Travel plans for the rest of 2022

Last Updated on June 3, 2023 by Ellen

Our travel plans for the rest of 2022 will take us to… India! Finally! We had planned to spend a year in India before the pandemic canceled those plans.

The picture above includes my husband Theo joking around in his harmless, goofy way one recent day as we celebrated our decision to finally go!

The shot of me is from Batu Caves after a Hindu ceremony for a god a few years ago.

We’ve already:

bought plane tickets into Mumbai
charted a tentative slow travel route from Mumbai to New Delhi
looked at tons of Airbnb rentals
researched train tickets (which must be bought several weeks or months in advance)
joined several Facebook groups for expats in India
emailed the Indian government’s evisa help desk twice
looked up various holidays that could potentially affect our slow travel
read a ton of news about current events in the country
talked to fellow travelers and friends who’ve already gone
and more!

See? Budget slow travel in early retirement is really a full-time job. LOL

Travel plans for the rest of 2022

Our tentative route:

Mumbai
Udaipur
Jodhpur
Jaisalmer
Jaipur
Pushkar
Bundi
Agra
Delhi

We obviously are not staying a month at each location – and I’m thrilled about that. I’m itching to move, explore, observe, absorb! I want to see as much as possible. But, we’ll still ‘go slow’ and take our time on buses and trains, like we’ve done all over the planet.

In early 2023, we will visit Rishikesh and Varanasi.

As tourists, we must leave before 180th day from our arrival. After a border hop, we can re-enter. We are still working out details for 2023, but Nepal is an option.

Our flight tickets from Penang, Malaysia, to Mumbai, India, through Kuala Lumpur cost 985 ringgit each (about $225) on Batik Air Malaysia. (The airline was previously Malindo Air, and is owned today by Lion Air, based in Indonesia. Earth Vagabonds have flown Lion Air in the past.)

We will leave Malaysia in early September.

Guess who’s coming to join us?

Are you ready for this news???

Mom Diane might join us in early 2023! Wooohhhooo!!!

We haven’t seen Theo’s mom since she left the Philippines in October 2020. We’ve missed her!

Mom Diane, Theo and I were island hopping in the Philippines from December 2019 to March 2020. When the world shut down because of COVID, we all stayed and developed friendships with many local Filipinos, as well as the indigenous Ati tribe.

I hope these plans work out because I really want to see Mom Diane! Of course, she has been to India many times, but there is always something new to experience on the subcontinent.

If it works out (fingers crossed), it will be the third time Mom Diane has joined us on our budget slow travel in early retirement.

Why India?

Why India? We want to experience it!

Ask any traveler who’s been, and they will either say they love it – or hate it.

I feel like all of my travels up to this point have prepared me for the explosion of humanity we are about to witness. The sights, sounds, smells — the experiences of a new place exotic to me.

Since we left the Philippines, we’ve revisited Thailand and Malaysia. It’s been great (except for the broken arm) — but someplace new is greater.

Many years ago, I heard a sitar performance on public radio. I found the sound so beautiful, that I bought tickets to a sitar concert at Alice Telly Hall in Lincoln Center in New York City. The sitar show did not go until dawn as they sometimes do in India, and I was bummed by that because I arrived late and missed much of the concert. Ever since then, I’ve wanted to see a performance in India.

I’m a huge Gandhi fan. Way back in my college philosophy class, Gandhi was one of my favorites. We will be in India for his birthday, which is a national holiday!

Astrology is something I dabble in. Indian astrology, while different from Western practices, interests me.

The polytheism of Hindus fascinates me.

I have so much to learn, and to see!

And I’m so ready– as soon as my broken bone is more healed!

Theo wants to visit India because it’s another budget destination that’s always been on the list, and we are already on this side of the world. Also, we are young and healthy enough to budget travel through India and enjoy any difficulties a slow travel adventure might involve.

And finally, Baba Theo says he is considering starting a beer drinking sect, if he can find any disciples while we are there.

I say: sure, why not. Life is Now!