Nevermind - Delhi, India

Brittany landed her dream job in San Francisco. We both officially graduated two weeks ago. These events called for a time to celebrate and unfortunately India is not that type of place.
While in Nepal I once heard the country´s name stands for:

Never
Ending
Peace
And
Love

And India stands for:

I´ll
Never
Do
It
Again

Attempting to think more open-mindedly than that, we set out to plan a wonderful adventure through northern India´s mountains and forests. We didn´t make it very far.

[2009 Edit: The following description of our time in India sounds harsh and was harsh for us at the particular moment we visited. The country commands much respect from seasoned travelers because it's a land of about a billion people, many just trying to make ends meet. We have pledged and look forward to return, just not after spending four months apart. I highly recommend India for anyone looking to gain inner peace, patience, and appreciation for life's quaintest joys.]

Trying for days to leave Delhi, we passed out each evening exhausted from dodging touts and trying to make our way through Delhi´s deceptive and intricate traveler scams. Trying to book a train to the Taj Mahal resulted in an unfortunate chain of events leading to violent threats and minor assault from a crooked travel agent. We eventually took an overnight train and made it out to Corbett Tiger Reserve, only for our guide´s jeep to break down mid-morning and leave us stranded. Constantly battling petty scams and gastrointestinal ailments we looked at our options and listened to our burbling gut... get the hell away from India´s pollution, poverty, and invasive encounters with locals.

With little more than a phone call and some haggling we changed our tickets and hopped on the next flight to Paris. It´s been a week since we left India and our bodies are still fighting off intestinal and sinus issues.

Europe has offered a pleasant change of pace and we picked up unlimited global rail passes - so we can jump on and off any train throughout 20 European countries. We´ll probably visit 8 countries as we make our way around the motherland. Europe has treated us extremely well as I sit here in Madrid, digesting paella and lomo. Paris felt like home and I actually drank tap water and brushed my teeth with it for the first time since January.

There´s much to see, so much to write about, and so much to do while we´re here - so I must now sign off and head out to absorb as much as I can.