Final countdown

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Only 5 days to go before I leave for India, and the doxycycline will be making its first appearance this weekend as part of my breakfast. Despite packing clothing with only one concession to cold weather - a lightweight fleece - my 50 litre rucksack is going to be brimming. I'm thinking that maybe the composition of my pack is all wrong - should 50% of the items really be medication? - but I can't see what I could leave out. I have zero experience of backpacking, so future regrets of what I did/didn't pack will all be part of the fun.

I resigned from my job about 3 months ago, and that time has been spent first with winding down my life in New York and transporting everything back to the UK, and then with planning this trip. I'll be in India for 4 months, which is a fairly long time, certainly longer than any holiday I've had before. I have a list of places I'd like to see in India, but no predefined route linking them. I have 2 definite dates on which I need to be in certain towns in order to meet up with certain people, but otherwise everything is flexible.

Subsequent to India, I'll need a few weeks back in the UK for admin reasons, then I hope to meander through various parts of South-East Asia, including a trip to Japan to meet some old friends and see some parts of the country I haven't previously visited. I don't have an end date in mind.

I have no job waiting for me at the end of all this, and no particular thoughts about what I want to do careerwise when the travelling stops. And I'm pleased to say that, after 3 months of unemployment, this isn't a subject that's weighing particularly on my mind. I'm tremendously excited at the prospect of seeing some parts of the world that I've been itching to see for years, and to be able to do it in a relaxed timeframe. Fingers crossed that my camera and my notebook will capture some decent memories.

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Comments

[Jay Ceron]

HELLOOOOOOOO
John, lost your emial. Want to know how you're doing. I see the traveling is over!