Sunday, March 29, 2009

SpiceJet

I booked a flight from Mumbai to  Kolkata with an airline called Spicejet--about $200 cheaper than Kingfisher & pretty ok reviews. I got the email confirmation & e-tickets so am hoping all is good. Though of course we shan't know until the moment of departure. I've read many travel blogs with a myriad of internal Indian flight horror stories, but am actually rather excited about it (sick)--seats r chosen & apparently we get a drink & a sandwich onboard.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

shoes

We are very confused about what shoes to take/wear. We shall be in sandals most of the time, but once we get into the Himalayas we'll need some walking shoes (we don't plan on doing any serious trekking however) We had bought some really cool mountain boots way back in th'summer. They're light, but now we're thinking we should be wearing something less serious. We are in a big quandary & zappos is once again our friend.

BUT---we have decided against the light walking boot an'are going with trusted sneaker instead. We've climbed mountains in crappier sneakers than these so are hoping that our decision is an ok one.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

stuff to take




           --We are testing our our backpacks--

We decided this afternoon during our "Drypack" that we would do without our lovely micro-packeable sleepng bags we purchased from Paragon. They were not "heavy hitters" but did the job & rolled up into miniscule packages. However, the room for those packages, we think we may need as just "spare". We need some air in my backpack for things like water &....I dunno...something. We shall really only be trugging around with these backpacks while we're walking from a tuk tuk to a hotel or to a train station or bus or something. We plan to do no trekking with our bags as if we did, we'd just leave them in a hut somewhere...I think...

We also got rid of all of our rain gear-A very dumb move you may think in the light of it being prime monsoon time while we're  in Mumbai & Kolkata. BUT-the reason I went against the rain coverings this time was owing to our last monsoon Delhi experience. I was dying to wear my lovely new rain jacket to be shielded from the terrential rains. Low & behold, only few people sported rain jackets & they mainly went for brollies insead. I now see the reasoning. The rain can be sporadic & you don't want to have to be dragging that jacket on & off. Also, an unbrella totally fits the job. You can wip it out fast & get your protection almost immedietely. The rain jacket is cumbersome and worst of all....HOT AS HELL in those humid monsoonic conditions---urgh-neverrrr again-nothanks-not mesir.

So I have a little empty spot in by backpack to lay my head .

Got the visas


I downloaded visa application forms for Nepal & Sikkim (maybe it'll save time when we're there-maybe not)
We have a ton of passport sized photos & proof of all sorts of bill paying & residency & what-not. (we're planning to get Sim cards when we're in Mumbai-& I've read it can be a bit of a hassle, but I think I'm fully prepared as foraging for Sim cards is one of my "specialities"!)
Am reading about the trains in Mumbai. I recall we got one from Delhi to Agra & it was smooth-not too crowded, windows open-it was nice. (dirty of course) 
We have booked a hotel In Mumbai already called The Residency in the Fort area. It has a good rating & is higher than we need to go, only we thought we'd try & ease ourselves into th'mayhem rather than just diving straight in head 1st in a foolhardy fashion which I'm won't to do! I also called a lil'guesthouse called The Sunflower Guesthouse in South Kolkata. They didn't speak much English at all & my Hindi isn't that great, so I hope we have a reservation. These are the only places we are reserving from here. Once we get going we'll just call ahead (as is our plan)

90 days in India



This is a dog we saw today outside a Deli-ha-not Delhi-no we're still in NYC-The owner seemed proud as it calmly drooled & barked at passers by. I was disgusted by it. I love some dogs, but this one didn't seem too cared for-not his fault of course. Maybe he was happy, but he looked horrible-I sound cruel but it somehow wasn't a sad & pathetic site, it was just nasty. Double-click on him & you'll see.
Dave & I are leaving on April 1st for a 3 month trip to, maybe, the following places. We start here in the city & take a Continental direct flight to Mumbai, stay there for a few days & then to Kolkata, West Bengal, Sikkim, Nepal, Bihar & Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand (Uttaranchal), Himachal Pradesh (up to Leh) Punjab, Mumbai & then home. It is hard to gage if we have chosen too many destinations for the 3 months. Dave has been responsible for choosing our route and I'm taking charge of all the rest. So if anyone thinks we are planning on being a bit too ambitious then I'd love to hear (if you have any suggestions of where we may wanna spend longer etc). We are not usually "lingerers" but'll definitely stay in a place for a while if it's cool. We are pretty fluid & will change up if we hear of better options en route.
We were going to go for a shorter 3 week trip in the summer but then Dave broke his ankle in a hockey accident so we had to put it all off until now. But now we have time to dilly dally across India. We did go before in the Summer of 2007 with Dave's brother & after that trip we knew we'd be back. 
Seems like there is rather a lot to do before we leave in preparation. We are taking v small backpacks (not those huge ones) as we know theee worrrst thing is lugging a ridiculously huge bag around in th'seering heat & dust. We think we're gonna stay in hotels (a mix of low & high budget--depending on our "needs" at the time) The only hotel we need to book right now is the hotel we need for Mumbai for a few nights. We know this'll be the most expensive place most likely.
Anyway-Have got to fill out those visa applications as Dave is giving them to the visa outpost place on 53rd st tomorrow