Travel Tuesdays: India

When my husband and I decided to have children, we also decided we would scale back our usual travel. No more camel trekking in the Sahara or hiking the Inca trail--we would stick to US or maybe European travel. That all changed in 2008 when our friends invited us to their wedding in India.

We thought long and hard about whether we wanted to travel that far to a place so new to us with our then 5 year old and 2 1/2 year old children. In the end, we realized we couldn't say no. Truthfully, we weren't certain it was the right decision (If that's ever even possible) but we were certain we'd always regret it if we didn't go. How right we were. I cannot imagine how much we would have missed if we had said no.

I'm certain I'll write about this again. I have written about this particular trip and its wonderful long-term impact on our family many times in my journal but I can never quite find the words to exactly express it's magnitude.  For now, I'll share some photos to make my point.

We shared meals with our friend's family in Hyderabad, India

Our son and our friend's nephew became fast friends and danced at the bride-making ceremony.

Part of the wedding festivites included shopping for our clothes.

We participated in a Hindu wedding

We shared meals, stories, and cultural traditions. Six months later, our friend's parents came to stay with us during the American wedding that happened in our back yard. We shared more stories, photographs and cultural traditions. Our friend's parents asked us to call them Auntie and Uncle. They started to feel more like family than friends. (This could be an entire post.)

Over the years we've skyped with our friend's family and the two boys skyped by showing each other their latest toys over the internet. "Look, my John Deer Tractor."

Now, three years later, our friends have returned with their family. This time, Auntie, Uncle, our friend's two sisters, and his nephew came.  Our house is in a constant buzz. Someone is always cooking...

Learning to make chapatis.

Or eating...

Locally grown corn, anyone?

 Or celebrating birthdays...

 Or cooking again...

Auntie never grilled before so we posed the photo for fun.

 We keep asking each other for recipes. Most often we say the same thing...there is no recipe... I just cook it from scratch with what I have.

And, the two boys picked up right where they left off 3 1/2 years ago. Our friend's nephew even got to experience a visit to an American school.

(Photo added 1 October 2011)

None of these things would have happened if we didn't throw our fears to the wind and take the travel leap with our young children. Now we wonder why we ever worried about traveling outside of the US or Europe with our kids.

What risks are you afraid of taking? What might you and your kids gain by taking a leap?