Southern India

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Think end of January - cold icy winds drifting over the banks of snow, frozen noses and reddened cheeks from walking, driving on icy roads. Had enough? Sorry, I figure this time of year is a good time to wander off to somewhere warmer - now think southern India. Close to the equator with steamy hot days and indigo dark skies at night. Yep, I'm going to India again but to the southern end this time.

After just returning from Spain, I figured it was a good time to start packing my suitcase for India. I know what I used and what I really didn’t need from the Spain trip and so it’s the best time to organize my travel paraphernalia. As well, I was putting my summer things away for the season, many of which I will need to go the sultry south of India. That was the time to set aside those pieces of clothing that wash well and don’t wrinkle. I don’t want to take a big suitcase because it’s too hard to lift and manhandle in and out of buses. So I've had my case packed since October.

Another preparation is practicing some HIndi phrases and words, getting them down on paper for reference purposes to be able to communicate and be polite in India. Hindi is not an easy language to learn but the guides will always correct me if I pronounce something horribly wrong. I'm always afraid of saying something I think is very polite but the pronunciation turns it into something extremely offensive! Can you picture me running down the road with people after me brandishing sticks because of something I said!! LOL.

Getting a travel visa for India was an experience that challenged my mental capabilities and my patience. It is required to upload pictures of my passport and an additional passport picture in addition to completing several pages of my personal history going back to the time before I was born. However after a couple of tries I finally managed to get it submitted. But wait! There's more - then a payment has to be submitted to them and that created more exasperation - took three tries before the payment finally went through successfully. Then wait for their e-mail, go back into the website and print off two copies of my visa. Finally! I’m ready to go now.

Another thing I like to do before travelling is prepare a pocket guide for the exchange between Canadian dollars and Indian rupees. It helps to know how those rupees convert to Canadian when you're bargaining for a treasure - something Indian people love to do is drive a good bargaining discussion. It is so much fun. One Canadian dollar is worth 54.37 rupees. It takes a small adjustment to looking at prices of 500 rupees and then realize that is less than $10. It only takes a day or two to start thinking in rupees instead of dollars.

So now only two more sleeps. Anne is arriving this afternoon and then Jane, Anne & I are headed to the airport to pick up Bobbi coming from California to spend a couple of days here before we take off.

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