I have been going on expeditions for the better part of a decade, some have been a smashing success, some I have just scraped through and some failed miserably. Knowing when to pull the plug on a trip after planning it for years comes from experience. The weighing up of risk, analysing your ability and putting your ego, money and sponsorship obligations to the side is always tough. 

I leaned over to the window of the 737 Jet bound for Indonesia and my waiting wife. I took a last look down at the sprawling cities, the immense agriculture and the holy land of a billion people. India is a unique and special place, she had handed me a beating this time, but I was alive.

I sat back in my seat, took the hot glass of Chai from the stewardess and blew on it to cool. I sipped the sweet liquid and said out load to no one,

“I will be back.”