On the 23rd January 2007 we set off on a 10 week trip to Thailand, Laos and the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala in South India. This was to be the longest trip we had ever undertaken.
During the summer and autumn of 2006 we had formulated our plans and printed out the intended itinerary but acknowledged that we had to retain maximum flexibility to change things as and when we needed or wanted to.
We incorporated recommendations from friends, researched the internet for places to visit and read our guide books extensively.
We bought the Lonely Planet to Thailand, the Footprint guide to Laos and the Rough Guide to South India. They each have their own style but we were influenced on the guide to Laos by the fact that it was the most up to date guide we could find.
Laos was changing so quickly in terms of infrastructure and how it was embracing the growing number of visitors that getting a recently published guide book was extremely useful.
The necessary visa for India had been obtained. Vaccinations were updated, current malarial requirements were obtained and, of course, travel insurance was taken out.
Being keen to travel independently from the outset, we walked down to our village and caught the train on a cold winter’s morning from our local station direct to Manchester airport. We had tried to keep our rucksacks as light as possible and were pleased to see they weighed around 8 kilos each.
We flew with Emirates via Dubai to Bangkok and really enjoyed the flights as they had an excellent in-flight entertainment system and good food and service.
