tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88017707175566664642024-09-13T08:03:06.291-07:00Travelogues, Travel Information, Hotel Details, Routes, Places to visit, Sightseeing....Addyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05392936740943861735noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801770717556666464.post-16862563503463370902014-09-27T07:58:00.000-07:002016-01-09T00:54:21.256-08:00

Sunny days are always at a premium in Stockholm .... and staying indoors on a warm sunny summer day is akin to blasphemy... So, when the weatherman predicted temperatures upwards of 20 deg, and when one of our friends suggested Furuvik, an amusement park cum zoo, some two hours drive away.. the plan was almost instant.... Another friend couple (Tanu/Sakal) was roped in and hotel bookings were

Addyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05392936740943861735noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801770717556666464.post-262448551532430322014-06-01T08:35:00.000-07:002015-05-11T04:17:40.834-07:00

Ever since we had been to Greece, and seen examples of its designs/architecture and culture there, Turkey had been on our travel radar. It was in May of 2013 that the plan finally materialized and we booked tickets to the historic city of Istanbul, the largest and most popular city in Turkey. Around a fortnight before our scheduled travel, there were massive riots in Istanbul and we were almost

Addyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05392936740943861735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801770717556666464.post-45443589891211522112014-05-03T13:36:00.000-07:002015-05-07T14:01:14.984-07:00

The one major tourist attraction in Stockholm is to take one of the overnight party cruises, which go either to one of the Baltic cities (Tallin/Riga) or to Finland (Helsinki/Aland).…. These entertainment cruises, run primarily by three companies (Viking, Silja line and Birka) leave Stockholm during the evening around 5 PM(we usually take the Friday evening) and reach the destination next

Addyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05392936740943861735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801770717556666464.post-86116510499020718252014-05-01T13:15:00.000-07:002015-05-10T02:04:05.058-07:00

It was a business trip, that took me back to the beautiful city of Vienna, in August of 2012 (I had been there before). On realizing that my apartment was right in the middle of the Vienna city center (Vienna District 1), I booked tickets for my wife and 11 month old son as well, to accompany me. We had seen all the major attractions in Vienna on our previous trip, so this time round, we just

Addyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05392936740943861735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801770717556666464.post-80650880669876654772013-06-30T12:57:00.000-07:002014-07-23T13:01:54.725-07:00

Starting July 2011 it had been a year since we had been on a vacation … First it was my wife’s last trimester, and then the little Vivaan …. And we were still not too comfortable taking Vivaan to an air trip, so we decided its time he could enjoy a ride over the sea…. Talked to a friend Akhil, who too has a young daughter few months older than Vivaan and fixed up a plan to go to the beautiful

Addyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05392936740943861735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801770717556666464.post-14482892622714673902013-01-06T12:05:00.000-08:002013-07-10T13:08:05.554-07:00

  So, we had finally managed to escape the madness at Syntagma Square in Athens (see previous blog) and took our 4 PM Aegean Air flight on 11th of May to reach Rhodes (or Rodos in Greek) Diagoras Airport at around 5 PM. It was bright and sunny with temperatures around 20 degrees. We headed towards the bus stop (2 min walk towards the left once you leave the Airport) and after waiting for

Addyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05392936740943861735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801770717556666464.post-20379384467000831632012-08-19T15:37:00.000-07:002013-07-10T09:14:02.775-07:00

May 2011 was the last month in my wife’s pregnancy before travel restrictions came into effect and we had decided to make the most of it by having our “Babymoon in Greece”. While I just wanted to visit the Greek Islands, Eva insisted on including Athens, with the sole reason being the  famous bollywood actress Katarina Kaif’s dance number in front of the Acropolis… As it turned out, a one

Addyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05392936740943861735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801770717556666464.post-48968186274319964982012-03-31T15:19:00.000-07:002013-01-16T14:36:56.419-08:00

2011 – One of the best years of our life (till date) … The year started with us getting to know about my wife’s pregnancy (we got to know of it on 1st of January 2011!!)… Everyone around had told us that the second trimester of pregnancy is the best time to travel and have some fun, and then forget all that for at least next 1.5 years… So we planned two vacations during the golden period..

Addyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05392936740943861735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801770717556666464.post-42352509036494074192011-09-17T02:53:00.000-07:002012-10-18T02:56:54.272-07:00

Three cities, two days…. sounds absurd.. right?…. But this is what we did when we visited Venice, Florence and Pisa in autumn of 2010... The only motivation for this trip was, on our first trip to Venice we had missed two very important things and we had to correct that .. So this was not a vacation, but similar to a business trip with set agenda :-) On 23rd October, we took the 6:30 am

Addyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05392936740943861735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801770717556666464.post-17233497812972025092011-06-21T07:54:00.000-07:002012-04-22T02:33:50.652-07:00

In the summer of 2010, both mine and my wife’s parents had come to visit us in Stockholm, and we planned a full family trip to Bratislava (Slovakia) and Vienna (Austria). We booked our tickets to Bratislava by RyanAir and left Stockholm on 10th July morning. Reached Bratislava : 10th July 2010 We reached Bratislava, the capital city of Slovakia, at around noon, and were greeted by some very

Addyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05392936740943861735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801770717556666464.post-27329291211082778942011-03-12T01:48:00.000-08:002012-04-21T01:56:45.658-07:00

Here are some tips from my own experience for when you are planning a visit to Switzerland. Please note that these are my personal views and others’ might differ… The best time to visit Swiss is during May/Early-June and then August/September. During peak summer, the place gets really overcrowded, and the weather at the plains can be too hot for one’s liking. The best way to plan the trip is

Addyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05392936740943861735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801770717556666464.post-51129020128483817332011-03-10T05:58:00.000-08:002012-04-21T01:51:57.706-07:00

Continued from the previous post : Trip to Switzerland: Part 1 Lucerne to Interlaken: 10th May   Pics: Views from the Golden pass line to Interlaken The next morning, we took the early morning (7 a.m.) Golden Pass Line to Interlaken. The journey was around two hours. We had booked our hotel (Hotel Steinbock) at a beautiful place called Lauterbrunnen, which is a small mountain

Addyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05392936740943861735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801770717556666464.post-8108683773127246962011-03-02T12:50:00.001-08:002012-04-20T04:58:34.055-07:00

If you are an Indian and watch Bollywood, you surely would have dreamt of going to Switzerland after watching one of those YashRaj movies… We too were eagerly waiting for summers, to cross off the item at the top of our “must visit in lifetime” list. And we didn’t have to wait for long.. While it was still pretty cold in Stockholm, weather.com told us that May is a good time to visit

Addyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05392936740943861735noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801770717556666464.post-3027793793149710652010-11-26T13:46:00.000-08:002011-02-06T01:09:38.320-08:00

  Three countries, four cites and unlimited fun… last two months had been a dream come true… and the dream run was to continue with us heading to the City of Light, Paris. Weather in Stockholm was still well below freezing point, but fortunately Paris’ forecast was much better. This time we were a smaller group with Akhil, Shipra, Eva and of-course myself. :) We took the 6:00 PM Ryan Air

Addyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05392936740943861735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801770717556666464.post-1487625824847818042010-10-04T04:44:00.000-07:002011-02-07T00:23:44.422-08:00

It was being termed as the coldest Swedish winters in last 40 years.. Warmest of days had thermometer showing –15 degrees (Celsius of course) …. We were in dire need of some sunshine…. and then one of us (Aviral) mentioned… what better place than Spain… And soon our planning expert Amit Ghai came up with the cheapest available air tickets to Barcelona, Spain… Trip was planned .. 29th to 31st of

Addyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05392936740943861735noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801770717556666464.post-70966894558437924192010-02-02T11:50:00.000-08:002010-05-03T13:45:41.343-07:00

They say “Rome was not built in a day” … but then.. which city was… So when we boarded our RyanAir flight from Venice Treviso to continue our Italy adventure towards this historic city of Rome, I had no idea what this age old saying meant… The flight left at around 9pm (couple of hours later than scheduled!!) and reached Rome Ciampino airport at around 10. From there, we took the bus to take us

Addyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05392936740943861735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801770717556666464.post-383980983701670212010-01-30T10:59:00.000-08:002010-05-02T12:56:46.246-07:00

“Do lafzon ki hai dil ki kahani … ” An old Hindi movie song shot on a Gondola made Venice one of the dream destinations for most Indians.. And it did feel like a dream coming true when we booked our tickets to spend the 2010 New Year’s Eve at that very place … Combined with the fact that we were also going to visit Rome on the same trip, it was going to be a trip to remember for life, which it

Addyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05392936740943861735noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801770717556666464.post-82094929023475657412009-12-25T04:29:00.000-08:002010-01-13T05:27:54.700-08:00

  Read any travel guide on Sweden and it will tell you, Stockholm has a plenty of museums. But 3 months in the city and I hadn’t visited a single one of them until one fine day when we decided to visit the Water Museum (aquaria) and the Vasa Museum both located on a nearby island in Stockholm. We took the 10:30AM ferry to Djurgården from Slussen which took around 15 minutes to reach the

Addyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05392936740943861735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801770717556666464.post-61060079676291971172009-11-15T11:52:00.000-08:002009-12-09T13:06:56.000-08:00

After having seen numerous zoological parks, bird sanctuaries, night safaris, aquariums, dolphin shows and zoos in last couple of years, a trip to a wildlife park hardly arose my interest when i first heard about it. And frankly, even the description of the kolmården Wild Life Park on the net didn’t seem to be offering anything different from what I had already seen. But then, I decided to go

Addyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05392936740943861735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801770717556666464.post-42263387037909734922009-10-15T04:52:00.000-07:002009-11-09T03:55:26.948-08:00

  “Of course Stockholm is wonderful. However, many visitors are unaware of its most spectacular feature – the archipelago. This magnificent maritime landscape of more than 30,000 islands, islets and skerries, of which just some one thousand are inhabited, is unique in the world” Once you have read the above excerpt taken from here, how can you not plan to visit this so called “most

Addyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05392936740943861735noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801770717556666464.post-34704142116599572582009-09-12T03:57:00.000-07:002009-10-31T05:02:05.703-07:00

“The best way to get comfortable with a new place is to roam around, by foot, alone, with a decent map, and ample time”  – Aditya Bhushan Considering its one my own sayings, I had to follow it (practice before preach :) ), and so I did. Well not completely sticking to it, as was not alone, but I did cover a few kilometers of the beautiful central Stockholm by foot, second day of my arriving

Addyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05392936740943861735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801770717556666464.post-60785579982722904202009-09-01T03:03:00.000-07:002009-10-29T03:10:36.314-07:00

What, a software job in Sweden .. Dude.. software is made either in US or in India… Wow… Sweden.. Europe.. lucky man.. Hey… get used to living without sun… and better buy some really warm clothes.. These were some of the responses I got when I told people that I have taken up a work assignment in Stockholm, Sweden. I chose to ignore the warnings and embrace the ‘wow’s and so here I am..

Addyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05392936740943861735noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801770717556666464.post-52139463458576888932008-04-27T00:48:00.000-07:002014-03-19T11:51:01.119-07:00

The best way to plan a trip to Kerala is to start from south (Trivandrum/Thiruvananthapuram), move upwards and return from Cochin/Kochi (or vice versa). Itinerary And Hotels Delhi -> Trivandrum : JetLite Flight : Departure around 7am. Arrival around 11am. Trivandrum -> Kovallam Lighthouse Beach : 1 Hour Drive :2 Nights : Stayed at Papukutty Beach Resort : The resort is

Addyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05392936740943861735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801770717556666464.post-66510703742914485872008-04-25T18:07:00.000-07:002014-03-19T11:55:38.656-07:00

The occasion was our first anniversary and we decided to celebrate it in the God's own country : Kerala. After trying for days, visiting various booking sites and calling various hotels, I decided it was not worth the effort and we better avail services of a travel agent. We created a personalized itinerary based of feedbacks we had got and sent it to various agents for price quotes.

Addyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05392936740943861735noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801770717556666464.post-86629660310007539482007-04-30T00:06:00.000-07:002008-05-09T00:07:43.392-07:00

Meaning no offense, I dont think Jalandhar would lie on India's tourism map, or atleast not at a very high rank. So then, why and how did I decide to venture out in this small, clean, calm Punjab city, when I could have gone to nearby Amritsar which boasts of Golden Temple(yes its covered with pure gold), Jallianwalah Bagh(just a mention of this place sends me into shivers.. How can humans be so

Addyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05392936740943861735noreply@blogger.com1