I’ve already mentioned this (probably three times now), but Jaipur was one of my favorite places. The block printing was such an awesome experience. The hotel we stayed at was such eye candy, but even outside of the hotel, the pink city was truly gorgeous. We packed A LOT of plans into Jaipur— some of us did all of them (me me me) some opted out early and relaxed at the hotel (can’t blame them– there were def. days I did this too). Looking back, my outfit on this particularly busy day looked as if I should have been in a desert— at a festival– and that I could have probably been partaking in some heavy drugs. Right? I think so. I don’t know, I feel like I look like I’m at burning man or something. But I’m happy to say, that other than being in the desert part, no part of this day resembled burning man. Wait no, I’m lying. The evening TOTALLY resembled burning man, it was the eve of Holi! But I’m happy to say, there were no heavy drugs (or light ones, haha) and at no point was I in a bikini (thats a common outfit at burning man, right?). I’m rambling.

We started our day by heading to the City Palace. I practiced a lot of my expert posing skills here. There was just SO many giant doors. Every single detail was perfectly perfect.

cat claw pose. 
actually I might be pointing. But, just so I can reference this hilarious post again: cat claw pose




Okay, so lets talk about some good stuff. We had an astronomer on the trip! (Hi Stacey!) How awesome is that? We had such an amazing group of girls– with so many different careers and personalities and talents. It was great. Above the Clouds and I added an observatory to our to do list, because 1. we had no idea what it would really be like and 2. because we thought it would be super neat for Stacey to experience. For the rest of us, non mathematical non astronomy based people? Well, it was confusing mostly, for me anyway. And for someone like me, who has a hard time with things that aren’t symmetrical or asymmetrical, well, it was overwhelming. Actually the lack of symmetry and cohesion in this whole entire post is overwhelming for me, but that might just be me? Anyway, the sun was warm and I was confused by the place, but happy.



There’s that Hailey again. We’re both Pisces. Which now brings me to the question— I thought an observatory is about astronomy— not astrology? But maybe I’m wrong. Do you see why I’m confused? Anyway, we’re both wishy-washy, creative, ridiculous fish.


So the only natural thing to do after visiting such a mathematical place, was to visit a palm reader. My friend Brittany was most excited by this. She brought stacks of charts and information and things. She was/is planning her wedding, so needed some compatibility answers! πŸ™‚  Some girls were nervous. Some were hopeful. I was mostly curious. I had been to a psychic once before who was pretty much dead on— so I wanted to see what story would be told this time. I was also the only one on the trip with a kid– and I wanted to see if that would somehow be brought up in reading. To be honest, I don’t remember all the details about family stuff, but I know I was told I would only have one kid. Fair enough.

We all sat together, waiting for each girl to go into a private room to have their palm read. We all then waited patiently, wanting to learn more about each experience. Some were super open, some kept their reading more to their selves. I think at the end of the day, some girls felt satisfied with their readings while some were like, “I don’t know if I really see that happening.” For me? I was told I would be rather wealthy and a world traveler. At the time I was planning on traveling every single month this year– so I was like, “hell yes to this!” but as you guys know, I’ve been mostly bedridden this year, and scrolling through travel accounts on instagram hardly counts as traveling the world. So pft.

I was also told them I am tyrant. Well, it was worded different, but basically I was told I have the most giving and selfless heart, but that I was very stern and serious about what I want. Also, that I should be more patient in my relationship– because— I’m a tyrant. Haha. Brittany was also told she was a tyrant in her relationship. And she needs to work on being gentler. We both agreed this may be possibly just a little bit true.






Many of the girls wanted to continue the day with more shopping and adventure. Some didn’t. So half the group headed back to the hotel, while the rest of us pushed through the busy day for more excitement. I pushed. This was also the beginning of our Holi adventure. The eve of Holi— and I wanted to see what all the pre-celebration traditions were about. Spoiler alert: there are motorcycles and giant flaming sticks of fire. It’s scary, but awesome. I’ll obviously be sharing a ton of Holi pictures another day, in another post. But whoa, it was really a color and sense explosion. Those of us who stayed out late for the pre-holi experience headed off to the market for late night shopping and for the experience of ten million (slight exaggeration) men asking, “Do you want to play Holi with me?” Of course. And I want to play Holi each and every year if possible.

Also, I started writing this in another post, but before too much time goes by, thank you guys so much for your kind words and comments and messages about my book. It made the whole thing feel so much more real. I really appreciate all of it so much. Thank you <3<3

4 Comments

  1. I was planning on Argentina this year but you make India look too beautiful to pass up. Have been following you for years and just pre-ordered your book to travel all the way to France. Thanks for being such an inspiration, Drea! xxx

  2. Another fabulous post about India, I love that you didn't do them all at once, it's nicer this way I think. The colours and architecture are sensational. And what fun to go to a palm reader. CJ xx