Fifteen years ago, for the very first time, my husband David and I stood at the opposite ends of the travel pole bucket list. India was his long unfulfilled destination desire and the last place on earth I had ever wanted to experience. After twenty years of life and travel compatibility, with all other continents and subcontinents sampled or explored, I was out of reasons and excuses for stuffing this adventure to the bottom of the destination list. I'm not sure if my "okay I'll go to India" came from a burst of courage and resolve as if faced with a painful and risky, yet inevitable surgical procedure, or capitulation in a weak moment, when a parent gets talked into pleasing a child against her better judgment. Nevertheless, there I was, one moment swept into a spin of negotiations for tolerable travel terms, the next on my way to India for a month.