Are we really doing this?

Travel

We leave for India one week from today!  The reality of this is finally starting to set-in to me.  Yesterday I was going through our itinerary and decided to add up just how much time we would be traveling.  My calculation was based on both time in the air, and layovers where we are sitting in the airport waiting between legs of our flights, I came up with 86 hours not counting the inevitable delays.  To put it in perspective that is 10.75 WORK DAYS.  This does not count the time getting to the airport and waiting around at the beginning of each leg of our journey.  

Makenzie

Anyone who has met my beautiful daughter Makenzie realizes that this is a BIG problem.  First of all, she us physically unable to stop talking for more than 30 seconds, this will be a big hindrance when trying to sleep on our multiple red-eye flights.  Secondly, she is the most active individual I have ever met!  It is impossible for her to sit still for 5 minutes, no less days on end.  I remember a trip to Hawaii several years ago, we had left Los Angeles about 30 minutes earlier and she declared she was DONE.  Sorry dad I can't take it any more, I am getting off!  I explained to her very kindly that we were over the ocean and there was no place to go.  Even after looking out the window and seeing nothing but water as far as the eye could see, she was still determined to GET OFF of the airplane.  

Packing

One of the things that we are required to take with us is a list of food.  Some of this is for the volunteers who work in the Leper colony, and some of it is for us to eat at lunch time while we are out where the lepers live.  So... one of our large pieces of checked luggage is filled with nothing but food.  The next issue that we ran into is that Indian airlines only allow VERY small carry on bags 21 X 9 inches.  Picture the size bag you could carry on to a Skywest commuter jet.  This really limits what we can carry with us, and not worry about it being lost.  We have just decided that with all of the many many different flights and connections we are going to have, our luggage is sure to get lost.  The other issue we have is that in New York, London and Seoul it is going to be bitter winter weather.  While in southern India we expect it to be in the low 90's during the day.  So, in a 1/2 sized carry on we all need to pack enough clothes for 21 days, and clothing for both summer and winter......umm Piece of cake.

Medications

It is a real concern of mine that somewhere along the way our family is going to be arrested as drug traffickers!  Let me explain, in addition to the shots and pills that we had to take for Typhoid, and the pills that we have to take while we are in India and every day for a month afterward for Malaria the doctor prescribed the following.  A VERY strong Anti Biotic, just in case someone gets REAL sick, prescription Medicine to stop severe diarrhea, Sleeping pills for the red eye flight, 2 Epi pens for Makenzie (she is horrbly allergic to Cashews), and Indians cook with tons of them, Pepto Bismol, Immodium, and I am sure a bunch of other stuff.  So it looks like one suitcase just for drugs.

FUN

Despite all of the hassles getting ready for this adventure, and concerns over getting sick while we are there the excitement is really starting to build.  The kids truly are excited about this adventure, and have accepted without questioning that they are going to be getting NO presents for Christmas.  Frankly the hardest part of this has been convincing the grandparents that really we did NOT want them to give the kids anything for Christmas.  Let's hope and pray this all works out as planned. (Actually I have no worries as Cindy is a great planner and never lets anything slip through the cracks).  Now if I "forget something" things could get ugly:)