Go East

Lonely Planet’s guide to India is over 1,200 pages long, which means that in addition to containing just about everything a budget traveler needs to know about the sub-continent, it also doubles as a paperweight and a barbell. A copy is currently sitting on the downstairs table at my parent’s house. The book is huge and pristine, yet to be opened and yet to be smudged by our flipping thumbs. Right now I’m just considering the book, as if the moment I crack it open our trip really begins and I really have to start thinking about what we need to do, to plan, to purchase, to look up in further detail, to stress about. So Lonely Planet India sits on the table.

It’s got some company. There are also guides about Nepal, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. These are slimmer, more manageable books and thus they’ve already been explored, highlighted, and discussed a bit. Notable sites noted. Suggested itineraries considered. Known scams highlighted and underlined. India will just have to wait, like the king piece on the chess board. First we have to get through the rooks and bishops.

The planning will continue until mid-January, when we leave for our trip. It’s our post-Peace Corps celebration. All returned volunteers receive what’s called a “readjustment allowance” to help make the transition back home a bit easier. We decided a long time ago that, for us, this allowance was much better spent taking us to a new corner of the world. After giving Africa some serious consideration, we picked Southeast Asia (Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam), India, and Nepal. We’ll travel them in that order for approximately three months and what ultimately swung our decision to Asia was the fact that it’s the driest and coolest time of the year in that region. No better time to go.

So this blog will follow our trip, follies and all. Prior to the internet and the rise of blogs, a trip like this would be related to friends and family postmortem, after returning home. I hope this account, written undigested as we travel, proves to be interesting, insightful, and honest.

Enjoy!