india: a lifelong dream

I’ve dreamed of traveling to India since I was a little girl. Which is completely inexplicable. I don’t remember what I saw or heard when I was younger to spur this desire on, but it happened. And as I got older and began to travel more, that desire just kept burning. The images I saw in movies and photographs dripped with color and called to me in a way I can’t even really describe.

In 2019 I finally decided that I had waited and dreamed long enough. I wanted to see it all for myself.

The colors did NOT disappoint. I’ve never seen such intricate design in architecture and it was magnificent.

I kept a journal while I was traveling there, and I’m grateful that I have those memories jotted down…because two years later, I can’t recall where I visited or in what order things happened, or the names of my guides and people I met in the villages…but I remember the smell of spices and flowers, and the balmy air, and the way I felt when I laid eyes on the Taj Mahal for the first time.

This is a trip that will live in my heart forever, and I’m so grateful that I was able to make this dream come true.

My last few days were spent in Varanasi, where many people make the pilgrimage to drink from the holy Ganges River, and to burn their dead. This was the only time during my trip where I understood the sensory overload that so many travelers talk about. It was overwhelming to experience a place so different from home, with such a difference in customs.

On my last morning, my guide offered to return once more to the Ganges, for a sunrise boat ride. And as the sun came up and the loudspeakers blared with morning prayers, I fed the seagulls from my boat and set carnations into the water — my own offered prayers.

India is unlike any place I have ever visited, and it will forever have a special place in my heart.