Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Another Passage to India

OK, so I'm sitting in my apartment writing on my travel blog, when I should be finishing packing - and, for that matter, organizing fairly essential parts of my upcoming trip (where am I staying in Brussels?). Yes, I'm that much in denial. Get up in the morning, check my fantasy league site (which is even more criminal because the Crackers are completely out of the race and I have already dumped), go to Sneakers for breakfast, write on the travel blog - oh well, my friend Bob isn't due here for an hour, and I do know where my suitcase is, even if there's nothing packed in it. However, I do know where I'm going. I'm flying out of Burlington this morning on the way to JFK - with another one of those long layovers that people who fly in and out of Burlington always have to put up with - before taking off for Brussels, and then onto Mumbai, India - arriving around 10:30 on Wednesday the 23rd. About an hour later my father and my sister Annie are arriving. The trip has been almost entirely organized by our amazing Indian friend John Neelankavil, who is a complete saint. We're staying down ty the Gate of India at the Hotel Sea Palace for a few days doing some sight-seeing and getting caught up with John and India. On the 26th we take off for a 28 hour train trip across India, ending up at the Katpadi Station around dinner time on the 27th, and then a couple days visiting the famous hospital in Vellore, founded by Ida Scudder. On the 29th it's on to Chennai to catch a flight up to Delhi, and some sight-seeing there, as well as a trip to Agra to see the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort. On 1 July we fly back to Mumbai, and then early in the morning on the 3rd we fly out - Dad and Annie back, through Paris to Cincinnati - and I'm heading off to Brussels to stay for three days (somewhere - I do think it will be in a hotel, so I have done some planning) 3-6 July before heading back to Burlington. It's exhausting just thinking about it. OK, now where's my passport?

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