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I think this post will just be bullet points of things I have seen, done, noticed, experienced, etc:

• Air Pollution
• Great Food
• Nice People
• People beg at intersections and on the street
• Animals walking in the street
• Slums with Dish TV
• Bicycles, Motorcycles, Rickshaws, Cars, and Trucks
• Women leaving an infant and young child on the sidewalk alone to go look for food
• Movies have intermissions (a good idea)
• People have drivers
• The poor will always be poor
• Electricity Brown Outs
• Cricket (the sport)
• Curry
• BO (Not as bad as I expected)
• Temples
• History
• Multiple Languages
• A former British Colony
• Cheap
• Crowded
• A lot of people doing nothing (similar to Japan)
• Efficient
• Old
• No public affection (kissing, etc)
• Old Fashion
• Not thinking out of the box
• Lots of dancing and singing in movies
• Lots of dancers in music videos
• Many mobile phone commercials
• Button up shirts and few T-Shirts
• Difficult to understand accents
• A Nuclear Power
• Dirty water
• Religion
• Philosophy

I think that’s all for now.
***Disclaimer:  These are my opinions and observations. I am not saying that these things are good or bad. Every country has their issues and I could make a similar list for the USA.

Why is it such a pain in the a__ to travel internationally? While getting ready for my trip to India I realized it’s such a pain in the neck to go there.  Before even leaving I have to make sure I have a visa, even if I was a tourist! What is up with that? I know when you go to Japan you just go and they give you a 3 month travel visa.  Since I usually only travel to Japan, I assumed that this is the norm.  Come to find out that it’s not and that it’s going to cost over $100 to get a darn visa (luckily it’s a business expense)!

Don’t countries want to encourage travel? More tavel equals more money added to the economy, correct? I just don’t get it. I guess the only thing that messes up this would be the whole terrorism thing.

Another thing i noticed is that Hotels wont let you pay in advace. They will let you reserve the room but they want you to pay after the stay. What’s up with that? Now I have to use my personal credit card to pay for a room when my company would happily do it. Now I have to keep my receipts and submit paper work and wait for the accounting department to do all the conversions, and finally pay me.  Hello, technology and big hotel chains!!

Okay that’s enough of my ranting for today. Now I must get a Lonely planet guide to India and decide which of my 3 camear’s I am going to bring.  And to watch the movie “Outsourced”, which my coworker recommended I watch before leaving for India.

Wow, over the next couple of months I am going to be doing a lot of travelling. First I will be going to Hawaii for about a week for Podcamp and Wordcamp Hawaii. 2 days after returning I am going to be going to India on business for 4 WHOLE WEEKS!! It will be my first trip to India so I am really looking forward to it. I don’t know if I really wanted to go for that long on my first trip, but hey what can you do when work calls. Since I will be gone that long I told my wife she might as well plan a trip to visit her parents in Japan. That way she will have some help with our 16 month old son and wont be alone for 5 weeks. If possible I am going to join her in Japan for about a week or so, depending if all things fall into place.
One thing I need to do is get all my bills online so I can pay them from anywhere in the world! Especially, if I am going to be travelling for these long periods of time.
For my Hawaii trip I know I am bringing my DSLR, HD Video Camera, and FlipVideo Camera. For India I am thinking about just bringing a good point and shoot camera that has the ability to shoot video as well. I am getting to the point where it’s a pain to carry all these cameras so I need to figure out a way to minimize my gear. I am thinking that a new higher end point and shoot with a BIG memory card or two is the way to go. What do you think? How are you travelling these days?