India, Slowly Unfolding
This series follows a journey through India, travelling gradually across north and south as part of a small guided group.
Rather than trying to capture everything, these posts focus on moments noticed along the way — early mornings, long drives, crowded streets, quieter pauses, and the shifting impressions that come from moving through unfamiliar places day by day.
India is often described in extremes. This journey isn’t about chasing them. It’s about paying attention to what unfolds in between: how places feel rather than how they perform, and how perspective changes with time, heat, tiredness, and distance from home.
Some days will be full and absorbing, others slower and more reflective. Together, they form a record of travelling at a steady pace — noticing, adjusting, and learning as the journey progresses.
These posts are not intended as a guide, but as a personal account of being there — one day, one place, one moment at a time.
Posts are shown with the most recent at the top of the page.
Prologue
Before the journey began (four weeks)
In a month’s time, we’ll be boarding a flight east, heading for India.
It’s a sentence I’ve said out loud more than once, partly to make it feel real. After months of planning and quiet anticipation, the countdown has shifted. This is no longer something happening “next year”. It’s close enough now to picture.
This journey has been a long time coming. I’ve been to India before through work, visits to cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Agra, but those trips were shaped by schedules, meetings, and hotel rooms. Apart from a brief visit to the Taj Mahal, there was little opportunity to really see the country beyond the edges of work.
For years I’ve wanted to return in a different way. Not passing through, but arriving with time. Time to observe, to notice, and to experience the people and culture that left such a strong impression the first time around.
India is a country of extraordinary scale and complexity, and for this visit an organised tour felt like the right choice. The route is set, the logistics are handled, and the focus can shift away from planning towards simply being present. Travelling as part of a group brings its own dynamics, but it also removes many of the practical barriers that had made independent travel feel unrealistic.
This will be a shared journey — twenty-four travellers moving together across a wide sweep of northern and southern India. It’s a different style of travel for us, and one we haven’t experienced for many years, but it feels appropriate for a journey of this nature.
Preparing Differently This Time (2 weeks)
As the departure draws closer, I’ve noticed that the preparation feels different.
There are still lists, documents, and the familiar rituals before a long journey. But alongside the practical tasks, something more internal has been taking place.
This trip isn’t about trying to see everything. The itinerary is full, but the intention isn’t. What feels more important is how we arrive, not rushing ahead mentally, not measuring each day against expectation, but allowing space for the experience to unfold as it will.
Travelling now feels different to earlier years. There’s less urgency, but more awareness. More attention to pacing, to energy, and to the need for occasional stillness amid movement. I’m not preparing to “do” India. I’m preparing to meet it.
I’m also conscious that not every moment needs to be captured. Some impressions will be fleeting, some overwhelming, some quietly beautiful. Not everything has to become a photograph or a story straight away. Some moments will be allowed to simply pass through, leaving their mark without needing explanation.
On the Edge of Departure (2 days before)
As the final days approach, everything begins to feel slightly suspended.
Life carries on much as normal, yet nothing feels entirely settled. There’s a gentle narrowing of focus. Ordinary moments seem to stand out: a familiar walk taken slowly, an evening at home, the comfort of routines that will soon be temporarily replaced.
It feels different to earlier journeys, not excitement, but a steady sense of readiness.
India feels close enough now to imagine, the heat, the sound, the colour, the unfamiliar rhythm of each day, but still distant enough to remain slightly unreal. Soon there will be movement, long days, early starts, and moments that will test both energy and attention.
For now, there is this pause before motion.
A space between here and there.
Tomorrow, the journey begins.
If you’d like to follow future journeys, reflections, and moments noticed along the way, you can join the mailing list here.