Presdestined by Chaytna Feinstein

Predestined is a true account journaled by Chaytna Feinstein as she braved the overland route across Asia in 1977. In Part One, with only a vague plan and little money, Chaytna felt compelled to reach India. She went through interesting and unique experiences and she charmingly pulls the reader along with her.

​

Part Two describes her meeting with a remarkable being in the Valley of Gods, India, that changed the course of her life. This book is a trip worth taking!

​

Here is part of the author’s Prologue to give you a taste.

​

This book begins in 1977 in Vancouver, Canada and culminates in India many months later. During that year, four notebooks were compiled that became the backbone of Predestined. They were my most treasured possessions and over forty years later they are coming to life. They hold the words and thoughts that recorded the tales of my travels as I sorted through the new and strange experiences and ideas I encountered.

 

In the 1970’s, many young people, some with very little money, took to the road in personal vehicles or public buses and trains to discover the continent of Asia. It was often referred to as the “Hippie Trail” though not everyone on the trail was a hippy. Some people were in search of adventure and new cultural experiences. Some went in search of drugs. Some went to develop new and expanded perspectives. I believe, I fell into the last category, though I was unaware of it when I first stepped onto the trail. As it turned out, 1977 was one of the last years the overland route to India and the Hippie Trail was a feasible endeavor. It was the year before the Shah of Iran was overthrown by the Islamic Revolution, led by Ayatollah Khomeini. It was months before the Russians invaded Afghanistan, plummeting Afghanistan into years of bloody war and strife, making it unwise to travel in that magnificent country. It was the last year young people felt comfortable moving overland in Pakistan, though traveling through Pakistan could hardly be considered comfortable. In short, it was the last safe year to attempt this wild and intrepid route.

 

My journey began in Israel, then continued overland through Greece, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. At the start, I was completely uncertain where destiny would lead me, yet I had an ongoing, inexplicable sense that my itinerary had already been planned and written, predestined even. Eventually, I arrived in a magical valley in the Himalayas of India, where my life took a dramatic 180° turn into enchantment.