India

Christmas is a wrap.  All the decorations are down, our far flung family are resuming their lives, and we are left with warm memories.  For the first time in a very long time all twelve of us were gathered together for a week of family fun and bonding.  It was pretty great.  We gather again in June in Hilton Head to pick up where we left off.  Our Grandson will not be with us as he is heading on a school trip to Greece, but we'll have a great time none-the-less.

So now the next big adventure starts.  Since joining Rotary I've wanted to participate personally in the grand effort to help eradicate Polio in our world.  It is a fundamental goal that all Rotarians are working towards achieving.  So when I saw an opportunity to go to India and help in some little way, I thought it might be just the thing.  My wife agreed as did two other couples in our Rotary Club and we're off for India on New Year's Eve.  We go via San Francisco and then it's direct to Delhi.  16 hours!  Phew.  From there we'll proceed to Agra where we'll spend 3 days helping the local club distribute vaccine and participate in activities.  In addition to the Rotary time we'll also do a fair amount of sightseeing in Agra and Jaipur.

Ever since I visited India for work, I've wanted to take my wife to experience it so this seemed like a perfect opportunity.  We're with friends so that makes it even better.  And the tour operator who is in charge of our accommodations, tours and transportation seems very good so I'm confident we'll have a great time.  But it is a difficult and challenging place to visit.  As they say...don't drink the water!  We've been to the local health travel clinic and have received all shots and prescription strength diarrhea medicine.  So....we're off.  Depending on the connections I'll try to provide a narrative along the way.