The beginning of our 3-month adventure!

Ryan and I have been plotting an escape from our busy lives of work and school for a while now. We leave for our 3-month trip to India and Nepal on January 10th 2011, and will return to the USA on April 12th.

As shown in the map below, we will be travelling through several states in northern India during January and February, including Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Haryana, then heading east through Uttar Pradesh, ending in the city of Varanasi. From there, we will fly into Nepal in early March for a 16-day trek in the Annapurna mountain range in Nepal, return to Varanasi, and then travel through parts of the state of Madhya Pradesh back to Mumbai where we started.

 

































So that's the plan, but if you'd like to see how things unfold in reality, all you have to do is follow this blog!  We will try and update it as often as we can.

Here's a shortened list of some of the main items we are carrying:

• One backpacking backpack and day pack each
• A very small fraction of our wardrobe; clothes that pack small, don't wrinkle and dry fast
• Lonely Planet Guide to India, filled with handy tips, where to stay, what to see (and what not to see), how to get around
• A pair of Chacos and a pair of hiking shoes.  We've also been advised to carry a pair of flip-flops just to use in bathrooms...
• Water-proof dry-erase map of northern India (in case we change our mind, we can simply erase and re-draw our route!)
• A sleeping bag each, for cool nights on overnight train rides and trekking in Nepal
• Malaria meds galore
• Steri-pen and water purification tablets
• Cell phones, credit cards, cash,...
• Camera and 50 GB of memory cards (!)
• A first aid kit each
• A good knife and a compass
• iPod (to carry our tunes along during our travels)
• Books to pass time: A New History of India and Midnight's Children
• A mini homemade travel chess set and a mini pack of cards
• Hidden under-shirt travel pouches