YOLTLO: I AM GOING TO INDIA!

This is the only appropriate title for this blog post. 

It's a funny story, this little journey to India. Let me begin by saying that I am not the most traveled person. I'm not the most untraveled person either, but I'm not affected by a chronic wunderlust like many others that I know. I love my home and I love being at home. I have never lived anywhere other than Tampa. (Yes, I was born here!) And I'm only a 20-minute drive from that home that I lived in from the time I was six-months to almost 21. 

But at the end of a particularly stressful week, one of my best friends sent me a message. She said she was planning on going to India for a wedding, and that she thinks it would be amazing if we traveled there together. Any other time, I'd be like, "I don't have time for that!" But there was another part of me that was screaming, "Get me out of here and go have fun for once!" 

I mentioned this idea to my partner when he got home, and he immediately encouraged me to do it—swatting down excuses like a pro. So, I began to look into the logistics of a plane ticket, and I checked in with my inner committee on its overall opinion. Within about two weeks, I booked the two of us a flight. My friend was working in rural Haiti at the time, on a micro solar grid (because she's a bad-ass!), so I had to do most of the flight research and booking. We were on the phone together when I decided on the final fight. Having lived with me for five years, she knows how much I stay at home. (During the time that we lived together, she traveled to, I don't know, at least three different countries on at least five trips—including to India!) As soon as we made our trip "official," she exclaimed, "I can't believe you did that."

One word Jamie, YOLO ... YO-LO.

That became the theme word for the trip. I was writing our proposed itineraries with the subject, "YOLO 2016." But then later, I realized that in India, they don't believe "you only live once."

So, I decided that it would be YOLTLO: You Only Live This Life Once.