Category Archives: Travel
Musings: Independent Travel . . . With Children?
I finally got my computer in good enough shape to edit this video and the last bit made me smile. Watch it and you’ll see what I mean. We were staying at this coffee plantation in Madikeri, Karnataka, and took a side trip to see the Dubare Elephant Camp. On the ride there, we met Paul and Kirsten Thompson, a couple from New Zealand, who we instantly took a liking to because we thought they were absolutely bonkers in the best way possible.
They were on a 10 week holiday in India with not one kid, not two, but three. And the names of the children were just brilliant: Merlin, Felix, and Rumi. Merlin, the youngest, was 2, and looked like I’d imagine Merlin the magician to look like at that age, complete with long, wavy blonde hair. Rumi, the eldest was 7, with Felix smack in the middle at about 4! And I remember thinking that this is really encouraging. The spirit of independent travel need not be crushed just because you have children.
Rumi and Navdeep
I got on famously with the eldest kid, Rumi, who we got on camera hosting this video. He did a bang up job too in his cape! What I was really impressed by was how adaptable these kids were, and as cliched as it sounds, how worldly and intelligent Rumi and Felix were. Felix had this really funny way of asking questions. His mum and dad had told him to stop interrupting people and to say “Excuse me,” before speaking. So, armed with “excuse me,” he would interrupt every conversation by repeatedly saying, “Excuse me, ” followed by, “I have a question.” Some of the questions were really interesting, some were entertaining, but most went absolutely nowhere. Rumi was much more reserved and poignant in his observations, and asked really incisive questions. Merlin enjoyed just traipsing about in shoes much too big for him.
Sona was particularly fascinated with what the kids ate and we were both duly impressed that they ate plenty of Indian food, from dosas to dhokla, but stayed away from the usuals: street food using potentially unsanitary water. Although eating unsanitary street food is the most delicious part of India (or any country really), I can’t imagine traveling for a limited amount of time, with three kids who have dodgy tummies or worse! The reason Sona found it so interesting is a) unbeknownst to me, she was thinking about this baby business in “at least a year.” Notice my nervous laughter at the end of the video and the abrupt blank look on my face when Paul mentioned the word, “quantity.” That expression should be right next to a visual dictionary definition for the word “gobsmacked.” And b) Sona’s travels to India never involved street food. This rule about no street food, inflicted by her parents, extended from infancy all the way till past her twenties! Sona’s mother used to pack food like Macaroni and Cheese and cereal for Sona’s brother because he refused to eat Indian food in India. He was nine years old!
I, on the other hand, didn’t know any better. I didn’t know there was another option. I was 2 weeks old when we left England to go to Tanzania, and from there Nigeria, the U.A.E., and of course America. Having been raised in several different countries from such a young age, I thrive in being put into a situation I might not be familliar with. This made traveling in China and communicating with people for things like toilet paper, or cold water using dodgy sign language, not such a big deal. I am very adapatable to different food and customs. My sister, who was much more cognizant of how different the places were from “home,” likes to use the word “adventurous.”
Before travelling with Sona, it was something I’d taken for granted. I don’t get cravings for comfort food and I don’t get nostalgic for that sense of home.But these days, a sense of home is much easier to come by than it was even a few years ago. You’re constantly connected to some version of the familliar. There are bars in Tibet, discos in Nepal, Pizza Hut in China, upscale dining in India, and internet cafes (not to mention wireless cards) all over the world.
Sona and Navdeep Have a Baby!
As a father to a one-year-old, I often think of Paul and Kirsten, and about our next big adventure. Our six month backpacking adventure was a lot of fun, but it was much different to my solo travels. My solo travels were a lot more dangerous, although we did take a really sketchy 15 hour local bus ride in the middle of the night to Srinagar. Travelling with Sona, constantly being together day in and day out, really deepened our understanding of India, of each other, and much later we realized, of ourselves.
I always thought of getting married and having kids as an end to independent travel, exchanging that backpack for a nice carry-on, and being one of those geeky tourists that think they’ve travelled to a country because they booked a ten day tour to the “best” sites. But getting married certainly didn’t have that effect, and thanks to Paul and Kirsten and their trio of swashbucklers, neither will having kids. So, as to the question of quantity? Three sounds like a nice number.
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Musings: The Six Oddest Places We Slept in India
Imagine waking up to this view everyday!
Traveling in India for six months, we had our fair share of odd experiences — but the most interesting seemed to be when it was time to rest our weary heads. From bumpy buses and crowded trains to a thatched hut on the beach, here’s a round-up of the six oddest places we slept in India.
The Beach Hut In Goa
Honestly, it was as awesome as it sounds. A thatched-roof hut with poles sunk into the warm beach sand. It contained just a bed and a chair and a functioning, American-style bathroom (very necessary). As soon as we stepped outside, we could see, smell, and even taste the ocean! It was perfect for lounging, swimming or having a casual, Goan Feni-soaked afternoon. Dinnertime was a candlelit meal of fresh seafood and locally grown veggies, a picnic right there on the sand. It was the first time we discovered, even dinner could be haggled for! (And breakfast was chocolate corn flakes for Navdeep. But only once. Turns out, it was regular old corn flakes with chocolate syrup on them! Ew!) Can’t wait to come back.
The Tree House In Periyar
We may have missed the elephants and tigers and bears on our safari in Periyar, but the three nights we spent camping out in the treehouse at Carmelia Haven made the trek worth it. It was amazing — an actual tiny little one-room house in a tree, with little windows overlooking the garden, and a giant bed taking up most of the space. Sure, we didn’t have our own bathroom and it wasn’t nestled in the middle of the forest, as some within the grounds of the conservation area were, but it was a unique and amazing experience just the same.
The Barracks at the Golden Temple
We have family in Amritsar, so we didn’t really need other accommodations there. But once we learned that you could actually stay at the Golden Temple, we had to experience it for ourselves. So, we showed up in our Indian attire at the reservations booth and Navdeep asked for a room in Punjabi. We were given one, sure, but it was not quite what I was expecting. It was dormitory style without lockers, and squat toilets. Shared squat toilets. I saw a rat scurrying about and looked pleadingly at Navdeep. Did I mention that we were there for my birthday? Navdeep took pity on me (not that he had much choice), and we gave it another go. This time, we dressed as backpackers, him in jeans and T-shirt, me in a long flowy skirt and we both wore bandanas. We were immediately given another room, this time a large, airy suite with a private bath and balcony. All for 50 rupees a night! And right at the foot of the Golden Temple. It was an absolutely magical experience.
The Beach-Front Cottage In Puri
We were only in Puri for one day — we stayed there overnight when was stopped to see the amazing Sun Temple in Konark Bhubaneshwar, which is intricately carved with poses straight out of the Kama Sutra. Once we arrived at the lovely, airy, immaculately-kept Z hotel, a old, rambling palace, we wished we’d given ourselves more time in the area. We wandered the storied beach at the Bay of Bengal before settling into our, which was huge and breezy, with a four-poster bed and a view of the sea. One point to note, though: this is a tourist hotel, which means when we called to reserve a room and spoke in Hindi, there was no availability. However, when I called five minutes later and spoke in English, with a clear American accent, suddenly a room was available. Go figure.
The Bumpy, Stinky, Squishy Bus to Jamu-Kashmir
If you think sleeping on a plane is rough, you’ve clearly never tried 0vernighting it on a non-deluxe bus in India. We spent 15 hours stuffed into a 15-inch two-seater on a shock absorber-less clunker that sputtered more than 1000 miles from Pathankot into Kashmir. The bus — on which I was the only female — made an unexplained late-night stop for several hours in the middle of a bridge, with water on either side of us. And there was no bathroom, so, I awoke from one fitless stretch of sleep to several men, lined up in a row outside my window, peeing on the bus. That’s right, on the bus. Fun times. Later, of course, we learned that the equivalent flight would have cost a mere $50 and run 90-minutes. So obviously, we winged it back to New Delhi.
The Houseboat in Kashmir
The houseboat experience in Srinagar, Kashmir, was amazing — though very different from the one we had in Kerala. This was more like a literal home on a boat, one that was docked at one edge of Dal Lake. It had a real bedroom, dining room (complete with china cabinet), terrace, the works. We stayed for four nights and enjoyed traditional Kashmiri curries and biryanis, lounged on the terrace as salesmen on shikaras floated by with their wares, and watched locals row by in their shikaras, going about their business, selling veggies, shawls, or heading off to school.
Travel Tip: 7 Things To Do With Cheap Vodka When You’re Done Drinking It
Navdeep Taking a Swig
My drink of choice is whiskey. It trumps any other drink in the room. If it’s Jack, I’ll have it with coke. But would never do that with Scotch. That’s just sacrilege. Ideally, I’ll have it in a tumbler, with some ice, and club soda. Punjabi ishtyle. It is much too expensive and too respectable a drink to warrant chugging it straight from a bottle in a brown paper bag.
Vodka, however, holds a very special place for me. It isn’t just because it’s cheap and requires no thought process since you can have it straight, with ice, or can mix it with absolutely anything. It’s because vodka is a traveler’s best friend. Hence, it is my best friend, and I always seek it out no matter what part of the world I am in.
I was on the Trans-Siberian, the longest railway line in the world, several years ago, and quickly realized that the stereotype of Russians being “vodka mad” is an understatement. Vodka on the Trans-Siberian is a way of life. Without it, you’re an outcast. And drinking anything other than vodka is justification for getting beaten up. People all over the train, myself included, would wake up in the morning with a bottle from the night before in one hand, and a toothbrush in the other as they took giant swigs to start their mornings off. I met some very interesting people, including a couple of lads who tried getting me to deboard the train in Vladivostok so they could have a laugh as I was stranded there in my Mr. potato-head pajamas. Yes, when I got back on, half-frozen, I was not happy, but ended up having a great time with them as soon as they offered up their vodka. There were plenty of other people I met who didn’t try and swindle me, all while bonding over vodka at all times of the day. But by the end of it, I needed a break. I was even willing to try this drink called water for a little while afterwards. During the last legs of my Trans-Siberian trip, I found some fascinating uses of vodka which I still incorporate today during travels or if I’m feeling nostalgic for being on the road. It’s a complete waste and very offensive if you do this with vodka that costs more than a few dollars, but here are seven very useful things to use cheap vodka for when you’re done drinking it:
1) Clean your camera lenses, the screen on your laptop , iPad, or iPhone. Stop using water, which leaves streaks, or buying expensive sprays.
Tip: dab a bit of vodka on a soft cloth (or fill a small spray bottle. This can can also work as an insect repellent).
2) Insect Repellent. None of the chemical sprays, like “Bug Off” available in India helped to keep the mosquitos off for me or Sona. Applying big goops of petroleum jelly (Vaseline) to your legs, arms, and face does the trick though, by making you very unappetizing to the mosquitos as they slip right off you when they try and sink their teeth into you. But it also makes you very unappetizing to the rest of the human race.
Tip: An alternative is to do the same thing as #1: dump the contents of something like “Bug Off” and fill it with vodka. Spray yourself with it. Can also be used to kill bugs big and small by spraying it directly on them. This includes bees and wasps.
3) Bollocks to deodorant and laundry. Before her concerts, Madonna douses her clothes in vodka. No, the Material girl is not bonkers. It’s a great travel tip to avoid, or at least minimize doing laundry on the road (or at home) unless you have OCD. Sona definitely doesn’t have OCD as she has no problem with magazines flung all over the place, or clothes all over the bed, so long as everything is clean. Sona is absolutely mental about doing the laundry, sometimes for clothes I might be wearing at the time. And she must do it with Tide. If she wasn’t such a fanatic about it, I’d use vodka on our clothes much more often (I sneak it in a fair amount though!).
Tip: Spraying vodka on socks, shirts, undershirts, trousers, underwear, etc, kills bacteria. If your clothes are genuinely dirty, they must be washed. If you have the energy, go Madonna style and drench your clothes in vodka, then hang them up in your room or a balcony. Can also be used to sort out odor in your clothes from things like cigarette smoke and can even get rid of fish smells. It also does a band up job of eliminating foot odor, or stinky feet syndrome.
4) Combat traveler’s diarrhea, a.k.a. Holiday Tummy, Delhi-Belly, Montezuma’s Revenge, Mummy-Tummy, and my personal favourite, “yalla-yalla” (Arabic for “quickly-quickly).
Tip: Take a few sips of vodka to keep the nausea at bay. For best results, mix it with club soda to get the fizziness of the soda and the anti-septic qualities from the soda. Mixing in pepper makes it taste horrible, but does help as well.
5) Painless Bandage (plaster) removal. I used to hate getting bandages because of the way they would stick to the cut when you’d have to remove it. Vodka to the rescue.
Tip: Put a little vodka on the bandage and it’ll dissolve the stickiness resulting in painless bandage removal. Voila!
6) For Hair So Healthy, It Shines. In many countries, you can easily find shampoo and conditioner these days, but finding travel sized conditioner is still a tough one. You could just buy travel size containers and fill them up as you go along. Or treat your hair with a bit more respect than that.
Tip: Add one part vodka to a shampoo bottle. Stir. Do not drink. It works just like conditioner, only better, and results in clean and shiny hair.
7) Sort that toothache, earache, or cold sore out. The most annoying thing about these ailments is the continual pain. You can’t just sleep it off. And the common misperception is that you have to walk into a pharmacy and get medicine to take care of it. The scary thing is that in many pharmacies in Asia and Eastern Europe, the standard is to prescribe antibiotics (and not the full course) for minor things like these. So if something big does go down, antibiotics will do nothing for you. Good news: Vodka is here!
Tips:
Toothache- just take a swig of vodka and it’ll get rid of a toothache. Or dab the tooth if you want to be sure.
Earache- pour a few drops of vodka in your ear, wait a few minutes, and then drain it (never use a q-tip in your ear. Unless you’re a plonker, in which case you can do what you like with it).
Cold Sore – For a cold sore, use a q-tip dabbed in vodka and apply to the infected area.
Weekend Honeymoon: Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas, Nevada
Looking for a quick, romantic getaway? With its sparkling lights, posh dining and worthy sites galore, Las Vegas is a sure bet for romance – especially if you want to tie the knot or renew your vows. In fact, Navdeep and I got married there (before the big, fat Desi wedding), so for us, it’s a super-special weekend honeymoon destination.
Friday 1 p.m. Settling In
Considering that United did not bother feeding us on the eight-hour trip west, we were famished when we got to Sin City’s McCarran airport. However, we restrained ourselves from diving into the nearest Burger King.
Instead, we checked into our lovely room ($110 per night, plus tax) at the Egyptian-themed Luxor, complete with a view of the Sphinx’s bum. The room was in the grand pyramid of the Luxor, which sits primly on the North end of the iconic Vegas Strip. Not as posh as some of the grander hotels – the Bellagio and the Venetian will set you back $250 or more – it was a comfortable, if slightly outdated space.
2 p.m. Fueling Up
After settling in, we were famished. We decided to grab a snack while hitting some of the Sin City sites, so we nabbed bargain-priced 24-hour pass ($10 for two) for the Deuce bus, a double-decker monster that runs up and down the Strip every ten minutes or so. We hopped on and rode over to Caesar’s Palace, where we plopped ourselves down for a leisurely coffee break at Bobby Flay’s understated-yet-colorful Mesa Grill. Sipping (skim!) cappuccino, we devoured a divine chocolate espresso layer cake complemented by crunchy pieces of toffee and a rich caramel sauce ($22.50). The caffeine and chocolate were just what we need to get us through the afternoon – especially because shopping was on the agenda!
3 p.m. Forum Fun (Or Not)
Post-snack, we strolled through the Caesar’s Forum Shops, stopping to watch the talking statues, which were reminiscent of those rockin’ animals at Chuck-E-Cheese that always scare the little kids. Creepy!
After hitting the Houdini store (uber-creepy!), we made brief pit stops at Juicy Couture, Anthropologie and Intermix before Navdeep got really bored, so we decided to head out for a long walk up to the South Strip.
4 p.m. Sky High
We stopped briefly to admire the Stratosphere, which floats above the strip skyline like a spaceship paused to ponder before making its landing.
Across from the Strat is the Hollywood Wedding Chapel, where Navdeep and I tied the knot three years ago. We didn’t go inside, but instead admired it from afar as we recalled our first big adventure in Vegas.
6 p.m. Ultra-Lux
For dinner, we skipped the Cheesecake Factory and instead headed to the Venetian, on a mission to find Cheesecake’s slightly more upscale cousin, The Grand Lux Café, which my sister Meena had been raving about for months.
Once there, we ravaged the warm sourdough and pumpernickel bread, then settled in for hearty (read: bigger-than-our-heads!) portions of chicken marsala and chicken pot pie. Dessert was a light, flaky strawberry shortcake topped with a dollop of pillowy whipped cream ($60 for two).
8 p.m. Getting Into the Spirit
After polishing off that meal, we could hardly move. Lucky for us, we didn’t have far to go. We scored prime seats – row D! – at the Venetian’s rendition of the Phantom of the Opera ($180 for two – search online for discount deals), complete with giant falling chandelier. This is definitely a date musical – there’s all the jumpy cuddliness caused by the horrifying theatrics, but it’s also quite a weeper. The play’s anti-hero, the aforementioned Phantom, is truly a tragic character, and his sorrow leaves you reeling just a bit at the end.
On the walk back, we strolled hand-in-hand through St. Mark’s Square at the Venetian, where it was still a balmy, blue-skied Italian afternoon, despite being way past midnight PST.
Saturday 8 a.m. Love and (Hot) Chocolate
The next morning, we arose bright and early and went on an early morning walk down the strip to the Venetian, where we fueled up on coffee cake and hot cocoa ($10) at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf – one of only two I’ve ever seen outside of California. The other, which we also visited, is at the Miracle Mile Mall, which is nestled into the Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino. Coffee Bean, FYI, kicks Starbucks’ ass.
9 a.m. Charge!
We hopped the Deuce again to head to the Premium Outlet Mall, located 20 minutes off the Strip. Save cab cash (the more to shop with!) and transfer from the Deuce to the108 bus (you can use your Deuce pass), which stops right in front of the outlets! The Must List: Juicy Couture, Dooney & Bourke, and D&G, where we nearly scored some couture trousers for Navdeep for $30. Alas, they were too big. But I picked up a lovely pink Juicy bowler bag for 70 percent off. We also got Navdeep some wool fancy pants for $40 at the Banana Republic outlet.
1 p.m. Fat Saturday
After a killer morning of browsing and shopping – Navdeep enjoyed the Bose store and free samples at Godiva – it was time to get our buffet on! We decided to hit the ravishing Rio ($26 each), which has long been heralded as the best in Vegas. And it lives up to its rep, with an expansive selection of freshly prepped, piping hot pizza, burgers, seafood and a dessert case out of my dreams, complete with miniature crème brulee and chocolate mousse.
3 p.m. A Romantic Stroll
Stuffed, we waddled back to our hotel, strolling on the way through the colorful botanical gardens at the Bellagio, where we also caught the hourly dancing fountains show. We also hit MGM, where we watched caregivers massage the caged lions, and as the sunset, paused to ponder the lovely half-scale Eiffel Tower at Paris, Paris.
6 p.m. Italian Rendezvous
Back at the Luxor, we plunked down a few dollars at the slots, then got gussied up to go check out a few Vegas hotspots. First up, dinner at Canaletto’s, refined Italian set on the canals of the Venetian – and uber-romantic. We watched couples float by in their gondolas as we shared the bruschetta calda, followed by Fegato alla Venetzia (calf’s liver!) for Navdeep and a tamer risotto con secoe e funghi for me. ($65 for two, no wine.)
9 p.m. Drinking and Dancing
We stopped for a quick jello shot – with whipped cream – at Fat Tuesday’s. Then we headed to Mandalay Bay’s Minus Five, the only ice chamber club in the United States – where the eerie blue-lit room is set a literal minus-five degrees, prime vodka-consuming weather. But as we sipped our vodka cranberries and martinis, we were decked out in club-provided thermal coats and gloves, which made balancing our spirits quite precarious.
Post-drinks, we headed to the posh-but-squishy, ultra-exclusive Bank, a club at the Bellagio that is frequented by celeb-types, although we didn’t see any that evening. We danced for a few hours, but the music is not up to par here – we’d probably have had a better time at good ole’ Polyester’s on the other side of the strip.
Sunday 1 a.m. Cheap Date
Hungry again post-clubbing, we found a 24-hour Mickey D’s at our hotel and celebrated our last night in Vegas with some chicken nuggets, fries and a Big Mac. Dessert was Swensen’s ice cream – Rocky Road for Navdeep, and chocolate chip with sprinkles for me.
5:30 a.m. Egyptian Sunrise
Bright and early the next morning, Navdeep and I watched the sunrise from the picture window in our room, then played a few more slots for good luck. And we used the $12 bucks we won to pay for the cab ride back to McCarran airport. All in all, Vegas is a sure bet for romance.
Getting There
Bargains abound when you’re headed to Sin City. Non-stop flights from New York start at $300 and most major airlines can get you gambling in about five hours.
Where to Stay
Weekdays in Sin City mean hotel steals, with even smack-dab-on-the-Strip properties available under $60 a night – try Bally’s or Planet Hollywood, which is home to the expansive Spice Market Buffet, for mid-level comfort. Feeling flush? Aim high at the Venetian (starting at $150) or the Bellagio ($200 and up). Note that weekend stays will mean higher prices all around.
Travel Tip: Four Airports with Free Wifi
Stuck at Newark Airport
I was pretty ambivalent about the Continental and United merger that took place in 2010. Even when we couldn’t check in online to the first leg of our flight from Newark, New Jersey to Fresno, California because Continental claimed that flight was on United, and United claimed it was on Continental. I figured we’d sort it out over the phone, or worse case, in person. When we finally managed to get through to agents at both United and Continental via telephone, the best either of them could say was, “We can’t access the flight information because that flight is on Continental/United. But I do see you have seats. So I wouldn’t worry about it.” Guess what happened the next morning when we tried checking in at 5:40 a.m. for our 7a.m. flight?
Instead of playing the daft game on the phone, we ended up playing it in person shuffling back and forth from tweedle-dee at the Continental counter and tweedle-dum on the United counter. End result: we were stuck at Newark International until a flight at 10am and then had an eight hour layover in Los Angeles which is loads of fun with a ten month old. We weren’t offered meal coupons, or even a “sorry.” But aside from the flight situation, I was also annoyed that neither LAX or Newark had free wifi (they cost $8 for the daily rate, and I didn’t bother looking to see how much the monthly service was).So, I decided to do one of the few things I could do without my internet: compile a list of airports we had been to that had free wifi on Microsoft Word. Here they are:
Travelogue California: The World’s Largest Gingerbread House in San Francisco?
We had all of two days to spend in San Francisco with my parents-in-law, and for some reason, I was stuck on seeing this two-story gingerbread house — made of real gingerbread, of course — at the Fairmont Hotel. So everyone decided to indulge me. (This isn’t so surprising, by the way.)
To capture the essence of San Francisco, our mission — and we all chose to accept it — was to abandon our car and navigate the hills and curves of the city by the bay completely on foot. Surprisingly, we more than managed (despite the stroller!) and we didn’t get lost. Not even once.
It turns out that getting to the aforementioned gingerbread house, though, was quite a hike. We started out from our hotel — the lovely Tuscan Inn, which hosts an evening wine reception and offers freshly brewed a.m. coffee — at the Fisherman’s Wharf, and headed west. Which turned out to be straight upward for more than a mile. Great exercise, yes, but not super-fun when you’re pushing a ten-month-old in a rickety stroller.
In any case, the trek itself was fun. Along the way, we stopped in North Beach for croissants and cappuccinos on Columbus Avenue. Then we paused for a break — which we certainly needed by then — at the Cable Car Museum (free!). The museum itself was fascinating — it showed the working gears of all three cable car lines, along with restored cars from the 19th century. There was a short documentary film, and photographs of the city before and after the great earthquake and fire of 1906.
The museum, it turned out, was only a few blocks from the Fairmont, but we didn’t realize that because of the giant hill in front of us. We huffed and puffed our way to the stately old building, which has been standing between California and Sacramento streets since 1907 — a year after the fire.
Musings: Maybe Baby? In Response to That Ticking Clock
I should have known when I hit 30 that it would start. In fact, given that my own mother handed me that scary New York magazine cover story about freezing your eggs—you know, just in case — I should have expected it a lot sooner.
Still, considering the place that Navdeep and I are in at this moment in time, the floaty, fleeting nature of both our careers, trying to establish ourselves as writers and get published, and even just trying to figure out which coast to live on, I was hardly ready for it.
No, I’m not pregnant. But it seems like everyone around me has babies on the brain. Navdeep may not have noticed it, but while we were traveling in India, meeting new relatives, the question came up a lot. We’ve been married for about a year-and-a-half now, and by Indian standards, that’s plenty of alone time. People just didn’t seem to grasp what we’re waiting for.
Sometimes I wonder, too. After all, the proverbial clock is ticking away. And you always hear people say that there will never be a right time. But there is a such thing as a very wrong time, isn’t there? We had the adventure of a lifetime with our honeymoon trip to India, but now that we’re back in the U.S., it’s time to sort ourselves out. We’ve got big plans to get moving with our writing, but we’ve also got to figure out basics, like where to live and how to pay the rent. I’ve already got a short-term gig at People, and by May, Navdeep will don his Professor Dhillon persona once again. We’ll get back into life the daily grind, get our act together, and start to feel like real adults.
But yesterday another pal-o-mine announced that she was pregnant, bringing the count up to four friends at once. And it makes me feel a bit wistful, pause and think ‘Maybe…” But I know that, for us, now is not the time. Not only are we not settled — as much as Navdeep and I hate the word — we still haven’t had enough couple time. We’ve got big dreams, and we’ve got the ambition, intelligence and drive to achieve them. And one day, soon enough, we’ll have our own big, happy family to share our successes with.
Neither of us are strangers to travel, but we are very different travelers. Navdeep can brush aside a cockroach from his food and continue eating. Sona flies into hysterics at any creepy-crawlies (real or imagined) within a ten mile radius. 
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