For the inaugural journey of the WOW! Travel Club, I wanted to go to the place that inspired the idea. A place that had a bigger “wow” factor than any place I could think of. A fascinating colorful, chaotic, intimidating and truly “foreign” destination. My favorite place: India!

The country where – on February 17, 1979 – I arrived with my backpack after a 10-hour ferry crossing from Sri Lanka. After having traveled on the cheap for six months to some of southeast Asia’s most remote, impoverished and exotic places, I was still freaked out about traveling to India. My journal entry from that day: “Arrived at the port of Rameswaren, like some kind of refugee – in an old wooden sailing boat. I’m definitely in a new place – unpaved roads, horse & buggy taxis, sacred cows, Hindu temples and religious processions with their bizarre gods . . .”

The two months I would spend in India provided some of the most amazing experiences of my life. From the remote southeast coast I got my courage up to travel by train and bus to the southwest coast at Kerala – an unforgettable journey up to Goa (see my story called “We’re On This Journey Together” in the Travel Journal), – and further north to Bombay (now Mumbai). After exploring that area, including the caves at Ajanta and Ellora, I set off for the capitol, Delhi, which involved a 24-hour train journey, much of which I spent in an overhead luggage rack in the jam-packed Ladies’ Compartment (but that’s another story). In Delhi, I reserved my return flight(s) back to the U.S. several weeks hence – on an Iraqi Airwarys charter. My travel agent, Anoop Sharma, would later propose marriage to me (but that’s another story). Suffice it to say that I covered most of the Indian sub-Continent, including time in Nepal over a period of 8 weeks, before returning home to Saginaw, Michigan. And that, too, is another story.

Back then, as I explored India from the perspective of a low-budget traveler (and I do mean low budget!) I wondered about the “rich” tourists who traveled on air-conditioned buses with tour guides. Smugly, I scoffed that their experience of India could never be as rich as mine was. I hadn’t had a hot shower in months – but bucket baths were refreshing. I’d not eaten in a real restaurant – having grown fond of street food (and having developed the necessary tummy tolerance). I had no air conditioning but it wasn’t yet broiling hot summer. My tour guides were locals (usually guys) who wanted to practice English, although sometimes they wanted a little bit more than that.

I wondered if I’d ever be one of “those” travelers.

Well …. here I am, 30+ years later, planning travel experiences for the WOW Travel Club that include sumptuous accommodations, luxurious air-conditioned motorcoaches (we don’t call them buses!) and bountiful breakfast buffets. No dal and chapati from a lady squatting on the sidewalk.

And, although the physical experience is certainly upgraded, I know that the experience of travel is whatever you make it. Our WOW Travel Club journey included many opportunities to meet and connect with the local people. We visited wide-eyed children at the “Excellent Elementary School.” We took a jeep ride into the countryside, where women resplendent in jewel-colored saris with bangle bracelets from wrist to elbow harvested wheat in amber fields of grain. We bought shoes and saris at local shops. We rode rickshaws through the maze of streets in Old Delhi, with its impossibly tangled electrical lines. We were welcomed into many a family photograph.

We saw the Taj Mahal at sunset – and were first in line to see it again at dawn. We had adventures like riding elephants and crossing streets. We slept in splendor at the Maharaja’s former hunting palace. And we played elephant polo.

The chaos, colors, sights, smells and sounds of India were every bit as momentous and magical as they’d been three decades earlier. Low budget or high budget – it doesn’t matter how you travel … the important thing is to go!