Grand Plans
The chocolate on the pillow of this trip is that after negotiating the screaming masses of India with kaleidoscope colours and smells I will get to see Nepal again! I visited Nepal two years ago when I won an entire tour group placement - yep that's right, a tour for 12 people! Disappointingly, my friends were unwilling to join me except for an old school buddy. Now if you think that I'm mad to travel alone then you didn't see me travel with family to a developing country. My brother quickly became rigid with culture shock upon arrival and refused to leave his hotel room or participate in the trek. My mother on the other hand, suddenly decided that as I was in charge of the finances she would sink into a prickly ball of hostility in between buying endless postcards and jewellery at twenty times the market value. My sisters and my friend compensated by being wonderful travel companions but that trip provided me with a solid warning not to expect people to act the same overseas as they do at home. I guess travel either brings out the best or the worst in you. It's the people who seek out challenges, enjoy the unexpected and embrace new ways of life that get the most out of a foreign country and I'm delighted to be one of them. Everyone else just seems to freak out. I'm not saying that I'm a brave person, I'm scared of spiders, job interviews, meeting guys, going to hospitals...you name it, I can run screaming from a lot of things. I guess my 'fear factor' just goes on holiday when I do.
Only 3 and 1/2 weeks to go!
