THE VACATION FROM HELL...

You've heard the expression, THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS, right? Well, I can truthfully say he was "all over this vacation", in fact my nostrils are still singed with burning sulphur, not to mention the rubber on my sneakers has melted from running through the fire and brimstone.

He first reared his ugly head in the airport at Mumbai. You know, you give a person a little power, stick a gun into his hands and "watch out". I didn't mean to run over the toe of the armed guard with my carry-on suitcase. How many times could I say "I'm sorry"...but if looks could KILL...then he drifted into the incompetent airline worker who would not let us board the plane despite having all residency papers, visas, etc...it took a supervisor to get us through...yes it gets worse, but you know John, let me white wash everything and paint a rosy picture for you...but not until I tell you about his final performance as we sat on a train waiting to blast into Amsterdam and he entered three blokes who walked by us, and snagged John's back pack with my camcorder...wallet..driver's license, (thank God I had my cash/cards and passport on my person) right from under our noses.

But true enough, everything ended on an etheral note at a beautiful garden called Keukenhof...It was like walking into the guarden of Eden, such absolute beauty as much as we toil through life, one could never imagine the beauty of such flowers, the passionate color combinations, the heavenly scents drifting through the air, the magical combinations and arrays laid forth in ponds, on mounds, fields and fields of tulips. There were birds chirping in the trees, children's giddy laughter filled the air as they played on playgrounds. John and I ate pizza and icecream and there were hot honey-ham sandwiches with dijon mustards that filled the air as well. Boats drifted through canals as on-lookers saw fields, and fields of flowers. Swans swam up to us...and John and I had the time of our lives...I'm telling you, if I died tomorrow, (heaven forbid) I want you all to know how beautiful this experience was for me. I will post the pictures in the order of our journey and comment here and there. Unfortunately the girls had decided they wanted to shop and not take this excursion with me, which was the only reason I wanted to come back to Amsterdam. There is nothing more beautiful in the world that I have come across at this juncture in time than to be lost in Eden with the one I love.

So the vacation from hell ended on a heavenly note, and I'm still recovering from the break-neck speed of it all.

My first and major mistake was booking a "group" trip without fully understanding what we were in for. I had been on "group" trips before and had a blast. Remember when Jaspter street went to New York City? I liked travelling in a group with family and friends...I think the culture overload here became apparent, because true enough, I am enjoying learning of Indian culture and trying to immerse myself in absorbing different ways...I should have thought of the family. Somehow the thought of going to London, Paris, on and on, eating only Indian meals at Indian restaurants did not sit well with my family, who wanted to get a break from India and experience French, German restaurants...etc...that was only the beginning..We finally were able to break from the "pack", and things got better.

I also looked at this trip kinda like the movie SPEED, there we are trapped on this bus of what...50 or so people...no there was not a physical bomb attached, but John was (and did) ready to blow, like a bull in a china shop...maybe it was the 3 hours of singing and the movie going at the same time that got to him with his short temper...

Nonetheless, let me just forget the negative past and press onward with the great beauty of Europe that we saw. Fourteen days is a long, long time to be away from home. (Truthfully we made friends with many people there who took us under their wing at times. It was almost hysterical to watch European faces as we paraded through with our group, and to have them stop us or make sure we weren't lost or with the wrong people. It was almost like the kid's game where they have 4 pictures and they have to pick out which thing doesn't belong with the others..ha, that was funny. One sweet couple from Chennai took me in, and the group referred to him as my Uncle...when Bri got sick from running on top of the glacier (thin air), he did so much to try and bring her back, calm her down (Prana, etc. There is so much to tell, I will try to get it all out in time.