diary of a traveler

Holiday thoughts have now become a quarterly phenomenon that clouds my mind every 3 months & makes me go somewhere, anywhere, away from the routine. Beach vacation in a low cost group tour was the idea I finalized for a week away from home. Vacation it was but not a fun-filled one as the group never materialized making it a sad, solo trip. Anyway it certainly was a break from the routine for a full week & that more or less settled the score as it wasn't a costly trip to begin with. After riding around north Goa on 2-wheeler in the summer of 2023, this was a monsoon trip & hopefully I will celebrate the new year party in Goa someday. Some fond memories of this beach vacation.... Dinner Cruise Bom Jesus Basilica I dreamt of Madonna Dona Paula beach Dona Paula for Bollywood Sleeping Beauty Sinquerim beach

          This should be the epilogue of the Nainital tour but as it has much more to offer than a usual epilogue, its a new blog.           A visit to the Taj Mahal was the original plan for the spare day before my flight to Ahmedabad but as it had happened on each day of the Nainital trip, this day also had its dose of misfortune - the fact I didn't know that Taj Mahal remains closed for visitors on Fridays.               Anyway the stock market was on to engage me mentally & for the physical activity I decided to experiment the Delhi Darshan bus tour. Birla Mandir This was both the pickup point & first place to visit. Here you have to deposit your mobile outside but as the dance of Nif ty & Bank Nifty had just begun & I didn't want to lose the thrills, I opted to skip going inside. The Parliament Here our guide cum photographer captured beautiful photos of all withe the background of...

The month was May & the situation was Mayday - insides were smoldering & outsides were scorching. Afternoon heat burned the skin until late evening. Even early mornings felt like afternoons. In the night, my pillow was getting sweaty in no time. I could have bought an AC but my calculating self argued that the summer is to be over in a month & I will have it well before the next summer starts. Thus the summer luxury was delayed but summer vacation was not to be delayed & Nainital / Corbett National park was the cool interlude I decided to have. Global warming has left no corner of the world untouched but still it was much pleasant & cool atmosphere in Nainital compared to the city. My stay was nice & very peaceful as it was in a deserted area few kms away from the city of Nainital. Only facility I missed was a bar during my stay there. First day was spent in Delhi & I made it memorable by my first Metro ride & a visit to the India Gate. Having nothing el...

          It was sudden & struck me out of nowhere when I was lost in the chase of nifty & bank nifty in the rush hour period. These days the temptation of making some fast money takes over my senses as soon as morning bell sounds on NSE. The day of 28th February was no different as I was making pit stops to monitor market mood on the 7 km rush hour journey to office.          With my mind clouded by market volatility, I missed to check before starting out of a blind zone & collided with a biker rushing on the wrong side. His argument was that I should have blown horn. I already knew it so I accepted my mistake & let him get away while I called my garage & arranged pick up of my Vespa as the front fender was crushed due to heavy impact. He may not have needed to get his vehicle repaired due to minor damage but it cost me my 2 days' salary.            The amount of money lost by me in the...

              The new year 2024 arrived at a new place for me after a surprise transfer to my once favorite city - Ahmedabad. The 5-6 years spent in Ahmedabad were the best of my life & most probably those times won't be replicated again.           So here I was again in the same office where I had started about 17 years back. It does get dull to stay in the office for seven & a half hours but having spent 11 years in the field job, I hope I can spent at least 1 or 2 years in the confined space doing data crunching - both on & off the record. Anyway, the results of this whimsical step remains to be seen in the future.           For now, An outing was due after the Kerala trip in November last year. The need to explore something different every time made me go for Rann Utsav in Kutch - not the official one but a group tour which included Rann Utsav as the main attraction. Actually I...

          The quarterly alarm started ringing in my head from the beginning of September as 3 months had elapsed since my last tour of Goa & as per my personal new normal, a holiday was due. So after exploring all the suitable options, a package tour of Kerala offered by Yatra was booked.           The selection was done due to the variety of attractions available in the same trip - hill station of Munnar, Jungle safari at Thekkady, beach at Alleppey. This was my first experience of a package tour which was quite pleasant especially as all the daytime transportations were included - there was no night life to go for anyway. Day 1 - Kochi to Munnar                          About 100 km drive on narrow roads surrounded completely by trees takes you to Munnar from Kochi airport. As you get closer to Munnar, hills with tea plantations add to the beauty of the scenic ro...

                The trilogy that began with a Daman trip in the year 2019 - halted due to the Corona chapter in the year 2020 & achieved another milestone in 2021 with the Diu trip - was looking forward to its apt conclusion on the beaches of Goa & finally it did happen in the scorching hot month of May 2023. May 5, 2023             So, the month of May 2023 marked the much-awaited trip to Goa which turned out to be quite dull apart from the thrill of first flight of my life & first loss of bag at the ripe age of 43. Also, it was my first airport lounge access after years of having many cards with lounge access. The coffee was good but the flight timing was not right so once again there was no free lunch for me. The guest house booked for one day was quite close to the airport but to justify the taxi fare we took a longer route to reach there.           My one-day stay was in...