India Bound

My bags are packed and all of the necessary arrangements have been made to ensure the life I will be stepping away from temporarily will run as smoothly as possible. In two days I leave for India... by myself. The only travel companion I will have will be Gandhi... well, more like his autobiography that I plan on finishing over the 22 hour flight.

I have to admit, until a few days ago I was extremely excited and confident about going, but as my departure date draws nearer, the reality of being so far away from my husband and children is beginning to sink in. I've been hugging them tighter and longer, while catching myself choking back tears at the thought of going. My relief is found in knowing they will be joining me three weeks after I leave– and what a reunion that will be! I also have concerns about my mother, who isn't quite comfortable yet living in a city where I am her only connection. How will she fair? But this is life and this is being human– it means I love and I am loved.

I also know that this will be a life changing experience. I am not going to be the same person when I return back to Canada. Three weeks of ashram, monastic life will be enlightening, challenging, rewarding and frightening. I've done it before during my first yoga teacher training, but that was in Florida; although it still took me six weeks to fully reintegrate into daily life when I returned home and I wasn't even in India! To be so close to the source of yoga while studying and experiencing it will be a game changer for sure.

Once those three weeks are over and my family joins me, the four of us will be touring around south India for another three weeks. We hope you join us on this Indian adventure by following our blog: diachinatravels.wordpress.com I will be posting every chance I get from the moment I leave, although I'm not sure how much access to the internet I will have while in the ashram.

As a result of this great expedition, there will be no post at Never Water A Weed for the month of December. In the meantime, I hope you have a joyful, loving holiday season. Please stay close to the Christmas Spirit.

Much Love & Peace,
Chantelle

An Adventure Awaits...

I have dreamed of traveling to far-off distant lands for many years. It's one of those things I wish I did in my 20s– before marriage and kids. For whatever reason, seeing the world wasn't on my radar until my mid-twenties when my husband's best friend, who had recently graduated from his Master's program, decided to spend a year backpacking alone through Asia. There was something about those post cards we received from him that were so intriguing to me: reading his handwritten words that described his experiences, noting the colours and lines of the exotic stamp, and as strange as it sounds, I would even smell the postcards to see if I could catch a faint scent of what these places smelled like. It was Sean's journey that planted "one day" in my mind.

Of all the post cards we received it was the one from Thailand that planted the biggest seed... he called it "paradise". Sean wrote about sleeping on the beach in the most beautiful, rustic accommodations. He claimed to have found the best shrimp he had ever tasted (I LOVE shrimp!) and how there was nothing better than eating a fresh mango. What he couldn't get over was how ridiculously inexpensive everything was. I was sold. I knew that "one day" I would visit Thailand.

During Sean's year away I distinctly remember having a conversation with a family friend around a campfire about my intentions to travel. Her response was "you better do it before kids". I remember looking directly at her and saying, "no, my kids will come with me". She just smiled at me with a look in her eye that assured me it wouldn't happen.

Here we are, nearly 15 years later and we're finally making the trek and guess what? My kids are coming with me. Yes, this is going to be a family adventure. It took a year of my husband and I researching online, talking to people, reading travel guides, learning to speak Thai*, saving money and now we're ready for an experience of a lifetime.

This will be a trip we have put together– no travel agents, no resorts. We anticipate great memories to come out of it and would love for you to tag along. Some of you may have noticed the new "Family Adventure" tab at the top of this page. We'll be posting frequent updates here along with photos (and maybe footage) for you to follow us along on this special journey, which begins December 5th.

Life... is... good.



*We have a feeling no one is going to understand us when we speak it.