84 kilometers = 52.1951801 miles

It is a week until time to leave.

I am getting really excited. This is going to be very interesting and a challenge. I am hoping that by writing this blog I will stay positively focused and that the comments I get back from my blog readers will be encouraging. It will be like getting little "letters" from friends and family.

I will not ever be mentioning my company name or my own name in this blog. That way I can be ssure that I do not make any unintended connections to work. So, I need a pen name, I wonder what that should be -- I am open to suggestion on that on...

I had some ignorance about blogs, and blogging. I didn't know that the first entries I wrote would reside at the end of the blog and the newest entry would be the first thing you read. Now that makes sense, but compared to a book, it seems a little out of sync. I have found my camera and my flip recorder. I will practice attachning a pictureor two to this blog before I leave.

I received word from work colleagues in India that someone will be waiting for me in Vadodara at 6:30 on the Saturday morning that I arrive. They will take me the 84 kilometers miles to the guest cottage where I will be staying the first 1 1/2 week. I say, bless your heart for getting up so early on a Saturday morning. I hear that everyone works Saturdays in India, so the heart blessing may be back on me pretty soon.

The second 1 1/2 week I will stay in the new hotel in town. I am trying both lodging offerings to see which one work the best for me.

From Point A to Point B and back

I am thinking about the trip -- here is how it goes:

1. Fly from "Home Town" to Newark, New Jersey -- not taking the latest afternoon flight because has only a 1 hour connection time and with all the evening pop-up showers we are having, I would hate to miss my next flight

2. Fly from Newark (pronounced Nerk) to Mumbai -- about 17 hours in the plane

3. I have been told that in Mumbai I am to take a taxi to the Airport Hyatt. I am to pay for the taxi inside the airport, get and ID number, go outside and find the taxi with the correct ID number. I was told that other taxi drivers will try to take my luggage out of my hand and put me in a taxi, but to stop and make them show me -- the number. This will all happen at 10:00 pm, sounds a little scary to me

4. Shower and sleep for two - three hours at the Hyatt

5. Taxi back to the Domestic terminal at Mumbai and take a 5:30 AM flight to Vadodara.

6. At Valdadara, a car will meet me with a driver arranged by my company. I don't know how long the car drive is, it probably won't matter.


The return trip is similar with one additional problem. The morning flight from Vadodara leaves at 10:00 am arriving at Mumbai at 11:30 am. I leave Mumbai for Nerk at 10:30 pm. Lots-o-time in the airport.

When I reach "home town" I will probably weep for joy.

So I think those pink colored leg sleeves are going to come in handy on the 17 flights.

Supplies

I am ordering supplies for my travels: Alarm clock with international time zones, compression leggings with no feet so my toes can wiggle, something called a dream sack to put on the hotel bed and slide into for sleeping, and a packet of laundry soap dissolving soap sheets - 50 little films per packet. This is all the busy work while my brain is working on the journey ahead, and the work that I will need to do on the journey. I have decided not to specifically discuss the work aspects of the trips. That part is business and will challenge me mentally during working hours. My journal entries will be more about what I see before and after work, and the people I meet.

Compression leggings - technically called compression leg sleeves. Leg sleeves?

Doctor issues sorted

The doctor issues have been sorted out, I now have a new doctor in my hometown. He is also Indian, but a very sweet and kind man. We are well underway with the inoculations and I have very sore arms to prove that point. My new doctor says that he visits India at least twice a year with his wife. He says I am going to love it. From the look on his face and the light in his eyes, I think he is making a strong point. As part of this journal I shall start a list of things I love about India and the date I discovered this thing. I wonder what will be on this list.

Tickets are booked

Tickets are booked, new doctor is booked, things are back on even keel for going forward. It is a little over a month away and I am dreading it a little. I will have to think of some way to get excited about this adventure. Hmmmm, how will I do that?