India Itinerary

For those of you who have expressed interest/curiosity, here is my tentative itinerary for India (excluding specific dates).

I am traveling almost exclusively by train with the exception of Dharamsala which is only accessible by coach.

~Arrive Mumbai; staying with college friend

I'll spend 14 days in Mumbai

~train to Udaipur; lakeside guesthouse booked

spending 10 days

~train to Jaipur; couchsurf(.org) host arranged

spending 7 days

~train to Jaisalmer; couchsurf host arranged

spending 13 days

~train to Jodhpur; couchsurf host arranged

spending 5 days

~train to Delhi; couchsurf host arranged for all but 3 nights

spending 5 days

~train to Agra; guesthouse booked

spending 5 days

~train to Varanasi; guesthouse/cultural exchange booked

spending a full month

~return Delhi then on to Dharamsala (home of Dalai Lama)

spending a full month

~return to Mumbai for final 3 weeks

daytrip~Goa???

short trip Aurangabad/ Ellora and Ajanta Caves if finances permit

19 Days til Departure

Less than three weeks, now, til I board my flight for Mumbai.

It still seems very distant, removed, unreal.

My work season here in the Colorado Rockies just ended, and I am still living in my dorm room, not yet even entirely packed to return to Florida for the short rest in between adventures.

I am drained, emotionally and physically.

It has not quite sunk in yet (at least not completely) that I have survived yet another astonishingly difficult period of my life.

I have vowed NEVER to take on seasonal work in the park concessions system again.

I cannot pack for India until I get back and unpack in Florida...which is five and a half days from today.

So again, the theme is "limbo". I am stuck in some kind of middle ground.

Disconcerting.

Plans have been changed due to panic attack/mini-crisis, then changed back again. I now have all my inter-India rail tickets up until 31 December 2009...

I'll be ringing in the New Year on an overnight train between Delhi and Varanasi, and will start 2010 in one of the world's holiest cities.

It still does not seem real.