My free breakfast included: toast, a Masala style omelet, fresh watermelon juice, tea, a muffin and blueberry breakfast cake. Yum!
Day 2 of the LIVE RICHER Series in India
So today was pretty awesome. I woke up early in Mumbai and took FULL advantage of my hotel’s complimentary breakfast. Also, as part of my package, the hotel arranged for a car to take me back to the airport so I could catch my flight to Jaipur, where the rest of my tour group was.
As I waited for the plane, I looked up and saw another super, brown, face in the mist of brown faces. It was my trip roommate Donnalee! She’s awesome. At 24 years old, she’s a lawyer, turned educator that was born in Jamaica, lived in NYC and is now teaching entrepreneurship in Rwanda and she invited me to visit. Yep, like I said, she’s awesome.
My roomie Donnalee
Once we landed, we met 2 other women from the Nomadness Travel Tribe and headed to the most beautiful hotel I’ve ever seen.
It looks like a palace…the pictures don’t do it any justice and at $40/night, you can't beat the value.
- The Umaid Mahal Hotel in Jaipur India
My room!
My room!
My room!
My room!
My room!
The rest of the women on the trip trickled in throughout the day and at the end of the night, we met over dinner in the roof-top restaurant of the hotel.
Nomadness Group Dinner
Marie and I at the Nomadness Group Dinner
Day 3 of the LIVE RICHER series in India
Soooooooo, your girl saw her 1st world wonder!
Today I woke up early to leave first thing for a long bus ride (5 hours) to Agra, India. Thankfully, before leaving, our hotel provided us with the best complimentary breakfast spread I’ve ever seen.
All of the food was new to me, but oh-so-delicious; so much so that I may have had 3rds, but who’s counting.
Yummy, fresh-squeezed pineapple and beet juices.
All 16 of us from the Nomadness Travel Tribe piled into the bus after breakfast and started on our amazing journey too....
The ticket in cost $12.50! Who say's amazing experiences have to cost a lot?
By the afternoon, we reached our final destination, the Taj Mahal! I was beyond excited. The Taj Mahal is considered one of the 8 wonders of the world and for good reason. It’s incredibly beautiful and as soon as I saw it, it took my breath away.
The Taj Mahal
Taj Mahal means the “the crown of palaces” in Arabic and is built entirely of white marble. It is a visual reminder of the power of love. It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal after she died during the birth of their 14th child.
The King built the Taj Mahal as a place for her body to be laid to rest, because he loved her so dearly in life. As the story goes, Shah Jahan also intended to build a second grand mausoleum across the Yamuna River from the Taj Mahal, where his own remains would be buried when he died; the two structures were to have been connected by a bridge.
Even after death, the king wanted to remain connected to his queen.
I love that a group of Queens got to experience the Taj Mahal together.
One of the 4 gate entrances to the Taj Mahal
So many Indian families wanted to take pictures with us. I guess they don't see too many people like us in India.
The bus ride home was so long, at first everyone went right to sleep, then halfway through the drive, something happen. I’m not sure how it began, but one conversation lead to another and we began talking about relationships, love and life. The fact that our conversation happened in the shadow of our trip to a structure built out of love and devotion was not lost on me.
The LIVE RICHER Lesson
Seeing, touching and entering the Taj Mahal was a transformative experience. So often we only hear about how capable women are of deep love. The Taj is an example that we are not alone in that capability, men love deeply as well. The excursion helped to remind me that the love we attract is a reflection of the love we give to ourselves and others.
Wearing clothes from my travels; India on top, Morocco on the bottom.
We shared the road with some interesting companions.
Bri from the Nomadness Travel Tribe in her sari
Nomadness Travel Tribe group shot!
LIVE RICHER
Tiffany
