Beginnings: A Half Assed Plan and "Mission" Statement

When you think of your holidays, usually the first things that come to mind are relaxing on beaches, sleeping in late, or eating whatever the hell you want to. I can honestly say that whenever the idea of a holiday first pops into my head, these are the things that I think about, never the planning.

Planning has got to be one of the most stressful parts of any vacation. Arranging everything and putting it in it's proper place so that you can have that dream holiday you've been working towards all year...well, it's definitely no picnic.

I'm by nature a procrastinator, so of course it's only in the last few weeks that I've gotten serious about getting things sorted for my trip. Yeah, I'd bought my travel book (Lonely Planet baby!), and put a little thought into what I wanted to see. Here's how my itinerary stands at the moment:

• I have 21 days to explore India, concentrating mostly on the midlands and major tourist attractions
• My trip is starting in Mumbai, moving north into Rajahstanh where I'll visit Jasalimer and Jaipur, then heading to Delhi/Agra for a few days before going South again to Varanasi and then finally flying out through Calcutta.
• My budget is going to be between $2000-3000 USD (<100,000 Rupees), which works out to a little more than $100 a day. It sounds like a lot, but this will include food, transport, and hotels.
• Most places I'll have an average of 2.5 days to visit so I'm planning on doing A LOT of tours to maximise things.

Along with the itinerary, I'm going to try blogging on this trip (hence the new blog), and hopefully share some of what I'm experiencing to anyone who's reading this. I'll also be bringing along my Ipad for blogging (hoping I get a wifi connection somewhere), and a Kindle for guidebooks and misc entertainment.

With only a few weeks left before I go there's still a lot to do and buy before I think I'm going to be ready. Still, one thing I've learned is that whatever you put into something, it will come back doubly to reward/haunt you and I, for one, can't wait for this trip to start!