Travel plans

For the past 4 years I have been travelling like crazy. I travel almost every month and sometimes I travel to 3 different cities and very recently 6 countries in a months. I love to travel and never get tired travelling...I am travelling again next week and this time its a purely personal trip I going to Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Baroda and Ahmedabad, most of my frens think I am crazy travelling so much but what to do I feel m lossing out on something.....whenever I get an chance to travel I never back out...even if its a trip to Dhalai dist. or the most interior place in North Tripura my running shoes are always ready and packed...I return from one trip and plan another...that's me and I love this part of me.

Hyderabad - (Chinese) Pearl City

Hyderabad is known for its pearls and now country's first airport developed in PPP model. When we landed in Hyderabad I was super impressed with the airport,it reminded me of the Frankfurt Airport. It was super clean and very, very swanky . The last time I was in Hyderabad I couldn't buy pearls and was very unhappy with myself but this time I bought loads of pearls. I did a lot of google search and asked frens abt shops and places to buy pearls from, one place suggested was "Jagdamba Pearls" and few more. The Hyderabadi pearls it turns out are all from China, so technically its not Hyderabadi Pearls but Hyderabadi Chinese Pearls, I always thought AP mei people must be doing commercial farming of pearls ....only to realize that in today's time everything and anything is made in china....which includes the the India mei world famous Hyderabad pearls. The resort I stayed at Hyderabad was nice "Golkanda Spa's and Resort" the room was very spacious and well designed, food was awesome the first day I had my fav. Biryani and for 3 more days I had the most spicy south indian food, everyone else was complaning abt the food and the level of spice index but I loved the spicy sambhar, spicy rasam and spicy chicken curry. The resort was very beautiful only I couldn't find time to explore and chill, maybe some other time, I'll be back not for work but to chill and relax.

Switzerland The best of all (17th-18th July)

One word to describe my 3rd day and 2nd day of tour in Switzerland "Train" yeah all I did was travelled in train. From Gare Cornavin (Gare is Station in French) I went to Montreax and I took the Golden Panoramic express, this was a special train or to put it correctly it was a Luxury Train, between Montreax and Zweisimmen to view the breath taking view, the best part abt the train was half of the roof was in glass giving a better view. I was really happy that I decided to take this train, the view was too beautiful to express in words. I took so many pictures. I wished I was not travelling alone, Switzerland is not the place to go alone, one should go with his/her partner, its very romantic and now I know why people talk so much abt Switzerland as holiday destination, all their services are very tourist centric.Like the Golden Panoramic train, their were other trains also their was a chocolate express and more trains between beautiful locations.

The train reached Zwesimmen 45 mins late but I was not complaining and noone else was either , everyone was enjoying the beautiful view and July being a holiday season everyone on the train was in no hurry to reach aother destination. The 45 mins delay gave me time to explore the village before boarding another train to Spiez, the village was quite beautiful...for that matter everything in Switzerland was beautiful, the village cottage with flowers in each window and the scenic view of every place was just too beautiful to capture in any Camera or express in words .The train to Speiz was on time, I met alot of people in train who were travelling mostly in groups most Americans and Aseans. I was sitting next to an Australian and we generally started talking, they were surprised to know I am travelling alone and we debated on who's the greatest cricketer he knew Sachin Tendulkar and couple of other Indian cricketer. From Speiz I took another train to go to Interlaken OST, I was planning to go to Lake Thun from Interlaken but since my train got delayed for 45 mins I couldn't go till Lake Thun, next to the Interlaken OST station was a river, I ventured out for abt 30 mins and that place was too beaitiful to be true. The river was so blue that I thought maybe they have added some color to the river lol, the 30 mins I spent there was worth every second, it was a very chilled out kind of place, for a moment I thought that if Interlaken is so beautiful then how beautiful Lake Thun must be...point hai nah. If I had more then I would have definitely stayed longer, at Interlaken I had the most yummy icecream I ever had, the biggest cone and conbination of two icecream scope...yeah thast me and in my most happy mode I overeat and over spend.

I just didn't felt like leaving Interlaken but I had to head back to Geneve and took a train till Bern from Interlaken and for the first time since I landed in Frankfurt I wished for the train that was late but sadly it was not, it was dot on time. The flexi pass I had, allowed me to travel in all the trains from Bern to Geneve. The 2nd day of my tour was mostly spend in train but I had no complains...non at all. The delay of 45 mins was something I didn't mind and even though I couldn't visit Lake Thun, their's always a next time and I know that next time will come very soon... Switzerland has loads to offer for everyone and this is one country I would like to spend all my holidays and next time I will not be alone.

Switzerland -The best of all (15th-16th July)

To live a dream is what most of us want and my trip to Switzerland was one for me. Switzerland for me was a beautiful location where all our bollywood stars go to shoot songs...a place where RICH people go for honeymoon...a country of chocolates and a dream destination till 15th of July...I had got the best of deal to visit switzerland from Germany my entire return train journey was 79 euros...a deal everyone of us will dream of...I was super excited abt the trip but nearly missed the train...but thanks to the ontime departure or the tram I reached the Bielefeld Hbf just on time 3 mins before departure...the journey was Bielefeld-Mannheim-Basel-Geneve. The journey from Mannheim to Basel was long but very beautiful passing so many tunnels and the vineyards on both sides was just so beautiful and some views were truly breath taking. I reached the Geneve main station Cornovin on time, I had no clue how to buy the bus ticket so I asked an old gentleman how to buy a ticket, he was very kind and showed me how to buy and gave me 3 CHF ...I kept asking him to take euro form me but he refused....that was really sweet of him and he was Turkish he told me. AB's mom (my host at Geneve) had given be proper direction on how to reach there place. I got the information right and reached on time, the house was loacted at beautiful location with a view of Lake Geneve, I had a huge room to myself . Everything abt Switzerland was beautiful even the grass....Geneve was like any other big city of Europe but the other places I visited in Switzerland was non like the places I visited earlier.Thanks to my fren AB''s parents my trip was planned and aunty had got me these flexi passes (these passes doesn't come cheap but uncle being an Ambassador got me these passes at very very affordable price..jai ho uncle and aunty) , the best part part these flexi passes was it could be used in all the trains including the luxury trains and discounts on many more tickets. The 2nd day of visit I went to Mt. Titlis from Geneve I took a train till Luzern and from Luzren to Engelberg and from Engelberg to Mt. Titlis by cable car and the famous Roatair cable car. The train from Luzern to Engelberg was too cool, it was a mountain climbing train...I was a bit scared at the begning but after sometime I was back to my normal excited and happy self.I took so many pictures and for the first time I realize that 2 GB memory chip is very less...for meh!in my excitment I was taking so many pictures and making video clip that I forgot my camera has limited memory storage haha.From Engelberg I went till the Cable way point and bought the ticket to go till top of Mt. Titlis, thanks to my flexi passes I got 50% discount on my ticket so insteda of 82 CHF i paid only 41 CHF...that momemt I felt ke zindagi mei aur kya chahyeh..discount pe discount.

Unlike the cable car I had travelled last year here in India at Timber Trail resort, Parwano this one was smaller and climbed steeper heights, some people were tracking and from above I saw the breathtaking beautiful valley, the site was amazingly beautiful and I was more than happy that I came to Engelberg, Mt Titlis. I met a group of people of Delhi who were also travelling, infact most toursit were Indians. Once I reached Trubsee, my excitment knew no bound....that place was part of a glacier and their were show everywhere, for the first time in my life I saw real snow...hahaha...other fellow toursit went gaga over the scene...everybody was busy taking pictures and that moment I missed my fren "A" alot....I thought if we would have been travelling together then hum dono pata nahi kitna sara photo khechte...from Trubsee the Roatair cable car took us to Mt. Titlis.

I spent abt 1 hr at Mt. Titlis and bought some souvenir's like coffee mug, key ring and postcards. I saw a lot of Indian's esp. Gujju's and the best was at the restaurant they were serving Indian food, palik panner, dal, rice, chappati, papad...hahaha I was truly amazed. Even in the souvenir shop they had written in Hindi that "Hum euro coin nahi lete sirf note lete hai". Their was an Indian cafe I saw when I came down and they were selling all Indian fast food...I couldn't stop myself from having a masala chai....After I came down to Engelberg I explored the place...took some pictures and just roamed around the place. It was relaxing and refreshing....the Mt. Titlis trip turned out really cool and I enjoyed every moment and this was truly one of the best places I ever visited in life....I was sure living my dream.

La Tour Paris ( Day 2-13th July)

Day 2 in Paris was our last day in Paris, after checking out from the hostel we decided to explore the other part of city we couldn't cover the 1st day. The first place was The Invalides- Napoleon Bonaparte Tomb with its dome covered with gold, the lawns and the garden was maintained well and my fren "A" in her happy jolly mood as usual claimed Napoleon Bonaparte was her ex-lover in past and she remembers the time they both spent together in the huge garden ...yeah that was some story and me being me I made some stinking sarcastic jokes abt the whole thing...on the way we stopped to enjoy some yummy "Paris" pastries (2 euro luxury) and we clicked unlimited pictures(free happiness)...I was taking "A" pics. from my camera and she was taking mine from her camera...it was a competition who can take most in the worst of positions and situations....and I think I won in that...hahaha we had some real cheap thrills in life.... next in our list was Eiffel Tower...we could see Eiffel Tower from The Invalides...for that matter we could see Eiffel Tower from everywhere in Paris. My agenda for the day was to take the Open Tour city bus ride...it was expensive (for me) and "A" refused to take the tour...but I took the tour and it was truly awesome 29 Euro's was a lil too much for me but I was in Paris for the first time and didn't know when I'll be there again...I paid 29 euro's with a heavy heart but it was worth every cent...the bus was full (Thank gawd I was not the only one to pay 29 goddamm euros) and I enjoyed every bit of the tour...I got to see all the places starting from The Invalides, Notre Dame, Opera House, Louvre and all other places in the MUST SEE LIST...by the end of the tour I was a happy girl..."A" was waiting at Eiffel Tower and I told her how much she missed seeing all other monuments...she didn't enjoyed Paris as much as I enjoyed so m sure that didn't bothered her.The best part abt the bus tour was it was worth every cent I spent and the hop on and hop off service that the bus provided, I didn't got down at any of the stops as I had very little time but I thoroughly enjoyed the tour. When the bus reached Louvre I was super excited and took so many pics. going inside Louvre was not in my agenda but just the fact that I was there and visiting the famous Museum made me super happy. Paris had a lot to offer if I had time...two days was just not enough. What would have helped was if we knew someone in Paris who could have told us abt the places to visit and what is near what but chalo it was a great trip for me...we found an explored everything in our own and despite our shoe string budget...we shopped quite alot ...enjoyed the city and enjoyed the food in Paris......I hope I go back again ...very soon and revisit the places I visited very briefly.

La Paris Tour (12th- July Day 1)

When I was planning my Europe trip the city which came up in my mind was "Paris", the worlds fashion capital, the city of Eiffel Tower etc etc. I asked my frens who had been to Paris abt the city and how to travel around, I got a lot of info some useful and most not so useful. I did a lot of Internet search and found some really interesting facts abt Paris, the hostel booking was done through Internet and even the Euroline bus tickets was booked from Internet. Me and my fren "A" were so excited from the moment we reached Paris, and thanks to my fren AD for mailing me the metro connection we reached and found our way till the hostel very easily. The hostel was not as good as the pic. in the Internet but in 25 euro's I didn't expected much either, it was okay and I think that hostel "Aloha" was popular with many backpackers I saw alot of people from all around the world.

Getting around Paris was easy all we did was follow the Eiffel Tower and asked people if we were going the right way, I found most people helpful and on the way to Eiffel Tower we came across this flea market or like a Sunday market sort of place, that was quite cool , I bought myself a bag some souvenir's and we bought french beans...we found veggies were much cheaper in Paris compared to Germany and I must have ate 1 kg of cherries..it was yummm and too good.

I was busy scanning the market to the point that I almost forgot to take pics. (which is very unlike me) we really had a good time at the market. I went to a souvenir shop which belonged to an Indian guy and we bought postcards and a coffee mug, I was quite thrilled and 10 mins of this shop was Eiffel Tower. I can't explain my excitement in words when I reached Eiffel Tower, this is one place I had only seen in TV, pics and magazine's....seeing it in real was quite an amazing and awesome feeling. I went till the 2nd level of Eiffel Tower and mind you I paid 4.50 euro to claim the tower. The view from top was amazingly beautiful and I enjoyed every moment of it, the 1st level of Eiffel Tower has many eating joints, theatre, souvenir shops and much more for all tourists. It was quite an experience for me to go all the way to Eiffel Tower and chill for sometime, I took so many pictures and had the longest sandwich ever (in Paris what I know as sub is sandwich). After came down from Eiffel Tower me and "A" just walked around the city and we took the cruise ride at river Seine, that was 11 euro per person but worth every cent, we enojyed it so much and went crazy taking pictures. The river was clean and unlike rivers and the cruise ride was very relaxing. We ended the day after spending some time back at Eiffel Tower and we walked all the way back to the hostel.