Here we go again!

Open it.

Go ahead, it won’t bite.
Well…maybe a little.

More a nip, like. A tingle.
It’s pleasurable, really.

You see, it keeps on opening.
You may fall in.

Sure, its hard to get started;
Remember learning to use Knife and fork?

Dig in:
You’ll never reach bottom

It’s not like it’s the end of the world-

just the world as you think you know it.

(Rita Dove)

And so we get started: the bookings are done, the bags are packed, spare batteries have been arranged, visas have been obtained, and, most importantly, good-byes and hugs have been warmly exchanged. After months of dreaming, researching, planning, and executing, we are now off on our long vacation around the globe. And accompanying us on this trip right now are feelings of excitement, anticipation, and – yes, I’ll admit it – a tad bit of anxiety.

Here’s a little bit of background for anyone who randomly drops onto this blog (although I don’t expect that to happen). We – Neha (‘M’) and I (Saurabh – ‘D’) – are a couple that has been living in Chicago for the last three years. I recently finished my MBA program at the Chicago GSB, and the two of us decided that we deserved to take a break before jumping back into a “normal” life. So we started throwing around names of countries that we had always wanted to visit, and before we had realized, we had a pretty extensive travel plan ready for us. What followed was a crazy amount of researching that involved quite a few trips to the local Barnes and Noble to go through Lonely Planets, and visiting tripadvisor.com to read up on travelers’ feedback. This led to the final trip plan that covered Hawaii, some far-east, fair bit of Africa, and a bit of Eurasia:

Aug 8th: Bid adieu to summers at Chi-town
8th – 11th: Weekend in SFO, celebrate D’s birthday (Aug 9th) with friends and family
11th – 15th: Hawaii – Big Island
15th – 19th: Malaysia and Singapore
19th – 29th: Family Time at Jodhpur (India)
Aug 30th – Sep 1st: Egypt
Sep 2nd – Sep 11th: Kenya & Tanzania
11th – 14th: Zanzibar spice islands
14th – 21st: South Africa
21st – Oct 2nd: Turkey, Greek Islands, Athens
Oct 2nd – Oct 5th: Paris
Oct 5th: Back to Chi-town