Maps arrived! First Post!

Popping our proverbial blog-post cherry with some wild, crazy news. No, not really - but still exciting. After several calls to map stores across Australia, benevolent, self-styled navigator Warren managed to procure some maps of India that wasn't a childrens pin-up poster.

They're actually surprising to find In Australia, and luckily the [Map Centre Parrmatta](www.mapcentre.com.au/) saved our very last-minute skins having some National Geographic maps in stock, arriving with next day delivery. Epic service, and probably the only instance anything is going to be done efficiently on this Rickshaw Run.

Cheerfully emblazoned with the apt description of "ADVENTURE MAP", I have to admit they seem a little steep for the price. I'm more of a fan of the Marco Polo maps as they have better layouts and are usually more descriptive, but at the least I get to re-use the super useful removable stickers (which I never used for previous maps anyway - another cherry popped).

Nevertheless, there's nothing like a solid map when your own the road in a rural/remote/tea plantation/up the wrong mountain area and need to find some way out. GPS is great and certainly will be useful on the run, but phones will be busy pumping out sick tunes in both rickshaws, and offline navigation is a real pain when you forget to save the area the night before. The maps are also excellent for helping locals show you where to go - it's much easier to orient yourself with a map sprawled across the back seat of the 'shaw versus a tiny screen.

Most importantly though, the maps are making things feel very real - it's great to track your potential routes and see the whole journey in front of you. Only downside is some part of you really wants to take the rickshaws say, about 1000 km east on the other side of the map. Road less travelled, indeed.

Sub kuch milega!

 Woz.