Planning tips for a one week trip to Turkey

We are just back from a week-long trip to Turkey and loved everything about this country and its diversity – from the epic and diverse landscapes, to the delicious vegetarian food, the beautiful mosques, so much ancient history and the awesome urban culture. While one week is definitely not enough to visit even the main sites here, we had limited leaves and decided to cover as much as we could in this time. And as always, left the rest for our next trip here 🙂

Hot Air Balloon at sunrise, Goreme, Cappadocia, Turkey

Visiting Kenya on a Budget

Africa. A continent I had been meaning to visit for as long as I can remember. But somehow all my plans were shelved during the planning stages itself after seeing the initial estimates of costs related to the trip. You are right, it just seemed very expensive. Stories from friends and online articles showed such large numbers that Africa seemed beyond my reach for a very long time. However when my wedding date was confirmed for the end of May, I felt that a new beginning deserved visiting a new continent and decided to seriously try and figure out ways to visit Kenya on a budget. And here’s how you can visit it too without emptying your bank account.

A Lion at the Maasai Mara, Kenya, Africa

My Itinerary for a week long trip in Uttarakhand, India

Nostalgia is a good reason to travel; nostalgia coupled with Himalayas is a mighty combination. In this instance the nostalgia was of my parents for a place called Pithoragarh in the Kumaon hills of Uttarakhand. Both my grandparents worked in Uttar Pradesh (then included Uttarakhand) and at different points in time were posted in Pithoragarh for a brief period. Amongst all of their postings, this was my parents’ favorite place growing up. As kids we too had heard numerous stories from my parents about the place and have always wanted to visit it and see it for ourselves. My mom achieved a significant milestone in age this year and as part of the celebrations we decided to travel to Pithoragarh to revisit a favorite piece from my parent’s childhood.

The Panchuli Range, Kumaon Hills, Himalayas, Munsyari, Uttarakhand, India

A long weekend road trip in Gujarat

The moment I see a long weekend break in the calendar it is on my holiday list! And my first thought is – where can I drive to for a quick break? I love road trips for many reasons but most importantly for its flexibility. I don’t have to book and adhere to any flight or train schedules, I can stop wherever I want and actually explore some of those hidden parts of the country that don’t make it to any tourist maps or lists.

Adalaj ni vav, Ahmedabad, Gujarat

Norway and Sweden – Our Travel and Itinerary

Dramatic landscapes, mountains with stunning fjords, lakes mirroring colorful wooden houses and to top it all the stunning aurora borealis. Norway and Sweden were full of these beautiful surprises literally everywhere and as far as the eye could see. But when asked how I would describe these places – I was somehow always at a loss for words to describe the beauty. The normal words of such as “beautiful”, “stunning”, “gorgeous” and the likes are somehow insufficient to describe what you feel for this landscape. Traveling here we finally understood why these countries and its people are repeatedly voted as the happiest countries and people in the world.

Aurora Borealis in the outskirts of Tromso, Norway

A Short Tryst with Germany this Spring

Germany or Deutschland – just the mention of this name is enough to conjure images of grand castles and palaces, the mysterious Black Forest region, world-class museums, the famous Oktoberfest, ancient art and traditions, amazing Autobahns, classical music, cars (Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche etc), numerous varieties of beer, the famous Rivers of Rhine and Danube, beautiful green covers and scenic beauty, carnivals and festivals, and so so much more. I have had an opportunity to briefly explore this country during my previous Europe trips (I have been to Munich and Neuschwanstein Castle in South Germany and to Aachen and Vogelsang in West Germany) and my curiosity and excitement to explore it further has only grown. But Germany has so many facets with unlimited things to see and experience that no matter how many times you visit, you will always be left with a craving to see more. Luckily I got a chance to explore this country with Germany National Tourism for a 5 day solo and unstructured trip.

Heidelberg, Germany

Konkan Diaries 1: Planning the trip and the journey

Konkan… A strip of land along the coastal stretch of Maharashtra and strategically located between the hills of the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea. This unique geographical position has endowed this entire coastal belt with hills, beautiful golden sandy beaches, pristine backwaters, lush green fields, swaying coconut trees, coves and lagoons and so much more. I have lived in Mumbai all my life and heard many amazing reviews and stories from fellow bloggers and friends returning from a road / bike trip in this region. But somehow my trips never materialized.

My favorite beach, Bhogwe Beach, Konkan Maharashtra

Planning Guide – for a trip to Kanha National Park

A friend once told to me that “jungles are an addiction” and I thought to myself, “that is just impossible”. Many material things can be an addiction, but jungles – no way. Little did I know then that one trip to Kanha would prove me completely wrong. And if you also think like I did, then its time you plan a trip to this amazing jungle. Below is a quick planning guide to help you find your way –

Introduction to Kanha National Park –

Kanha  is one of the biggest national parks and a tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh, India. By definition, a national park is a  reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns and uses for conservation purposes. Although each country has their own ways of classifying parks as national parks, the common idea always is – conservation of wild nature for posterity and as a symbol of national pride. Per wikipedia, we have a total of 166 authorised national parks in India and there are quite a few more national parks that have been proposed by the state governments and awaiting approval.

Drive through trees

A Quick Travel Guide for planning a trip to Kaas, Satara

Kaas is Western’s Ghat’s smaller and cheat’s answer to visit and experience a Valley of Flowers. There are no arduous treks or long journeys involved and all you need to do is just undertake a long drive.  While I haven’t seen the actual Valley of Flowers in Uttaranchal, I got a chance to visit Kaas in September this year and loved every thing about this beautiful plateau.  Kaas comes alive during monsoons with numerous flowers flowering in a riot of colors, such that it gives an impression of being amidst multi colored bands. There are all kinds of flowers here, including some endemic, some rare and some insectivorous too. Along with flowers, there are other smaller life forms that are found around here such as birds, bees, beetles, etc. Overall a must visit for every nature lover.

Colors of Kaas

Dubai – A quick guide to planning your next trip here

Dubai. This is a name that immediately conjures a city in your mind which is full of Glitz, Glamor, Excess and Extravagance. A city which is traditional yet extremely accommodating of the modern. A city constantly under construction with more new and ground breaking ideas; be it The Palm or the World Islands. A city which has defied its geographic limitations (being a desert) and proved that it can have everything (including ice skating and skiing). A city that has something for everyone and will make you feel at home, no matter who you are.

We had a chance to explore Dubai (quite by chance) last November. We had actually been planning to visit numerous other places, but for one reason or the other everything kept getting cancelled. In the end, we gave all of it up and booked a ticket to the cheapest place available then, which was Dubai. A trip to this place made us realize that contrary to a lot of prior notions, there is a lot more to Dubai than shopping. And don’t get me wrong, we did shop a lot but we also saw numerous other beautiful sights and  experienced a different character of this city.

Dubai Skyline