We’ve officially decided that a 6 week trip to India will be the first leg of travel on our year abroad. We chose it for a number of reasons, the most important being it’s a country we’ve both discussed going to for a couple of years but never felt we could due to the amount of time it would require to see it properly. Six weeks seems like a long time to travel there, but now that I’ve been researching online I see that many people stay there for months. It’ll be a good amount of time to see the country and test out long term travel wings.
Flights are incredibly cheap for traveling to India in October/November this year. I’d love to book them but am hoping to come up with a rough itinerary so that our flights make sense. At a quick glance it seemed like flying into Kolkata and flying out of Delhi, would make sense, and then I read about Sikkim. I’ve become obssessed with the little corner of India sandwiched between Nepal and Bhutan, partly as I’d never realized it was there and partly for the need of a permit, the mountains and the homestays they offer. And of course, Sikkim is so close to Tibet now I’m thinking if I’m on the other side of the border how would I not visit Tibet? It would seem that mountains and politics stand in the way of that, but we’ll see.
If we were to visit Sikkim and stay with a family there we’d do it in October or early November as soon as we arrive in India as it looks like the temperatures are already cold at that time. This would mean no Pushkar camel festival which runs until November 2nd. As they’re on oposite sides of India there’s no way to do both. However, G is interested in a camel trek in the Great Thar Dessert so perhaps we’d get camels, desserts and Pushkar in but no festival. I hear the prices are 5-10 times the normal rates anyway.
To add Tibet or not? If it’s a week more and not too much more effort and money I’d love to do it. Finding information about how to do this has been frustratingly difficult.
