Wake me up before you go

I left Denver at 8:30 on Friday morning with a 37.5  lbs backpack, a smaller backpack with a laptop and a purse stuffed with “essentials,” none of which turned out to be essential other than my passport.   I managed to fit everything that I wanted to pack with some extra room for souvenirs.  Here are some of the interesting things made it into the bag:

• Dental floss- I was told that it makes a great makeshift clothes line or sewing thread
• Grapefruit seed oil extract and tablets-apparently this will work wonders for the inevitable traveler’s sickness
• Pass the Pigs-entertaining game
• Cribbage board-I finally managed to find my board in a desk drawer.  Ainsley, get excited.
• Cell phone-vintage 2004.  I needed something with a SIM card and this was the only one I could find in the house that worked.
• 8 bottles of sunscreen-four Coppertone Sport bottles, four SPF15 face lotion. I’m worried about getting sunburned.
• 6 novels set in India- all recommendations  from Mom

At the Denver airport

I couldn’t quite believe I was leaving for India.  Granted, I wasn’t.  I had a four hour flight to Newark first.  At the Newark airport, I started to realize that I was actually leaving when the boarding area filled up with Indians.  My last view of the U.S. was the New York City skyline at night.  Fifteen hours later, I landed in Mumbai.