Where’s The Party Tonight?!

It has been seven weeks since I came back from the seven week trip. Fourteen blissful weeks of what I’d like to call a transition zone, or a sabbatical from routine.

When winding things up, there is always heartfelt gratitude to those that made it happen. Apart from the usual suspects like family, I have a special call-out to Rick Steves. Or as I like to call him, my guidebook guy.

Which brings me to my last piece of advice. Find a guidebook that talks to you.

After being a child of the online revolution and planning all my trips from the internet, this time I turned to a guidebook. The main reason was the sheer information overload that would occur if I used the internet and my refusal to be engulfed in it, especially since I’m already terrible at making certain decisions. So I peeked into a few books and settled on Steves (Great Britain) – the controversial American guide who wants to tread through the back-door so much that now he leads hoards of Americans through it! But Steves has a raw quality to him, the guy next door narration style that can tap you on the shoulder very subtly and say “no, I think you’ll like this one better”. His goals are pretty aligned to mine – history, art and architecture – and it was like hanging out with a friend who knows a little bit more, especially since I could download his audio walking tours and traipse around a town or museum. Off the guidebook, Rick’s radio and TV shows are public domain, which means all you need are devices and you can access it for free online and on his site. He has free conferences and classes and education sessions and for those whose philosophy fits this, it is a unique learning experience. Of course, all guidebooks (just like information mooched off the internet after a hundred people unlike you review it), are to be taken with a pinch of salt. With Rick, I didn’t have to use too many pinches. Thank you for a wonderful two months!

So where to from here?

Readers of this blog were with me for the two month trip and I now give you a choice if you want to follow my peregrination in Pune or not. So this party now moves to a different location, both literally and figuratively. And guidebooks are a great segway into it. You’ll see why if you decide you want to indeed read more :)

Find me HERE, as I traipse away to re-imagine India.