Exit Africa, Hello India

Of course exiting Africa would be difficult...a fitting way to end a highly rewarding yet challenging continent. After jumping a plane from Zanzibar (on a South African airline called 1 Time...more like 1 Time Only) to Johannesburg and a quick one night layover at a backpackers (the website made it out to be city center accommodation yet it was a done up farm in the countryside) we headed to the airport for our flight to Asia. Round-the-world plane ticket rules and regulations can be tricky. Paper tickets are a rarity these days and difficult to manage. We have the double whammy of a paper round-the-world ticket. We showed up at check-in and received the now common look of frightened awe over the face of the airline representative as we produced our paper ticket vouchers. We were then told that Colleen was on the flight but that my ticket was no where to be found. To summarize, our next 4 flights were on Cathay Pacific and they had for some reason cancelled all of my tickets. They were not able to completely explain why but told me they would put me on standby for the flight to Hong Kong and the onward flight to Mumbai, India. We told them I had paid in full, confirmed by phone and email, had a receipt and that there was no way I was going to hang around two different airports hoping to get on standby. For some reason they did not understand why I would not wait behind and send my wife on ahead without me and when Colleen insisted she would not leave either, they were really confused. Luckily we had arrived to the airport early and after a couple hours of talking with management and some calls to headquarters in Hong Kong we had things straightened out. On to Mumbai...

Colleen had been prepping for India. After the challenges of Africa and a fair amount of my forewarning we hit the streets of Mumbai. Auto-rickshaws, people, dogs, taxis, cows, smells of curry and delicious food, burning throats from exhaust, strange looks and curious people everywhere. India was as I remembered it plus more. We spent two nights in Mumbai before heading south to Goa for some time on the beach.

Hello monsoon season....yeah so we did not plan that well. We arrived in India on June 1st, the official first day of the monsoon season, and were greeted by the rains just as we reached the beaches of Goa. We made the best of it and splurged on nicer than usual accommodation and actually had a pool to help pass some time. We met up with Linda and Kira, a traveling mother daughter combo from Denver and spent time comparing travel stories. Kira had recently graduated high school early and spent the past 5 month volunteering in India while Linda had spent time earlier in life volunteering in refugee camps in Thailand during the Cambodia genocide. We sampled much of the Indian cuisine we have been highly anticipating (Linda, thanks again for dinner!) and after 3 days headed further south.

We ended up in the town of Alleppey in the southern Indian state of Kerala. The region is known for easy going socialists (yep communists), beaches, coconut trees and fine cuisine. After a night in town we booked a houseboat to tour the backwaters for 3 days. The trip turned out to be a highlight thus far as we cruised the canals and waterways in our boat with our two man crew. The houseboat is essentially a flat bottomed barge/boat with a native wood and reed house for shelter. Our driver maneuvered us through tiny rural villages and our cook kept us full with splendid meals. When there were sights to see we pulled over to shore and made short hikes to markets and churches/temples (a petite 4 ft nun blessed us, our marriage, our families and our jobs...hopefully that carries over to our job search when we return). We spent the rest of the time on our private balcony atop the boat viewing the world as it passed by.

Changing continents and spending our first week in India had revitalized our spirits. Traveling for a full year is no doubt a challenge but the changes in scenery and culture have provided a much needed lift.