In the Delhi airport...

......passing good time in some alternate universe lounge space that for $40 includes a lavish food buffet, complimentary chair massages, showers, computer stations and Wifi.  I have about 7 more hours to kill and the lounge deal only lasts for three so I will probably end up waiting the rest of it out back at the gate - also to ensure I don't miss my final connection!  Airports are trippy to begin with but being in a cool, dimly lit airport lounge after 15 hours on a plane with India (India!!!) just outside the window is especially so. 

 

Getting here has been smooth so far. I even enjoyed the one hour I had to kill at the gate in Brussels (it's morning!) and the flight to Delhi was mostly empty (it's night!).  I was expecting a bigger logistical nightmare with my Visa when I got here, but was just politely ushered through to the International Transfer area when I showed them my boarding pass then followed the signs (past shiny sprawling Duty Free, Versace, Mac, Mango and other assorted glam shopping stores) to the lounge.  It's funny to spot the trekkers among the vacationing and business traveling crowd by their shoewear, those who like me managed to avoid packing their heavy hiking shoes by wearing them.  I am not noticing too many of them right now in the lounge though.

 

Now it's the dead of night, a game of cricket is on TV and the lounge is bustling.  I am jetlagged but wide awake and hungry and will go visit the buffet (for breakfast? lunch?). 

 

I am guessing next time I write will be from Kathmandu.  Bye for now...

Nepal bound

And so once again I am off.  This time for Nepal. My driving motivation is the Annapurna Circuit - winner of the "25 things to do before I die" list on one of my favorite travel blogs Uncornered Market complete with 4,576 meters elevation gain in 9 days; 112 miles walked in about 15 - 20 days; and about 50 Himalayan villages crossed along the entire way.  More or less.  You can read more about my source of inspiration on:  http://www.uncorneredmarket.com/2008/06/himalayan-trekking-stew-a-recipe-for-a-life-experience

Yes, this is what started it all whilst one innocent high-powered, career frenzied, and (relatively) well dressed New York City day I was surfing the Web.  Next thing I know this is the direction towards which I am heading.  Work is but work, and life is but short, blah blah blah.  Noone can argue the impact of an adventure of a lifetime.  Truly.  All the rest of it will always just be there waiting to be dealt with.  

And so it shall ... but in the meantime I am heading to Nepal alone with nary a notion of what to expect.  I may do this trek with a group, or I may do it alone, perhaps with random people I have yet to meet and pick up along the way in Kathmandu and/or Pokahara.  At the moment, the biggest hurdle I forsee is my 8 hour layover in Delhi, arriving 10:30 pm Saturday 3/26, departing for Kathmandu 6 am or so the following morning Sunday 3/27. Ugh.  Thank god for my new prematurely birthday gifted Kindle (thanks Family!).  I will either be sleeping on the Indian airport terminal floor or simultaneously plowing through Anna Karenina, Shantaram, Jane Eyre, and the collected works of Theroux and John Keats during this time.  We shall see. 

Either way I am excited.  To be sure.  I know it will be challenging and cold and tough at times too, and also - needless to say, ehem - that I will be a sight for sore eyes.  But all of this potential pain and unshowered misery will occur against a backdrop of splendor that is the Nepalese Himalayas and the culture I will encounter.  If I get through it in one piece I will remember the month ahead that awaits forever.  I will also be eating a lot of dal bhaat.  Look it up.  Cuz apparently this will sustain me.  Or kill me.  Stay tuned!!!!

You can read more on where I am headed via these links, should you desire:

http://wikitravel.org/en/Annapurna_Circuit

http://www.enepaltrekking.com/nepal_trekking/annapurna_circuit_trekking.php

http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/travel/21nepal.html?pagewanted=4&sq=nepal&st=cse&scp=2

Will send more dispatches (as possible) from along the way. 

Much love, 

Always, 

(Travelin') me