Cold Feet? Not For Me

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So here I am, less than two months away from my departure. One might think that I'd be growing increasingly anxious as the date approached, but thanks to a constant stream of disappointing events, I find myself not being able to contain my excitement and zeal for my trip, and can certainly find no reason to be apprehensive about it.

I need to make myself remember to call the Department of Health so that they can hook me up with some anti-malarial drugs. I've been told that they cost upwards of $7 per pill here in the U.S., but less than $1 in India, and to take my perscription on the road with me so that I can get the bulk of what I need upon arrival. Can anyone confirm this little tidbit of advice? Malaria is not good news.

Anyway, here are some semi-tentative travel plans:

August 25 - Utica to New York via train or JetBlue - probably spending some time in the city with the folks. One last whirlwind family vacation before the big day.
August 27 - JFK to Sheremetyevo in Moscow - a 10-hour flight on Aeroflot, quite possibly the worst airline in the world. Well, once a seasoned traveler, I'll no longer make those kinds of mistakes.
August 28 - Moscow to Bombay - following 7 hours in the (probably) lovely Moscow airport, another 7 or so hours on a plane to Bombay.
August 29 - Salaam Bombay! - 2 days exploring Bombay on my own terms
August 31 - Bombay to Madras - an epic 24-hour train ride across the subcontinent, finally arriving in Madras, only 160km from my first final destination.
September 1 - Madras to Auroville - hopefully only a 4-hour bus ride along the coast to Auroville, the "City of Dawn."

Here's a link to Auroville's website:

Auroville

and a link to an article about Auroville:

The Auroville Experiment

They call it "a universal city in the making," and it's basically an international commune with a focus on agriculture and education. It's home to something like 2,200 permenent residents, and an estimated 1,000 guests at any given time. About 700 of the residents are Indian, and the rest of the population is made up of people from all over the rest of the world. I think that the biggest foreign populations include French, German, Italian, Dutch, and American, but there are over 40 nations represented altogether. I've got a month booked in the Mitra Youth Hostel.

One last thing for now:

Hotel Causeway

That's the hotel I'm staying at in Bombay. I chose it because of the Bryan Adams song on the homepage. 'A' for effort, Hotel Causeway.

~Anthony~

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