PLANES, TRAINS, AND A WHOLE LOT OF STANDING AROUND

Assuming that all goes well I should arrive in Srinagar on 6 February 2008, but I now know better than to blindly believe that it will actually happen as planned. Everything has to go right on four separate flights to get into the end zone, and there is fog at DEL, frozen runways at SXR, and multiple baggage handlers along the way that could cause it all to go wrong. Pragmatism makes me cautiously optimistic, so I hope for the best, but plan for the worst (a bedroll and sleeping bag in carry-on for unplanned layovers).

Normally I have a "glass half-full" outlook on life, but when traveling I check the glass for leaks - delays and disruptions are a regular feature of getting from one place to another. Mother Nature, and sometimes the airline industry, are busily converting the remaining optimists. Just ask any of the 500,000 new recruits to pessimism: half a million people are stranded in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou because massive snowstorms have grounded transportation services to a halt.

I can't think of a better reason to be prepared when leaving the house, nor a better justification for that age-old mothers' admonition about going out wearing a clean pair of grundies. Bring several pairs if you're going to the airport, and don't forget to pack your Mini Motel - one of the best new travel products on the market.
Photo credit: Vincent Yu/Associated Press