To extend or not to extend?

So I've been asked if I want to extend my trip for another 2 weeks. There are several considerations to be made but we are leaning towards going for it. That basically means that we would be in India until July 29th. We need to figure out changing Courtney's flight as well as a couple of other little things, but it shouldn't be too much trouble. Happily I'll still make it back to the US for my birthday and bleacher tickets at the Cubs game.

Travel Travel Travel

Courtney and I have basically booked ourselves solid for every weekend until we leave. This weekend we are off to Rishikesh for some rafting on the Ganges, rock climbing and camping. A few of the BTAs from Hewitt are coming with us. The weekend after we are flying to Bangkok, Thailand for a three day visit. 80-foot tall Buddhas! The next weekend we are taking a 4 day trip to Kerala, spending one day in the backwater area. The entire stay in Kerala will be in Taj hotels using our Taj points, so it will be another nice vacation for us (I was given 10 days of time-off because of my role and they need to be used before the end of the year).

After that, for those of you keeping track we are on June 10-11, we are going up to Corbett National Park. Here we hope to finally see a tiger in its natural habitat, and we have a much better chance of doing so. This was the first such park established in India and is home to over a hundred tigers. Elephant tours are also available. :D

The next weekend (June 10-11) we will probably be heading to Varanasi, the most holy city in India for Hindus. That should be a long train ride East, the farthest East we have been so far. Follow that weekend will plan on going to Udaipur, the last major city to be visited in Rajasthan (first picture). We've been told that it is a beautiful city, and we will also be using our Taj points to stay at their Lake Palace.

After all of that, Caroline will be here (she arrives June 27th). I'm taking a couple of days off so that we can head to Gwalior (second picture) for a day trip (June 30), then spend the Saturday in Delhi (Caroline can't miss the weekend brunch!). On Sunday we plan on flying to Mumbai (Bombay) for an overnight stay at another beautiful Taj hotel. Courtney will be taking Caroline to Agra for the obligatory visit to the Taj Mahal either on Wednesday or Thursday.

Note for Caroline: If you have any other ideas of places you want to go (north maybe?), please let us know and we'll work it all out.

So much to look forward to! We'll keep everyone posted as usual.

Love for all we have! (That's Yoda for 'We love you all')