Tips for travelers

Once upon a time, not very long ago, Peter and Eva had a dream about their very own, personalised trip to the magical land of India. They threw in a penny at a wishing-well they came across in Munich, Germany, which called itself “Enchanting-India”, and made their wish. And lo and behold, a friendly Wizard appeared, asked them what they wanted, gave them some good advice and abracadabra, made their wish come true! They soon found themselves on a flight to India, the land of their dreams! It was almost too good to be true.

It was a wonderful start to the story. But as you know, no fairytale is complete without its share of problems. So, too, in this fairytale, Peter and Eva had to overcome certain obstacles. They came first in the form of crowds – crowded airports, loud, crowded streets with chaotic traffic and cows and dogs on them! But the Wizard had prepared them for this. They were a bit overwhelmed at the beginning, but after a few days, they didn’t let all that bother them any more. Instead they started noticing all the interesting scenes and activities going on in all the crowded places. And they realized the importance of the mantra they had been given before they started their trip: “Travel with open eyes and open hearts!” The open eyes were very convenient, also, to watch out for the pickpockets and petty thieves!

Of course it helped that they had a good fairy with them on their tour, their very own tour manager from Enchanting-India. That helped to shield them to a great extent from all the people who wanted to sell them something, take them someplace or just plain stand and stare at them! Very often, they were approached by beggars or smiling street kids. Over time, they learned to deal with that as well, sometimes just ignoring them, sometimes offering them sweets or food or some small change. They learned to accept a lot of things as a part of reality in India, and to their surprise, they saw that the obstacles weren’t obstacles any more!