Leaving India

It was a relief to get out of India.

When I planned my trip, I’d designed it so that India would be the culminating point of my third world travel, starting with the developing nation of China, then moving to Thailand and Cambodia, and finally finishing up with India. This would be more than a month and a half of travel through countries where I didn’t know the language, was an ethnic minority, and was way out of my comfort zone. I did this because I wanted to challenge myself. Traveling is a challenge, and aside from traveling in places like Afghanistan and Syria (which the lonely planet does have a forum for, crazy right?) traveling in the third world was as challenged as I could be. I spent most of that time on my own, except for Cambodia, and it was indeed the challenge I was looking for.  I had a great time in all of those countries, including India.

But I was ready to go. Travel though India was significantly more challenging than I expected it to be, moving from place to place is difficult without a plan beforehand, and finding accommodation more so, and I couldn’t ever shake the feeling that I was getting ripped off the entire time. However, do not let anything I’ve said in this blog scare you off from India. This whole trip has been rewarding beyond measure, and my time in India is something I treasure.

If you ever plan on going to India, before you go, I recommend reading “Shantaram” by Gregory David Roberts. It is, first and foremost, an excellent novel, and provides a good peripheral understanding of what India is like. I read it afterward, and it helped me make sense of my week in India. More than anything, Robert’s suggestion to just “let go and go with the flow” is the best possible advice I could give. The best times I had in India were those where I had little or no control over what was going on, and more than that, accepted it.

We’re moving into New Zealand next. I’m very excited to tell you guys all my stories and get caught up. With that in mind, I have roughly 24 days left on this particular adventure. It is my intent to get caught up and end in that timeframe. So, expect daily blogs and sometimes two-a-days. With that said, also keep in mind that I’m traveling mostly for myself, and I don’t want to miss out on something cool while I’m writing.  There’s also a good chance that I won’t be able to update some days because I won’t be around wifi. Keep checking, I haven’t gone anywhere.

I’d like to thank all of you that have followed me this far, and welcome all of you who just started. If you haven’t already, “like” my page on Facebook, and keep yourself abreast of what’s happening on the blog.

-Doug