Having spent my formative travel experiences in Europe, it does seem a bit intimidating – as I am sitting here in the holideck lounge at Heathrow- when I think that I am going to spend more than a week entirely in a Land I am not so familiar with. A land still under the tight muslim wrapping. A land where I am need to tread very carefully and be very aware of the fact that even a small act that I could commit unknowingly could possibly offend someone! Not a very inviting thought eh?! But that is what makes travel very interesting. Embracing cultural differences – while they still exist – is what sets a Traveller apart from a tourist. You get a kick out of meandering through an exotic locale in an unscripted way, not knowing what is going to be served next!
So, how did I come up with this itinerary in the first place? I am constantly engaged in researching about new places to travel to. Whenever I read about some place that sounds/looks even least bit appealing , I rip out(print out) the page and save it. This habit of obsessively collecting travel info has what has lead me to come up with several of my past itineraries containing places on and off the beaten track. So, this latest collection of destinations was a work in progress for a long time and was being pushed out since I thought I may as well do them later in life – maybe after moving back to India for good. But I could no longer resist the temptation to sample the delightfully exotic culture and food. But little did I know when I put this trip together initially that it was going to be only culture and food and not Food & drink! Most of the stops in this circuit are strictly dry states and alcohol of any form is prohibited. So my party levels are going to plummet down the scale from Antony Bourdain to Samantha Brown. Signing off for now from Heathrow Holideck lounge...
