Departure Day

We didn't have any heat last night. At one point Karin came into the bedroom totally bundled up in fleeces and shivering and said "I wonder if it's going to be any colder in the Himalayas." She then picked up the thermometer: 65 degrees. There's a reason she had to buy a sub-zero sleeping bag, and I don't think it's because it's going to be 65 degrees.

Dad, Annie, Hanna Mei, and Shayna stopped by last night to say good bye to Karin. Karin and I then had our final meal together - Vietnamese take-out followed by chocolate and other yum yums. I "made" a fire California-style (as in turning on the gas) and turned on Michael Palin's Himalaya as Karin did her last minute organizing and packing. Michael Palin's series is excellent, by the way. He travels through very isolated and hard-to-reach regions of this world on trains, ultralights, ATV's - whatever it takes. The Himalaya production was done in 2004 and follows his original 80-day round the world travelogue from 1989.

My sources tell me that Karin's brother Harry spent his last evening in this hemisphere with Cathy in New York watching Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. I don't know what Anjum did with her last night. Anjum?

Yesterday evening I spoke to Eric Bellman (who reports for the Wall Street Journal and not something I apparently made up called the Asian Wall Street Journal) in Mumbai and to Ravi Nehru in Delhi to discuss our itinerary. Given the limited time we have, we will likely have to forgo heading to the south. Traveling within the country, while not at all expensive, can be arduous and unreliable. If, for example, a flight is canceled or very delayed, that would kill an entire day for us. That's precisely what happened to us in Vietnam when our one hour flight from Nha Trang to Saigon failed to materialize - it ended up meaning an entire day spent in fear for our lives as we weaved our way through Vietnam's road chaos in a mini-mini-van.

That being said, I will most likely travel to Delhi on the 25th to meet Karin and we will begin our travels through Rajasthan from there.

In a few hours I will be taking Karin to the airport. I have made arrangements to be able to go through security with her so that I may see her off at the gate. Expect to see send-off pics tonight!

The next time I see Karin will be on February 25 when she descends out of the rugged isolation of the Himalayas and into the mad frenetic chaos of urban India (not that I've ever been there). It's really odd to think about just how little I will be able to communicate with her over the next 3.5 weeks.

I will be posting to this blog daily. Most of the posts will probably be me whining about how far Karin is, how lonely I am, and how cold our house is. However, those boring epistles will be interspersed with fascinating accounts of Karin's progress in the brutal and unforgiving terrain of the Himalayas. I'm afraid you will have to read through everything to catch those rare nuggets.

Please wish me well as Karin embarks on what is obviously a trip designed to punish me for something. I mean what could I have done to deserve 25 days away from her? And couldn't she just have gone to a spa in Arizona or something? What is so special about the Himalayas? Are they that wonderful? And what is this obsession she has with helping people? Maybe she should see someone about that. Please stay tuned as I answer these and more questions over the coming weeks.

But seriously... I'm going to really miss Dr. Rash. I will also worry about her. And then I will really look forward to seeing her again in Delhi on Feb 25.

Travel well, Karin. We all think what you are doing is unbelievable. We love you and will miss you terribly.