This morning I was leaving Tali’s house which is on Kirribilli ave. Because the Pope is on the harbour today, Kirribilli Ave was a clear zone all day - no cars allowed.

However as I was parked in her carpark we were able to drive down the street despite it being closed. There were thousands of pilgrims lining both sides of the street, about 5 people deep, and as we drove down they all erupted into cheering. We drove through the pilgrim gauntlet, police providing our escort, and we were leaning out the window waving and yelling ‘hello, it’s great to be here, peace be with you’.

We got cheered down the entire street surrounded by the deafening roar of thousands and we felt like movie stars. Even the police were smiling at us.

It was a very random moment and a great send off. Thanks for the farewell, my pilgrim friends.

Well the past 6 weeks have trickled by and it hasn’t really been smooth sailing. I’ve left everything quite last minute and instead of being a bit random, it has been very expensive.

After numerous hidden costs, including a non refundable $1100 plane ticket, $320 to move the flight, $800 extra on travel insurance, more injections and visas, I am certain nothing else can go wrong.

The trip has extended beyond India and now includes some of Europe and South America. This was decided last week, and with some stress I managed to organise and book an around the world ticket 9 days before I left (thanks to a brilliant travel agent). This meant I had to get a visa for Brazil, but I only had 8 days to do it and it takes 5 working days to process (minus two days for the weekend) which is cutting it very fine. If I didn’t get my passport back within the 5 working days, I wouldn’t be able to leave Australia. So it was essential I went to the Brazilian consulate asap.

So after dropping mum and dad at the airport, I drove to Broadway shopping centre, parked the car and walked to Wynard where the Brazilian consulate is. I walk pretty much everywhere because I need to get fit for the trek. Anyway, I get to Wynard and remember I need an itinerary to show my exit out of the country which I have forgotten. I think desperately of how I can get around this and realise there is no way. My itinerary was a print-out so I couldn’t go to an internet cafe to print it out.

I took a deep breath in, then breathed out, shook my head and swore at myself. I’m so sick of being an idiot. So I walk back to Broadway and organised to meet my sister for a coffee. I took a shortcut through Ultimo and got lost. Sweet… The final slap in the face came when a lady stopped me and asked if I worked at Greenpeace.

Well I haven’t posted anything for a while… I was meant to leave on June 2nd but due to extenuating circumstances, I have pushed it back to July 17th. This blog is so specific to travel in India that I have been a little quiet as there isn’t much to talk about - You can only say “I’m looking forward to the trip” so many times… Now I have 6 weeks to kill, my mind is going into overdrive and being restricted to 140 characters on twitter really does my head in. So I’ll be expanding the content on here until I leave.

I’ve decided to start crocheting. The idea of knitting is something I have always detested, mainly because I’m so impatient, my fingers are retarded, and the only people who knit are old people. I don’t know how my opinion of knitting changed, I was going to buy a beanie and thought to myself “why don’t I just make one?”. Living in the moment I rushed up to the shopping centre to buy some yarn and a hook before the feeling went away, then I looked up some ‘how to’ videos on youtube.

Six hours later and I have managed to crochet myself a 2 dimensional babies sock, entirely by mistake of course - it was meant to be a square. Anyway, I have sourced an older lady to help me with my endevour and I’m going to her house to learn properly. Kickass beanie to come! Progress photos will be up soon

Time is flying by and I can’t wait to get on the plane and begin the adventure. I’m lying in bed at night thinking about standing on the highest point of the Annapurna Circuit (5,300m) and looking out at the world. I’ve got most of my trekking gear, my visa’s are sorted, and I’m saving hard.

It’s quite ridiculous but I actually hate Indian food… I can eat a butter chicken and tandoori, but that’s about it. Considering butter chicken isn’t even a proper Indian dish, I’m in a bit of trouble.

I have a weak stomach for curries and I’m not big on spices. Whenever I have an Indian dinner, my stomach feels very etch afterwards. In fact, I would only eat Indian food about 3 times a year.

I love my food more than anything else and I don’t know how I’m going to adapt to eating Indian exclusively. By the end of the trip I want to be able to eat a vindaloo, for breakfast!

Last week I had my first encounter with Indian bureaucracy when I went to the consulate to organise my visa. Because I didn’t have a exit out of the country, the lady said I couldn’t get a visa. The conversation went like this:

“You can’t get a visa without an itinerary leaving the country”

“Ok, well I’m getting a bus to Nepal and I can’t book that until I get there”

“But you need an itinerary”

“Ok, so how do I get an itinerary then?”

“It doesn’t have to be confirmed, it just needs to be an itinerary”

“So can I just write my itinerary down for you now?”

“No it needs to be an itinerary. You can get one from a flight centre”

“As I said, I’m not flying out of the country, I’m getting a bus so what do I need to do?”

“That’s ok, you just need an itinerary”

“Ok, so if it’s not a flight itinerary, what kind of itinerary is it”

“It’s just an itinerary sir”

“What is the solution? Just tell me and I’ll organise it”

“You need an itinerary sir”

“Fuck!”

The thing that is most frustrating is the smile she had of her face, and her total inability to explain what I needed to do to sort this problem out. Patience is not my virtue, but it is something I need to cultivate otherwise I think India will eat me alive.

So I have booked a flight out of the country which means I have an itinerary on paper. Once I printed it, I canceled.

I am going back this morning to organise it. Hopefully it’ll be sweet!

And so the adventure begins… Stay posted on what is to come