Final Thoughts on India/Europe Trip

I'm back in Hawaii now, so I finally have time to reflect on my trips and come up with a summation of it all. The India and Europe trips so starkly contrasted one another that it would be senseless to talk about them as one--so I won't.

India was slower-paced, but while it should have been more demanding with high altitude hikes and very basic living conditions, I found it soothing and spiritual. We were quite active but allowed for plenty of time to absorb, relax, reflect. Joel and I were constantly engaging in political, psychological, or philosophical discussions; I completed four books; and having to "rough it" meant fewer distractions from both my external and internal environments. Cerebral exercise.

The landscapes we explored were like none I've ever confronted. While Alaska's peaks and glaciers were impressive, to say the least, I was not hiking and sleeping among them. There were multiple times when the sheer grandeur and spectacle of the Indian scene overwhelmed me, and my chest ached.

Other parts of India greatly tried my patience and tolerance. It was difficult being so obviously foreign and to the locals, so obviously rich. But Joel and I met great people along the way, from India and elsewhere, like France, Spain, Israel, Tibet, Australia, Poland, Canada--not so many Americans go to India.

I have little doubt that I will find myself in India again. Hopefully, next time I will be there in winter, so I can make it down south without melting in the 100+ degree heat; but if I do find myself there again in summer, there’s plenty more of the north I’d love to explore.

(Culture Shock? Interestingly, the most uncomfortable and out of place I've felt on any trip was in Heathrow Airport (outside London) after India.)

Europe was a whirlwind of cities and sites. (I’m really glad I kept a journal to help me remember what we did where.) We stayed just long enough in each city to realize that we weren't staying long enough: "This place is interesting; let's go." It was great to see so much, but I think I prefer taking it slower.

It was confounding to visit Auschwitz, the old Jewish ghetto of Budapest, and then Berlin; seeing the geographical source of the death and torture--while destruction normally upsets me--it was hard to feel bad that most of Berlin (a city hundreds of years old) was built only in the last 20 years. However, it was inspiring to see Berlin, having been through so much with the Nazis and Communists, was now thriving and doing so with full acknowledgment of their past (i.e., remnants of the Berlin wall, museum for the euthanized handicapped, tomb of the unknown concentration camp victim, memorial for the Jews).

My mother's generosity in paying for most of my Europe expenses (it was up to me to get there) allowed me to enjoy that part of the world, but I expect that for the next few years my trips will remain mostly in the southern hemisphere where I can afford to stay longer. I don't know where my next trip will be, but I look forward to it.