One of the unavoidable truths of having visited so many parts of India in such a short period of time was that we had a pretty embarrassing carbon footprint, taking planes instead of trains and drinking lots of bottled water instead of water out of the tap. India is particularly vulnerable to climate change, as melting glaciers in the Himalayas threaten much of the country’s water and food supply, so I’ve got a little San Francisco green guilt creeping in on my conscience.

Thanks to my folks for paying my airfare to India, Ramya’s family for their incredible hospitality and generosity while there, and a very favorable exchange rate, I actually spent a lot less money than I expected for such a big trip. Sooo, I just bought carbon offsets to mitigate my carbon footprint while flying to and from India, and domestic air, rail, and car travel.

At the recommendation of “In India” subscriber Michael Silberman (who first told me about carbon offsets a couple years ago), I visited BrighterPlanet.com to calculate my footprint, and purchase a little over $100 in credits — investments in new green energy and reforestation projects — to “offset” all of the carbon dioxide I was responsible for pumping into the atmosphere while traveling. Here is the very rough approximation of my impact:

18,601 miles AIR transport = 7,599 lbs of CO₂ emissions
500 miles AUTO transport = 754 lbs of CO₂ emissions
726 miles RAIL transport = 154 lbs of CO₂ emissions
TOTAL CARBON FOOTPRINT = 8,506 lbs of CO₂ emissions

Well, we’re back in San Francisco and I’m happy to report that I’m (almost) over being jetlagged. It was such an amazing trip and I just want to thank everyone who made it possible (especially my family in India who were the kindest, most gracious hosts and showed us a terrific time).

I started the journey by laying out a few things that I was most excited for about our trip to India, so I thought a fitting close would be outlining a few of the things that I enjoyed the most from our “presidential tour of India” (as my cousin Tarun so aptly called it). Here goes:

• Spending time with my family whom I never see (this one gets a * because it’s that important)
• Taking an overnight train and five hour car ride to the monastery…and having it be worth the arduous journey
• Drinking coconut water from a roadside stand, then eating the fresh coconut
• Reading White Tiger and watching Slumdog Millionaire right after our trip and having a greater understanding of what was going on (both are recommended)
• The heat. Call me crazy, but to me, it was perfect weather.

Things I could have done without:

• United and Air China

So that’s it from me — stay tuned for more pictures later today. Thanks for following us and commenting…it’s been a blast