Day 0 – In Preparation – Wednesday 13^th November 2019

And so it begins.  There is always so much to do…. and then there’s work:

Last day before holiday. Up early to travel into London for an employer event at Imperial War Museum. I had cleared all my work the night before and had no responsibilities for the event itself except to entertain my attendees and not appear too much of a war anorak.  A great day was had by all and three new contacts very open to develop relationships…a great way to begin to relax into my subcontinental adventure.

Home by 18:00 – no packing done but little piles of essentials everywhere  in anticipation. First, sort what to wear travelling out, safari jacket, light shirt, linen trousers, walking socks, walking boots and green check Vietnamese scarf. No particular relevance to the Vietnamese but reminded myself as I readied myself that it was a present from my brother and sister in law when they came back from the far east. No, it’s not haut couture but it is a practical way to get the bulky stuff to India without infringing the weight limits on hold baggage.

Another consideration of the reduction in bulk is our India travel guide book. In fact we have two. Lonely Planet for initial research when planning and A Rough Guide, which is now very rough indeed. We bought the second off e-bay (Ex Library) when we realized that at over 1200 pages it was a little bulky to carry. The reason it is now very rough is that each time we travel we pull it apart only taking the useful tips on culture, life etc and the parts specific to the areas we are travelling. This reduces the tome to approx. 300 pages, much more manageable.

Then silly season occurred. My dear colleague John had presented me several weeks earlier with a lifeline, around £4.00 of rupee’s in small denomination notes. These notes are rare in India as often instead of getting ten rupees (10p) change you get a small chocolate bar or something else edible with equal value.

John’s emergency rations were needed for tipping. Entirely out of proportion to their monetary value I spent hours searching for the damn things….eventually succeeding when I had a vague recollection that on the day of presentation I had travelled light and used a seldom aired man bag. There they were still in the side pocket in their pristine white envelope…a true contrast as the notes themselves were only in a fit state to be handled with gloves or tweezers.

We have taken to travelling without a suitcase instead packing our worldly goods into 85-90 kilo backpacks which in turn are placed in large body bags (mine black and The ever lovely’s red). We padlock the backpack toggles together and then also the body bag. I don’t know if it was tiredness or old age but I couldn’t remember the combination for my two padlocks. “it’s something to do with the kid’s birthdays” I said, but all possible permutations failed.  “I can always pick up a padlock at Heathrow says I unconfidently”. We had finished packing and were just getting into bed the wrong side of midnight. Hoping to grab three hours before we had to rise to get ready for Crofton Chauffeurs to taxi us off to terminal 4 Heathrow at 04;45. “it’s no good, I have to go to Tesco and get a padlock. Off I trot arriving back at 01;30 so into bed at 02;00. Feeling the buzz of our upcoming adventure.

… as I am sure you’re keen to get to India as soon as I was, you don’t need to wait until next Monday as I am continuing now with Blog 3

Missed Blog One? Read about it here