Hitting the Road

Day 4, 6 days remaining

After 3 days in Reykjavic, I rented a car for the rest of my time in Iceland so I could explore on my own. Iceland has 1 ring road (Route 1) that circles the entire island. I did about 1200 miles over 7 days.

Above is a map of Iceland. I marked some of the more notable locations in blue and the route I drove in green. Most people tend to stay on the southwest, close to Reykjavic. It's a shame because the south coast and east coast are absolutely stunning. Once you get about 2 hours out of Reykjavic, prepare to be alone. You can go long stretches without seeing another car. I also marked the peninsula on the west coast which is the Snaefellsjokull national park. I didn't make it out there because of bad weather but that peninsula was the inspiration for Jules Verne's novel "Journey to the Center of the Earth".

I headed out of Reykjavic around 10am and immediately headed east. I took my time and made periodic stops along the way to look at some things we spotted along the way a day earlier on the "Blue Ice" tour.

One of them was a waterfall called Seljalandsfoss. It's not quite as big as Skogafoss, but the neat feature of this waterfall is you can walk behind it.

I actually walked up to it, then went back to my car to put in my rain gear. I figured I would regret coming all the way to Iceland and not taking the time to see and do everything I could.

So after stopping for about 30 minutes here, I continued on my way. I drove along the south coast, admiring some of the landscape and the immense isolation. This is route 1. Both directions looked like this.

Then I continued on to Reynisfjara. Also known as the black beach. The weather by that point had changed considerably so I only stayed there for maybe 30 minutes. Struggling to stay on my feet in the wind and freezing from the wind and rain.

Along the way, I stopped at some of the lava fields and "black deserts". Miles and miles of ash covered flatlands. They are truly jaw dropping.

This is a lava field. Miles of moss covered lava rock. Equally stunning as the black deserts. 

About 5 hours after I set off, I arrived at my hotel in Kirkjubaejarklaustur. On the map, it's the 3rd blue box from the right. It's about 500km from Reykjavic. Tomorrow, I would be exploring the east coast and the largest glacier on the island, Vatnajokull.

Why you should want to come to Iceland

Ok. Enough pictures... for now. Let's get to the nitty gritty. I'm sure you're asking yourself, "Yeah yeah, but why the F would I want to go to Iceland?"

Let me count the ways.

1) Pay for water? BAH! - Coming from India, where the tap water will make you spew fluids from all orifices, the tap water here literally comes from a glacier. It's what people all over the world pay an absurd amount of money annually on but here, it flows freely and is ice cold coming from the tap. As soon as I tasted it, it brought me back to Scandinavia, 2009. If that's not pure enough for you, you can also drive an hour to the glacier itself and fill up from any of the running streams. 100% pure, unpolluted water. I drank about 5 water bottles worth off the glacier and have had nary a side effect, other than happiness.

2) Northern Hospitality - The people here are quite frankly the most friendly people I've EVER met. Not just traveling, EVER. They are all incredibly friendly, courteous, and welcoming. They all speak better English than most Americans and are quick to offer a suggestion or to help.

3) No Reservations - I've been here for a week now and I haven't had a single bad meal. The food in Scandinavia is largely unimpressive but Iceland has been the opposite. They serve a lot of lamb and fish on the menu but the lamb is the BEST I've ever had. They know how to cook lamb, lemme tell you. Cooked perfectly medium rare. They also have some of the best and freshest ingredients. The fish is extraordinary. I still need to try sushi which I've heard is excellent. Even the "Noodle House" in Reykjavic had some of the tastiest noodle soup I've ever had. Meals are not cheap. Expect to pay over $50 per person average for restaurant style meals. The noodle house was $10 for a big bowl but if you come to Iceland, do yourself a favor and enjoy the cuisine. I promise you it will be some of the best food you've ever eaten.

4) Be a rubbernecker - The landscape and scenery here is beyond belief. You need to keep your head on a swivel at all times or else you risk missing something beautiful. Waterfalls, icebergs, glaciers, canyons, sunrises, sunsets, northern lights, lava fields, deserts, wildlife, this small island has it all.

5) Get out of the city - Renting a car is a MUST. Renting a 4WD should be law. Driving is amazingly easy. There is no traffic. Not when the entire population of the country is 320,000 people. There are half a million fricking horses but only 320,000 people. Incredible. I've gone stretches of 20-30 minutes without seeing another car. Then you'll see 1 and once again, you're all by yourself. My little Kia Sorento is a great little car. AWD, Bluetooth sync with my iPhone so I can play music. I could not be happier. The only thing to keep an eye on is your fuel gauge because fuel stops might be 200-300 km apart. Err on the side of caution and fill up with a quarter of a tank left just in case.

This is the first country I've visited that I've truly said to myself, I want to move here. If that's not possible, I'm for sure returning in the summertime. 

500 year old ice and Pepperoni Tacos

Day 2, 7 days remaining.

We got back from our Northern Lights Explorer hunt around 12:15am. I knew I had to be up at 7:30 the next morning for another tour pickup so just took off my cold weather clothes and went to bed.

My alarm woke me up the next morning and it left me with a choice. I could A) sleep in for another 30 minutes and go get breakfast or I could B) get up, shower, then go get breakfast. I opted for A. So if you're paying attention, I'd be going another day of sweaty physical activity without showering. But what the hell, we were going to be outside all day anyway. I went down to eat breakfast, which I made a point of doing here since I knew I would need the calories these first few days, in fact most days I would need the energy. My Fitbit said I was walking over 7 miles a day. Mind you none of it is flat. It also said I was burning close to 6000 calories a day. So I ate a breakfast of protein and fruit.

Once again, packed up my day pack with what I would need today and waited for my pickup. Today's tour was the "Blue Ice" trip. Hiking on a glacier and ice wall climbing. The glacier was 2 and a half hours from Reykjavic so we stopped halfway at a bus stop for a restroom break as well as to buy lunch to eat on the Glacier. This is where I was introduced to Pepperoni Tacos. But I will get to that later. We hopped back into the van for the 2nd half of our journey to the glacier.

Upon arrival, we got a quick safety talk and got our gear. They provided helmets, harnesses, crampons, and an ice ax. Then we walked the quarter mile to the glacier.

Once we got to the base, we were instructed how to properly fit our crampons and more safety talk. IE, do not tear off your own calf muscle with your crampon (it has happened). There is no aid and if you do, you'll probably bleed to death. He didn't say that part but all of us made damn sure not to tear our own calf muscles off.

Our guide's name is Thor. He is awesome by default. His full name is Thorvill but he goes by Thor. I would too. 

This glacier is called Myrdalsjokull and it's one of probably 20 in Iceland. I will be visiting the largest in a few days. It's quite surreal. It is approximately 250 meters thick in the middle and it is approximately 500 years old.

I hereby declare thee Mt. Brown Bear

After walking around for about an hour with me eating pieces of 500 year old ice and our little wiry mountain goat safety guide was hopping all over the glacier looking for a new ice wall for us to climb, he finally returned and announced he found a new one. Completely untouched. They asked if we wanted to try it and we all said hell yes so we set off for this new location.

Our guides making it look easy...

This is what they found. 30 feet of sheer wall on the left. 30 feet of sloped wall on the right. I would suck at both.

Before we continue to my failures as a ice wall climber, let's go back to the topic of lunch. While our guides were setting up the ropes and whatnot, we all broke into our packs to eat our lunch we bought earlier. I bought a coke, a bag of dried fruit, and a "Pepperoni Taco". It's basically ham, pepperoni, cheese, and "magic mayo" as quoted by my new friend Kim from North Carolina on a parmesan roll. It is quite frankly the most amazing sandwich I've ever eaten. Forget the pastrami sandwich from Carnegie, forget anything you see on Food Network, you want a Pepperoni Taco from the bus stop on route 1 outside of Hella, Iceland. You will not be disappointed.

Ok. Back to the glacier. They got all the ropes anchored and we got in line to get climbing. We had a group of about 15 people so it took some time for my turn to come around. Good thing too because I apparently wasn't paying attention when they talked about proper boots. Let's get one thing straight. My boots were perfectly fine... for hiking. They checked them... for ankle protection and I declined the 1000 kroner to rent climbing boots. Which I would find out later are like ski boots but with tread. They are rigid as hell. My boots are "soft", which makes climbing impossible because once you try to kick in and put any weight on your feet, the boot flexes which makes the crampon slip out of the ice. I got about 15 feet up the first wall and 15 feet up the 2nd before calling it a day. 

For the record, I was the only person to get to try (and fail) on both walls so I have that dubious honor to be proud of. But we all got a good laugh at me hanging off a ice wall. 

Here's some pictures of skilled people with proper equipment doing it the right way. 

It was still crazy good fun and I met a bunch of amazing people to continue the rest of the trip with. After 3 hours on the glacier, we walked back down and headed back to Reykjavic, with 1 last stop on the way.

About an hour from Myrdalsjokull is the waterfall Skogafoss. We arrived around 4pm with the sun shining on it from the front. It made for quite the view.

I got the shower I so badly needed

This country keeps getting better and better and I still have almost a week left. I can happily announce Iceland is now atop my list of favorite countries in the world. 

The main reason I came to Iceland

There are a few things I have an infatuation with. One is ruins. Another is history. I've wanted to go to Egypt since I was a kid.

Another infatuation I have is with nature. Even though I live in a busy area like the San Francisco Bay Area, I love nature. I watched too much Bob Ross I guess because I see the inherent beauty of being outside. Especially when you're all by yourself in the middle of nowhere. Don't even dare to bring a cell phone to a glacier because if it rings, I'm likely to throw it into a bottomless fissure.

Iceland has proved to have all of the natural beauty I expected. Plus the ability to appreciate it. Want to walk behind a waterfall? Go for it. Want to swim in a natural thermal lagoon? By all means. One thing that I have desperately wanted to see for many years is the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights. I'm no scientist so all I know is it has to do with magnetic particles reacting to the Earth's atmosphere. Like I said, I'm no scientist. We got back from our Golden Grand Slam tour around 6:45pm. That left me 1 hour to scarf down a Subway sandwich, repack my backpack with my camera gear, and put on a few extra layers. Then we got picked up and drove a good 2 hours back into Pingvellir National Park. We sat around for a few hours waiting for it to get completely dark (around 10:30pm) and for the scattered clouds to disperse. We changed locations a few times as well. It was looking like a wild goose chase when around 11pm, our guide pointed off to the distance and said that he thought he could see it moving. None of us were really sure what we were looking at so we took a few pictures to check and this is what came up.

A few things to note about trying to see the Aurora Borealis. The main one is they are a natural phenomenon. You need a perfect combination of elements to see them and even more to take good photos of them.

1) A clear to mostly clear night sky (some clouds create cool effects)
2) Complete darkness. We drove out 2 hours from Reykjavic and still picked up ambient light. It's the orange glow in the photos. It looks cool but really isn't supposed to be there.
3) A tripod. This is a must. Even a Joby would do but something to keep your camera from moving.
4) A DSLR is best but a camera with adjustable shutter settings. You need to keep the shutter open as long as possible to get the best effects. With a DSLR you can set the shutter and aperture settings to let in the right amount of light.
5) A wide-angle or fisheye lens works best since it captures a much larger area of the sky.

I also discovered Iceland is NOT a good place to view the Aurora Borealis. It's an island in the North Atlantic. The weather changes by the hour. The best places to view are northern Scandinavia (Finland and Sweden) and even northern Alaska.

I've gone out to look for them every night and I've only seen them twice. But once you see them, you become obsessed wanting to go out again and again to see them one more time. They are quite hypnotic to watch, albeit a little underwhelming. On partly cloudy nights, it's quite difficult to tell the difference between them and clouds. You just have to set up your camera, take the picture, and see what comes out. Once you distinguish them, then you can sit back and enjoy the show!

What's even more incredible is I saw and did so much on my first full day with 10 more days go go! 

The Golden Circle... Part 3 (Geysir and Pingvellir)

With the day only half over, we drove the few kilometers down the road to Geysir. Geysir is the town that is full of geothermal hot springs, including geysers. The word "geyser" was derived from the area of Geysir. Pretty neat huh? The main Geysir geyser collapsed on itself so now the main one is called Strokkur. It erupts every 5 minutes or so up to 120 feet into the air at a temperature of 500 degrees Celsius. That's Celsius, not Fahrenheit. 500 degrees C is 932 degrees F. That's pretty hot. Since Strokkur is located on half privately owned property, the owners decided they should cash in on the tourism boom and they charge 600 kroner to enter. It's the ONLY tourist destination in Iceland that costs anything to see. The rest are completely free. Yet another reason why Iceland is amazing.

To be honest, I don't know if it's worth 600 kroner to watch a geyser erupt but as the guide said, we've already travelled all the way to Iceland, what's another 600 kroner. Valid point. We all paid the 600 kroner, watched the geyser erupt 3 or 4 times, then left. It's a pretty good show though.

Then for our last stop of the day, we headed off to the Pengvillir National Park. It's the site of Iceland's first parliament. It is also where 2 tectonic plates meet, creating natural fissures in the ground and massive cliffs above ground that is basically the earth forcing one up and one down. It's quite a sight to behold.

Those are coins in the water. It's 100% glacial runoff so the visibility is extraordinary. 

This is the view from on top of those cliffs

By now, we had been going for a full 9 hours and still had a 2 hour drive back to Reykjavic and had to be back by 7:45pm for another tour pickup. It was going to be a long day but what came next is the main reason I came to Iceland during the winter. 

The Golden Circle... Part 2 (Gulfoss)

From the lava field, we had a 1 hour, 45 minute drive to our next stop. Gulfoss.

Gulfoss is Iceland's most popular waterfall. There are approximately 7000 waterfalls in Iceland. And those are only the ones that have names. Everywhere you turn, there is a waterfall. Big and small.

The biggest is called Dettifoss and it was featured in the opening scene of the movie "Prometheus". It's located in northern Iceland. An area that is largely cut off right now due to snow.

I would love to return to Iceland and see Dettifoss in the future but right now, I had to settle for Gulfoss. I think I can live with that. 

That's not too shabby huh? It's arguably not even my favorite waterfall I've seen here...

We ate lunch at the Gulfoss Cafe and had the wonderful lamp soup Iceland is known for. I'm going to have to Google a recipe for it, because it's really, really good. It seems very basic. Lamb and vegetables in broth. But it's really filling and tasty. They serve it with warm bread and it's a perfect lunch after being cold all day long. After lunch and the waterfall, we packed it up again for our next stop that's just right down the road. Geysir. 

The Golden Circle (not to be confused with The Golden Triangle) Part 1

Day 1, 8 days remaining

For my first 3 days in Iceland, I booked a total of 3 different tours. All with a company called Arctic Adventures. I chose them because the group size is smaller than most. Max of 8-12. The first one was called "The Golden Grand Slam". There is a region here called the Golden Circle. It is a loop from Reykjavic out to Gulfoss falls, to Geysir, then to the Pengvellir National Park and back to Reykjavic. It's about 4 hours of driving time total.

I was picked up around 9:30am and our guide informed us that we would be doing the route backwards from most companies so to avoid the logjam of people at the very beginning. It meant that we could be doing the lava tube caving first.

A lava tube cave is created when molten lava flows over a cold area. The top hardens while the lava stream continues to flow below. Eventually, it creates a whole cave system.

We drove out into the middle of nowhere. It truly was. We ended up in a 700 year old snow covered lava field. I'll get to the lava fields in Iceland later but they are mind blowing. They go on for as far as the eye can see and the island is covered with them.

There is a lava tube cave out there somewhere. This lava came from the peak that's in the distance right in the middle of the picture. 

There it is. Caving is not for the fat or tall. IE, me. 

This is the remains of a poor lamb who must have wandered in and gotten lost in the dark

It's quite beautiful

At one point, our guide had all of us turn off our headlamps and we were sitting in complete darkness. It's pretty scary to think if you lost your light, you'd end up the same as that poor lamb. There is no way you'd ever be able to navigate without a light. He the made it worse by asking us a single, hypothetical question.

"What would be worse? To turn our lights back on and discover someone was missing from the group? Or turn our lights back on and discover there was someone with us who wasn't in the group before?"

Needless to say, we all took a few extra seconds to turn our lights back on, not wanting to face this situation. 

Caving is not for the tall or fat. Unfortunately, I'm both. Thankfully, they provide a helmet with headlamp because I was knocking my head against the roof every other second. My head would have been a battered pulp by the time I was done without it. Several times, we had to get on our hands and knees and crawl. The surface isn't exactly soft and my knees show the bruises to prove it. One time, we had to get on our bellies and alligator crawl. That's when you get on your belly, but your arms out to your sides like an alligator, push yourself a few inches off the ground, and waddle. It's not easy. Especially over rough surfaces. But it was darn good fun. After an hour in the cave, we went back to the van and departed for our next stop, Gulfoss. 

[I]ndia and [I]celand

The similarities stop with the first letter. 

Actually, that's not entirely true. They stop with the first letter and the 2 pronged electric plug. They stop after that. I promise. 

I landed in Reykjavic at 8:30am GMT (which is 1:30am PST if you care). The captain's announcement welcomed us to Iceland, told us how to catch connecting flights if necessary, wished the rest of us a pleasant stay, and said it was 27 degrees outside... then said we would have to exit the aircraft and walk outside to get to the terminal. A collective gasp came from the cabin since 99% of the people on the plane were NOT staying in Iceland, but rather just passing through. The couple next to me were on their way to Frankfurt, Germany. But to be honest, it wasn't that bad. It hits you when you walk out, but since there wasn't much wind, it didn't feel that cold. I've been colder. 

Reykjavic central is about 45 minutes from the airport so I boarded my pre-arranged bus to take me to my hotel. We were leaving the airport at about 9:30am so we surely would be heading into morning traffic right? Uhhh, no. Reykjavic has a population of about 150,000 people. Iceland as a whole has a population of about 230,000 (goes to show you how many people live outside of the city). I've been told that outside of the city, you can go 2-3 hours at a time without seeing anyone. That might sound lonely, but after India, that sounds awesome. I've also been told that there are more sheep in Iceland than people. (BTW, it's snowing right now. Weeee!) To compare, Bangalore alone had a population of 8,000,000. Delhi has a population of over 22,000,000 and India has a population of 1,300,000,000. Only 300,000 less than China. 

Right away, things I like about Iceland...

- The sunrise. Literally looked like a Bob Ross painting. (Happy little clouds!)

- The airport. It's like a giant Ikea. 

- Immigration. Took about 6 seconds. 

- The roads. Beautifully paved and arrow straight. 

- The traffic. There is none. 

- The people. They might not be bad looking. 

Things I don't like about Iceland...

- Roundabouts. I might have trouble with those. Ask Erika.

- The temperature. I only say that since I'm still nice and tanned from India where it was 93 degrees when I left. 

Tomorrow I'm taking a hike on a glacier and ice climbing, exploring lava tube ice caves, and tomorrow night, going in search of the Aurora Borealis. Not bad for my first full day with 11 more to follow. 

Leaving in 9 hours. Possible.

I'm taking a break from packing, which I'm pretty sure I've mentioned that I hate. I can't believe that it is actually time to leave. Has it really been 2 months? Time truly flies by when you're in the midst of things. I still remember the day I received the e-mail asking if I was "interested in a special project that might required travel?" I was sick as a dog at home and my reply was something along the lines of "Durrrr... YES. Don't care where. Don't care when. Don't care for how long. Sign me up".

I distinctly remembering thinking "It can't be India. Ed is already there and has been there for 2 weeks already. Why would they need me to go to India?" 

 D'OH!!!

I got the fateful call later that day and the rest is history. It really is now. I would have said yes regardless but this experience has been one of the best of my life. Have met some truly amazing people, have experienced frustration unlike any I've ever experienced. Now not only can I say I've worked internationally, but can also say I've lived internationally. In India no less. 

I also only experienced 1 bout of the dreaded "Delhi Belly" and it was my own fault due to being careless. I had breakfast downstairs in my hotel, was tired and hungry on a Sunday morning. It was the morning after the ridiculously long drive to Ooty and back and I drank the glass of water the waiter served me from his pitcher. Ironically it was also a day after I posted that I hadn't gotten sick yet.  Big time jinx. Let's just say that night I didn't sleep much. Thank you lord for Immodium and antibiotics. My friend Lisako suggested I take the antibiotics right away so I did and it only lasted 1 day. 

I was involved in 2 car accidents. Only 1 involving another vehicle. The first was my little old driver in Sri Lanka drove into a pile of paving stones. I don't know how he didn't see it and I even told him to watch out and he drove into it anyway. The workers who were setting them down had the most confused look on their faces. I'm sure they were thinking the same thing. The second was my god-awful driver who drove me back to Cochin from Alleppey backed into a motorcyclist. He was by FAR my worst driver here. Full of road rage and attitude. He actually rubbed a few buses but didn't stop. Though neither did the bus. His method of driving was to try to force his way into spots even if there was a car or bus there. The car would give in 50% of the time. The bus, not so much. But he tried anyway. Then you hear the sound of scraping and the car slightly rocks. Then he'd back off. He was taking me to the airport and instead I asked him to take me to the Courtyard Marriott which is like 200 yards from the airport. I had 7 hours to kill so wanted to see if I could get a room for a few hours to use the shower and take a nap since I hadn't taken a shower in two days on the jetty. Well, he passed the hotel so I told him he missed it and he needed to go back. Instead of finding the first u-turn, he did what sadly a lot of drivers here do. He proceeded to put the car in reverse and start backing up on the 1 way road. He was half on the shoulder and half on the left hand lane. There was a motorcycle on the shoulder who was waiting to make a right hand turn (mind you they drive on the left so to make a right hand turn, you need to cross the lane of oncoming traffic). So he just proceeded to back into him and knock him over. He got out, they talked (loudly and aggressively). I started to get nervous since a crowd started to gather around the car. Then he got back in, kept backing up until he found a spot to make a u-turn and took me to the hotel. All the while complaining that "He saw me coming. He should have moved." I said "that doesn't mean you hit him!" He just looked at me and shrugged. Complete asshole. I didn't give him a tip even thought the drive was over 2 hours. F that guy. 

I visited 3 countries (India, Sri Lanka, and Nepal) while here. I saw 7 cities in 2 countries in 7 days. Believe me when I say I don't recommend that. I felt like I was on "The Amazing Race". So Exhausting. 

I've developed an obsession with disposable hotel slippers. I may or may not have 4 pairs. All different. All awesome. 

I'm bringing home 70 blue elephants (for my team), 15 Nepalese cashmere pashminas, a set of silk Indian outfits for my nieces, 3 sapphires from Sri Lanka, a Tibetan art drawing, and a whole suitcase of other gifts. Yet, I'm still able to pack everything I originally brought. Sans my flip flops and Pumas that I'm going to throw out here and a pair of jeans that finally saw it's end in Nepal. 

I horribly overpacked. 4 sweatshirts (wore 2), 3 pairs of shoes (wore 2), 2 pairs of flip flops (wore 1). 2 pairs of khakis (wore 1). Pair of warmups (didn't wear since I also had sweat pants). T-shirts, socks, and underwear were fine, but the sweatshirts were a waste of space. Too much sunscreen (didn't need it). Travel pillow (haven't used it). Flashlight (haven't used it and when I needed it, didn't have it with me) I need to learn to pack more efficiently. 

There is so much more that I'm sure I'll remember over the next 24 hours (the time it's going to take me to get back to San Francisco), and I'll continue this blog through my next trip to Iceland that starts on the 26th but man, what an adventure. 

"The Truth About Travelers"

This is a must read.

It's one of the most eloquently written articles I've ever read and it describes perfectly the mentality and motivations of people who love to travel.

She also has some amazing posts on her blog so definitely check it out. 

1 week left? Impossible.

I find it hard to believe that I only have 1 week left until I return home. Has it really been 8 weeks already?

When I talk to my friends back home they say it feels like it's been forever since I left but here and they all ask "when are you coming home?" But here, it feels like I just arrived.

- I remember that first day when I went to the wrong office as if it was yesterday.
- I remember thinking "what did I get myself into" as I walked absentmindedly trying to find a taxi.
- I remember waking up for that first week knowing I was going to be sitting in traffic for 60-90 minutes to get to work and 90-120 minutes going back and wanting to be back home where it still takes me 30 minutes to go 6 miles but I was in control.
- I remember flying to Sri Lanka my 3rd weekend in India and being so frustrated with the process of 3rd world traveling that I told myself I was going to eat the costs of my other airline tickets that I had purchased and not leave my hotel.

Then I said F that. I'm here to do something special.

I found that ever elusive grocery store. It's about half a mile from my current hotel and I've walked down twice. It's next to a KFC which is also convenient if I want to get a quick bite.

I found a place to get my haircut. Granted, it's at the Park Plaza hotel spa but it's only a mile from my hotel. There is a "local" place across the street but I was advised not to go there by the front desk. "Not very hygenic" was the description they used. Noted.

According to my Fitbit, since I've arrived, I've taken 296,046 steps and walked 139.63 miles.

I've achieved what I was sent her to do for work. Got my team comfortable and confident with the tool we've assigned them to use. Just today we made the decision to integrate them back into the old support queue managed from Mountain View and relive me of those support duties. I feel like a proud papa.

I've met some truly amazing people. From my loyal and reliable driver Guri, to the team I'm supporting and other people in the office that I laugh with daily, to the staff at my hotel, to the incredible guides that have showed me some of India's magnificent sights and made me want to Google the shit out of the country every chance I get.

Most of all, I feel like I've earned my place in this country and this company. The future remains unknown but a fellow manager today said "they better convert your ass" when she found out I was not an employee and only a contractor. Regardless, I'm proud of what I've done for myself and my team and will walk away with my head held high, as I always do.

India, it took some time to get comfortable with you, but I've grown to love you and I know there is a lot that I have yet to see and experience (I'm going to miss Holi by 3 fricking days. That would have been awesome).

I will be back. 

I'm pretty close to both...