No Baggage Challenge India

Delhi has changed tremendously. The recently rebuilt airport is magnificent. The new highway to Gurgaon smooth and well maintained. After a five year absence from India, the great infrastructural advances were immediately clear.

Once settled in my hotel I made inquiries about getting an internet connection. A man would be sent to my room. An hour later he arrived and informed me of the rates.

“450 rupees for two hours or 850 rupees for 6 hours.”

I requested the latter and he thought for a moment.

“I’ll give you a special rate” he said “6 hours for the price of 2 hours.”

“That’s very kind, and it will be billed to my room?” A question to which I already knew the answer.

“No sir, for this special rate, I must be paid in cash.”

As he left, cash in hand, he paused at the door and turned to shake my hand. “Of course sir, the front desk should not be aware of our special rate.”

Not everything has changed.

In a few hours I have a flight to Guwahati from where I need to either hop into a jeep or helicopter and head down to Shillong. The internet connection will be very limited if present at all. To the mountains…

Patrick

Marsden and Friend in the Himalayan foothills, 2004

Maoist rebels have busied themselves blowing up the infrastructure we will depend on. The monsoon rains have taken a serious toll on the roads we will be navigating. Infectious diseases lie in wait. The most reckless drivers in the world have massed.  We are ready.

By the time you read this we shall be in the air, east bound for India. The journey to the start line will involve three planes, a train, three jeeps, and a helicopter. It will take us four days of near constant movement.

Our connectivity to the internet and the outside world will be limited and our updates will sporadic and there may possibly be none at all. We will be filming the entire trip and those videos will be trimmed down to an appetizing size and posted on our return.

The road ahead will be hard, dangerous and mentally testing.  This trip is a dream 11 years in the making. While immense preparations have been made in fundraising, securing sponsors, renting the vehicle, raising publicity through press and social media, training, acquiring equipment and securing time off, the route is unplanned. Every morning for a glorious month we will wake up and face the unknown road ahead depending on the infamous kindness and hospitality of the Indian people to survive.

To India!

 “Adventure is a path. Real adventure – self-determined, self-motivated, often risky – forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind – and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever again be black-and-white.”

Patrick

Jake’s IDP Arrives at the last minute!

We are now ready to roll on our most elaborate attempt yet to impress women. Ed, Jake and Patrick are all soon to be heading east to the Himalayas.

International driving permits are in hand, visas are set, flights are booked, sponsors are secured, funds have been raised, engines studied, first aid mastered, shots injected, malaria pills consumed, insurgent forces studied, compass knowledge updated and parent’s concerns soothed.

Now the road ahead…