Monday, June 16, 2008

India Trip Planning Woes


Finalizing dates and airlines and booking tickets is already done. Now starts the planning for internal details of the big trip. I am going NUTS with this exercise now. I am sure some of you can surely identify with this.

We have to cover 3 cities in India in 3 weeks.
When to leave from City A to City B? Which flight? Numerous flight options.
How many days will we stay in City B?
When do we leave to City C? Flight? Train?
When do we go back to City A?
Will we have enough time to pack before we depart back to US?

This is the simple logistics part of the trip planning.

Then comes the fun trips options that are enticing and attractive.

"Last time, we went on the HouseBoat stay in Kumarakom in Kerela, it was great."
"My parents went to this resort. It is economical, not expensive as houseboat etc. And very relaxing"
There are resorts in City A and City B and City C. Equally tempting. Which one to book?

And the list of people I want to meet and things I want to do is endless.
I am a sucker for nostalgia. I probably value reliving memories more than anything else.
I want to meet all my old friends and classmates. Then there are relatives whom we get to meet only when we go like this. I want to visit my old school and college to relive memories and to show my 7 year old where I stood and sang school prayers and bore him with my 'veeragaathaa' (adventure stories).

How could I forget shopping clothes to expand my wardrobe for US Indian gatherings?

Not only do we have to meet with folks who live in India, but also there are close friends/relatives from US/elsewhere who will be vacationing in India at that SAME TIME. How nice is that..to be able to catch them there and spend sometime with them there. Yumm..tempting again!

The temptations are enticing and overwhelming. There is always the concern of whether we will get disappointed with the choices or decisions we made. It could easily turn fun to stress if we try to cram everything into the schedule. But what to give up? How do I set priorities? How do I say 'No' to some things?

Hmm..am I not enjoying this exercise, while I am cribbing? Daydreaming of doing this and that in India and planning for it - there is some thrill in this!

5 comments:

Unknown said...

It used to be like that for me. But for the past few times, I have been going only for a couple of weeks, so I just choose to spend time with family and meeting really close friends.

Have a fun trip..!!!!

UL said...

oh when do you leave? Girl, you have been busy blogging while I wasn't looking...wow, so many pieces to catch up on...hope to do it soon. for me, no holiday in india is enough time...and at the end of it i am truly exhausted..and i need another holiday to recover...:)

Anya Padyam said...

Its always the same, isn't it?:) same here... but for us its only 2 weeks and always 2 cities:)
... barely enough time to fly into and out:)...

have a grand trip!!! how is the 7-yr old doing? Awaiting your arrival?

anamika said...

@suman - if it is 2 weeks only, wonder what I will do. 3 weeks kku I am cribbing!

@ul - hey, you really made my day, with all those comments on all my posts. I signed into mail and I was thrilled to see all your comments. yes, that is true, na , need another holiday, to recover!!

@js - which two cities? TVM mathram alle? Nikhil is fine, but starting to miss us, I think. I feel like flying out early and surprising him..but it is too expensive to change the ticket dates! So I gave up the idea. Now it seems like July is so far away.

Noby M. Joseph said...

All I can say is expect delays. I assume one of the Cities you are going to be in is Bangalore. New BIAL airport is waiting for you. To fly 45 mins to kochi, u need to be on the road for 2 hrs.

Pinne, another thing that could have been done yrs ago is to marry ur neighbor. Naattil okke kandittile :-). Appol eluppam poyi varaaam

Ini aaalochittu kaaryam illa.