Preparing for Departure

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A little over a year ago, on Sept 30, 2017, my dreams came true when I married the love of my life.  God blessed me with not only a wonderful husband, but also amazing in-laws, a new brother and a wonderful extended family and community.



I have loved learning about South Indian culture, especially when it comes to tasting the delicious cuisines and sporting the vibrant, stunning sarees.  Every day I learn more about Roj and his culture and it definitely keeps things interesting. 

Roj was born just outside of Dubai in a town called Fujairah.  He lived there with his parents and brother until they all came to Canada in 2002.  Although he was born and raised in the UAE, he has always been very connected to his South Indian heritage in Kerala.  Many of his family members still live there and due to the large South Indian community in UAE, he grew up in a fusion of both cultures.

Last year, Roj and I began talking about options to take a trip Dubai and India so that I could experience the joys of life there, and meet the extended family with Roj by my side.  As time progressed, Roj’s parents also expressed interest so we began planning a trip for the four of us.   Time has flown by and we depart for Dubai this Wednesday evening!  I have a mixture of excitement and anxiety about this trip, as I know it will include a fair amount of culture shock (but the majority is excitement).  I’m comforted by the fact that Roj’s parents are coming along as they are very well versed in all of the places we’re headed.  I also believe it’ll be a great opportunity for us to grow closer as a family.  Unfortunately, Roj's brother Ron won't be able to join us this time, but I'm sure there will be more family trips abroad in the future. 

We have decided that this will be our ‘trip of a lifetime’.  Our managers were gracious enough to give us the time off work to leave for a total of five weeks!  Since it's such a great distance, we wanted to extend our travels for as long as possible, in order to see as much as we could.  The main stops on our trip will be Dubai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kerala, Bangkok and Krabi (Roj has no connection to Thailand, but we figured it would be a nice way to end our trip… with a little R&R). 

My hope is to blog on a regular basis so that I can look back in times to come and remember the intricacies and details of our time exploring.  I also think this will be a nice set of memories for our future children to read about when they’re learning about their backgrounds and culture.  Please keep us in your prayers during our travels and stay tuned for some (hopefully) great experiences!

XOXO

Laura and Roj

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