I’m soo happy to report that after six weeks, my visa to India has finally come in! I went to pick it up on Thursday. It came with a 30-day journalist visa which states that I’m not allowed to work professionally, and I am restricted from restricted areas and cantonment areas, which I recently learned means military areas!

I am also booked for flights, leaving Feb. 15 to Delhi (flying Jet Airway), and returning April 20, from Kathmandu (flying Qatar Airline). I’m excited for my layover coming back as I have an overnight in Doha! Because the airport is in the city, there’s apparently lots to do in 13 hours! I arrive at 7 p.m. and have an 8 a.m. flight out. I’m still debating if I should get a hotel and get a good rest, but Jack is saying I should just try to sleep in the airport, rather than pay the $150! I will likely do that, but we’ll see how tired I get!

The way there is the same crappy layover in London that I encountered when I went to Rwanda, so hopefully it will be warm enough for me to sleep in a park again for a few hours before I venture out to a few London sights! hehe.

Anyway, I am SUPER excited and started reading the Lonely Planet’s India travel book last night. I’m learning a lot about Jaipur, where I’ll be staying for three weeks and looking forward to taking everything in.

I’ll then be going to Nepal for four weeks, and then to Bhutan for five days! My friend Stephanie recommended I go there when she heard I was going to that area. I wanted to originally go to Tibet, but I think I will run into the same visa issue as a journalist, so I’ll have to add it to a future trip to China when Ian and I can go together. I’m kind of excited for Bhutan, because I don’t know anything about it, and it looks absolutely amazing there!

–Bea