India 2016: the Map of Our Month

After thirty truly epic days, we are about to leave India.

Our travels here started by landing in Kolkata, flying to Varanasi (707 km) to Bombay (1491 km) to Udaipur (744 km), and then taking an overnight bus ride to Jaisalmer (533 km) spending the night in the Thar Desert which concluded part one of our Indian adventures, from 22 March to 1 April.

Part two consisted of the Rickshaw Run, where we drove a tuk tuk 3,000 km traversing the states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam and Meghalaya from Jaisalmer to Jodhpur (286 km) to Barr (134 km) to Pushkar (192 km) to Jaipur (145 km) to Agra (240 km) to Kanpur (280 km) to Gorakhpur (361 km) to Darbhanga (328 km) to Jalpaiguri (359 km) to Darjeeling (105 km) back to Jalpaiguri (108 km) to Cooch Behar (95 km) to Guwahati (328 km) to Shillong (100 km) where we crossed the finish line. From there, we took a car back to Guwahati (118 km) for a flight to Kolkata (981 km) to complete our trip. If you’re doing the math, that’s almost 7,700 km traveling in India.

I look at this map in awe, thinking “wow, we did this!”
We actually did it.

When I thought about what we did, the resounding word that kept playing over and over in my head was “yes”. For the most part, we said “yes” to what life had to offer each day; and it offered quite a bit. That’s a good way to live life.

The quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks, Russel Wilson, in his address to the 2016 graduates from the University of Wisconsin (his alma mater), said, “Remember that the moments when life tells you yes aren’t the ones that define you. The moments that really matter are the moments when life tells you no. That’s what I wanted to focus on today. What do you do when life tells you no?”

In a manner of speaking, that’s what we did. We just said “yes” to life.

Now onto a day in Dubai before heading back to our respective homes in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago.

It’ll be tough looking at the last thirty days once it’s in the rearview mirror.