We are planning a big trip next month to India. My wife and I have not been there in 5 1/2 years. Sarah, aged 7, did go with us, but has almost no memory. For Sophia, aged 3, it will be her first trip. she is actually the primary reason that we are going. She has some medical issues that I will get to in a future series of posts. Because of this, she won a raffle for disabled children. The prize money could be used for anything that would be a helpful for her. When we submitted the application, we chose a trip to India.
The trip has twofold. Firstly, we alll get to visit some famlily that we have not seen in many years. For Sophie, it will be a first visit. Also, for her, there will be a visit to a religious shrine that is the equivilant to Lourdes in France. The site is in Vailankanni, and for Catholics, is quite sacred. Secondly, Sophie will also see doctors in India, who might provide some answers to Sophie’s condition. she has been looked by a number of specialists here with no definite diagnosis. It will be interesting to see what they have to say, but we don’t have our hopes set too high.
Phot below is taken for the shrine website. Maybe I can improve on this.
Vailankanni Shrine in India
For the trip, I have been thinking about what equipment will be needed. Because we are leaving before Christmas and staying until the end of January, there will be plenty of photo opportunities. From the Christmas/New Years function to the trip to Vailankanni to a side vacation or two, A100 will be quite busy. Below is a list of items that I am thinking of taking or acquiring there..
- Sony A100 DSLR
- Minolta 50mm f/1.7 lens
- Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 lens
- Quantaray 70-300mm f/4-5.6 lens
- Sony HVL-F42 wireless Flash(need to purchase)
- Compact Flash cards: Currently have 1 4GB card. (looking to get an 8 GB card)
- Quantaray Photo bag(This one has traveled to India 4 times and has come in handy.
- Lens Cleaning Kit (need to purchase)
- Tripod (thinking of borrowing one there to save weight)
- 160-250GB Portable HDD (need to purchase)
So that is the list so far. Can anyone think of anything else? I thought maybe a laptop instaed of the portable hard drive, but the weight and mass maybe and issue.
