to be an all day process but thanks to the internet it’s really quite easy. The problem with booking myself is that I don’t know the train stations, types of trains, etc. If you have someone help you that knows the system it’s a piece of cake otherwise it can can quite time consuming figuring it all out. A ride on a train can be anything from pure luxury to a totally unpleasant experience so having a reservation is important. Trains tend to book up to 6 weeks in advance. With a little extra money and time a person can book along the way, through a travel agent, but there’s still no guarantee you will get the desired train. I’ll be taking several trains and will be spending 4 nights aboard an AC sleeper at various stages. By western standards prices are extremely reasonable..

For the start of my trip I figured a month in India would be adequate but just yesterday I extended it by a week. A month would be too rushed. Places I’ll visit include the lower Himalaya, Agra, Varanassi, and Rajastan, before heading south and chilling out on the beaches of Goa. Five weeks should be suffice. From there I’ll head over Bangkok and plan the remaninder of my journey through S.E. Asia. After India I expect things to be considerably easier and I’ll travel predominately by bus with loose plans.

I must admit I’m feeling a little pre trip anxiety/excitement. I’ll be stepping a little out of my comfort zone at first but that’s what makes it an adventure. I know after a couple of weeks I’ll figure things out and feel more at ease experiencing the unknown on a daily basis. The great pitfall with short trips of 2 weeks or less is that you don’t really get a chance to settle in and adjust to the traveling/backpacker lifestyle. It takes time to adjust. Especially when visiting totally foreign environments. Heck, it takes at least a week to reset the body clock when you fly to the other side of the world.

In the meantime I’m working out the equipment details. What to take.. What not to take.. it’s kind of funny how I turn into an equipment freak right before a big trip. Otherwise, I could care less about gear…

I’m also putting together my medical kit. I’ll be carrying Doxycycline for anti malarial and Xifaxin in case I get a really bad GI infection. While talking to the pharmacist he said the one thing I’ll need for sure is Immodium. I’m hoping I won’t even need that. I also got a good tip. Somosas are almost always safe. It’s a deep fried pastry type of food that’s usually stuffed with potatoes and Vegtables. I imagine a person could travel all over India on bottled water and somosas!.. LOL!!