I wanted to make our reservations for the Sikkim and Darjeeling part of the trip first. All of the places we are staying are small, so (as we learned from our Glenburn experience) fill up fast – even far in advance

India is one of about half of the countries in the world which require a visa for US citizens. Some of those countries you can purchase a visa upon arrival at the airport, some you must get your visa or arrange for your visa in advance.

I received a quick reply from Glenburn that the dates we wanted were not available – six months out from our trip. The Glenburn is small, just 8 rooms, but I had not anticipated that they would be full. They gave us alternate dates and I started working around those dates. So the next iteration [...]

I always make an outline of our travel schedule, beginning with our flights from Seattle, to, in this case, Bangkok. It gives me a visual aid for planning the itinerary.

Reading over what I’ve written as I prepare for my next entry reminds me how much of the process happens in tiny, almost unnoticed steps. For instance, we have changed where we are staying in Darjeeling as we stumbled across a place in the countryside that looked great. A recommendation from a fellow Fodorite sealed [...]

Finding books is a bit more difficult for Sikkim than for other places we’ve visited. I’ve done a thorough search for books on Sikkim, and have turned up only a few, none of which are available directly from Amazon.