Winter break 2016 - Sun, Sand and Vitamin Sea

So we made a trip to Cancun, Mexico for our winter break and to celebrate the wonderful milestones we have had. It was simply awesome and our first official vacation out of the country - just us 4! Got to spend quality time with my girls and they had so much fun at the beach they didnt want to come back. Over all happy and refreshed and relaxed family when we got back.

As vegetarians I was a bit concerned on how things might be, but have to say Mexican food and all inclusive resort made our life super easy. I dont think I have had such a good Guacamole anywhere ever - super fresh and yummy it was out of the world!

We did a day trip to Chechen Itza and a got a quick tour of the the Mayan ruins. Rest of the time we just lazed and relaxed at the beach, kids had a kids club to hang out when they took breaks playing in the sun. Over all was a super awesome trip and would highly recommend. 

The last time we went to an all-inclusive resort was Jamaica before kids, was a couples only premium resort at Negril. It was definitely a different experience post kids, family friendly resort with tons of kids activities, daily evening shows to watch and unwind.

Vacation! Vacation

After about 4 years took 1 week off with the Girl friends in Europe and had a great time! Although very different from last time as we were a bigger group and weather was colder back then and we were 4 years younger ;). This time 3 of us set forth and ventured into two beautiful cities in Europe, although with no fixed agenda we had a checklist that we successfully crossed out.

We made this last minute plan as usual to take off to Europe. There were more dramas than we expected as my friends had to take UK and Schengen visa. Everyday we would wait for the passport, as UK visa took longer than expected and that created all the drama for us ;) Schenegen was a breeze for them. And me being the dual citizen that I am with NZ didnt need any visa and Thank Goodness for that.

My flight to London from Boston got delayed by 7 hours due to a technical snag and I was waiting at the airport and kinda bummed.

London

I flew into London and we stayed at K's our other partner in crime. Since this is my second trip there just strolled down the shopping area with the girls who made some pretty big purchases (LV topped the list). We did a casual strolls both days and did some bar hopping and settled for some lovely Middle eastern/ME food at Giraffe cafe. Overall 2 days nicely spent. Rainy weather, great company - who can complain? We then took a BA flight to Amsterdam from Gatwick.

Amsterdam

A cozy and vibrant, this place personifies 'freedom' to me in every sense. We did the Heineken tour, shopping (my girls went berserk ;) had fun although shopping was not on my agenda), Red light district (a very different experience is all can say, since its all very legal here), a casual trip to the 'coffee-shops' (yep! it was like in the movies ;)), And I did VanGogh Museum while the girls continued shopping. The paintings were split between 2 locations as main museum was under some kinda construction. I just visited one of the locations and loved it. Loved the very 'deep' quotes alongside the paintings and the paintings. We did a canal cruise and a lot of just hanging out and walking. We were on our feet continuously for 2 days so by end of the day we slept really well ;) We discovered Moez a lovely ME veggie chain and definitely had the best fries ever in Amsterdam and the falafel sandwich, yum! yum! yum! The weather was pleasant and not too cold and thoroughly enjoyed snacking on Nutella on warm waffles. We never really care for Nutella as much at home, but out there it was tempting. Whether on a crepe or a waffle.Cool, drizzly weather and warm waffles w/ Nutella is a deadly combo. We even ate at a couple of Indian restaurants and Tandoor specifically had good food. Had Mexican other times. Hotel was close to the heart of the city and it really cut down time to key places, even though city is not as big from what I saw, but still.

Paris

We then took the Thalys train to Paris. From Centraal Station Amsterdam to Paris Nord. Took a cab to the hotel and since it was an early train we slept through the journey and once we hit the hotel showered, got ready and went to Louvre. Louvre was way too big than I imagined. The bummer was everything was in French and by the time we decided to take the headphones for guidance in English it was kinda late. We toured the Napolean Bonaparte arena, Mona Lisa painting (which as expected does not meet expectations due to the hype plus the over crowding, you sort of lose interest in it). It was massive place with works from some greatest artists. And since ours was a 3 day trip and Louvre could alone consume 2 days according to me. We did a rather quick tour of it and then headed to Eiffel Tower. This was absolutely breath taking view. Middle of the city there is the lovely huge metal structure. I was in awe. But again its me someone else might not get the same feeling. I loved it. Kept staring at it and my mind went blank and happy at the same time. We took the elevator to the top and again cant say enough about how beautiful it was. As much as I was done with tall buildings after Sears Tower and Empire State, I still loved this one. It was a beautiful site soaking up the whole view of the city with River Seine flowing across.

We then headed back to the hotel and went to Blanche for Moulin Rouge. It was a nice show but started later than expected and again it was all in French. It was my first cabaret show and I liked it. But towards the end our fatigue took over as we did quite a bit of sightseeing the very first day and we got done by about 2am and took a cab back (we were up since 4am). this was probably the only crazy day we had where in we squeezed in a lot :-) Next day we went to Sucre Couer, it was a nice vicinity and a pretty good cathedral, walked around across Pigalle and headed to Champs Elysee. Took a quick look of Arch de Tromphe which is just like our Gateway in India. Girls shopped a bit again on Elysee we then again went back and strolled and ate in cafes and enjoyed the views. Had some really good Italian food there in a cafe.

Next day we first went to the Palace of Versailles then to Notre Dame castle. Palace gardens were beautiful. I had already seen Notre Dame Basilica in Montreal. So the more exciting part for me where the piano bars and the lovely restaurants and cafes outside St Michele's. It was a gorgeous site to just walk in that area and the lovely chocolate/cookies smell in the air. It was the next big highlight for me in Paris after Eiffel Tower. Totally not doing justice in this post here. We did some more strolling around in Champs Elysee, finally went to the hotel, packed, headed out to Fauchen cafe, shopped a little, ate at a pizza place and prepared for departure next day.

We headed again to Paris Nord. Since this time we were going back into UK had to do all the immigration/customs stuff. Took the Eurostar train 2 2/1/2 hours. Again dozed off. My friends had left some stuff at K's place in Wimbledon, so one of them went to her place to get the stuff while the two of us waited at VAT office, once she got back which was a bit rushed as their flight to India was earlier than mine and K's (Yes K was flying to India w/ the baby same day). Once they wrapped up and checked in, I went to my terminal and got home.

This was the first time I flew Virgin Atlantic and it was pretty good, I liked the food served also. No dramas, got home and got back straight into my lovely routine.

Thankful and Grateful!

My trip was only possible due to my parents and husband. The pillars in my life.

I am not a huge fan of vacationing without kids. I couldnt think of it ever.

But this all-girls trip just happened!

P and my parents encouraged me with all the bookings to go ahead and completely took over with the kids and their stuff. Mom and P suggested this time will never come again once kids start school, parents are not here etc, plus P also is taking a week off in Canada although its not a vacation, vacation, ;)

But when the day actually arrived to leave I was in tears as I was leaving them behind. I did it once in India as I had no choice back then for 4 days when MIL expired and my parents house was the only place they were loved and safe. Period. This was definitely easier as it was home base and kids routine was not disrupted etc. It was just me missing them terribly. It was a big decision for me. At the same time I am blessed with a support system I cant stop bragging about. As much as I applaud people who do everything on their own. Nothing like having hands-on grand parents. Plus even more blessed to have flexible and affectionate kids. There were certain things only I could do, like feeding them for example when they were younger. But they took to my mom so easily and naturally from Day 1, I just love it, I love the rapport and bonding they share with her. Touch wood!

As soon as I got to London I spoke to the girls, did Facetime etc and they were totally fine. They asked me to bring them the red London bus and fire truck/engine from London and they did great! That's when I realized how sensible the girls are. They would ask for me everyday remaining 5 days and then Mom would ensure she reminded them I'd be back soon and I am taking a break with friends. And although 7 days felt like a month to me, it just flew for them.

Although I think it is probably my only/last vacation/trip without the kids.

Cape Cod trip!

We were planning to go to Quebec, Canada for the weekend for our anniversary which is this mid-week. Or rather “I” was imagining we were. And as it turns out “we” didn’t. Thursday night DH & I realized we had however applied to take Friday August 14th off and we could actually take an off if we wanted to even though Canada didn’t work out. Hence began this last minute planning which we are simply great at now. The net result of such last minute short or long trips is a. lots of fun 2. a dent in DH’s bank account due to lack of planning and advance preparation and then like it keeps clicking in my mind: the biggest irony in life I do “planning” (demand planning) for a living for organizations and do not apply it in my personal life.

Thursday night we booked a B&B in Eastham about 20-30 miles from Provincetown (as that was the only one available last minute) for 200 odd bucks at The Inn at the Oaks. I wasn’t comfortable with B&B (I feel they are haunted if they are over 50 years old and most of them typically are more than 50 years old, so much for getting wise with age!)

We started around 10am Friday morning and took our own sweet time driving and got to P-town by about 12pm. We grabbed a quick bite and DH wanted to go whale watching. Quick bite wasn’t that quick cos the sandwiches we ordered at this place near the main square on Commercial street where massive. Both of us ate half and threw the other half. Now I had this (mis) conception that whale watching might be boring. Someone had once told me that they take you into the ocean show you the whales and all you can see is their tail-end and you will get disappointed. So I was prepared for that. It was 36 bucks per person. There goes 75 bucks down the drain I thought. The next tour was at 1:30pm so we were just in time. We took the ‘Portuguese Princess”. It was extremely hot by now, by hot I mean temperature touch about 85+ I didn’t have any problem with the sun on my skin but my head couldn’t take the heat. I had a scarf/duppata with me luckily and I wrapped it. After a good 1 ½ hour to 2 hour into the ocean there we saw the most splendid of creatures – whales! It was a beautiful sight I must say. Thank God somebody downplayed it for me that I enjoyed this tour. We saw about 12-14 whales in all. Some of them babies some of them a bit grown up. Two of the baby whales where also being nursed by the mothers apparently as per the guide who was a research scholar on marine life in New England area. They were a little below the water surface to see that part anyway. They somersaulted, inhaled/exhaled, twisted and turned, went under our ferry, made their whale-like noises and they were fabulous. It was totally worth it! By the time we got back it was 4:30pm at least to the main part of the Commercial Street.

By this time my headache set in and I was tired, we headed towards our accommodation we had booked. I called them that we were running late only to be informed we were double booked and they had booked us at another place in Orleans further away from Eastham and hence P-town. In the mean time DH pointed out there were a few cottages and hotels with vacancies why don’t we check them out. We found this ‘White village’ cottage. Very old cottage with no air conditioning and fan or microwave – included 1 bedroom and a small kitchen and it was not water front for about 135 bucks. I called the B&B and they agreed to cancel it, so we took this up, it was in P-town and so close to the water we didn’t have to bother driving back too far the next day. So much for last minute planning! The lady from B&B called back again that we had to call Hotels dot com for the refund through whom we had booked. I did that immediately and it was settled.

We relaxed for an hour and drove into the city again. Parked and strolled down Commercial Street. It was very lively and colorful due to some summer Jazz fest. Loved the antique stores, galleries and curious stores! Perfect short vacation I must say. One main street, so don’t have to walk too much and since I get tired so fast, don’t have to feel bad I may have missed too much as there weren’t too many stores nor was there too few. I totally loved these Tibetan & Nepal stores. A lot of them had Indian stuff too. I loved this Antiques store called “Forbidden Fruit” I was so tempted to buy so many things but clenched my fist! There was this statue of a maiden, riding the dragon playing an instrument like the sitar, it was just wow! We decided to eat Thai and stopped at this restaurant that served Thai and Sushi. It was called something else on my Urban spoon App and hence we weren’t sure if we landed at the right one, but we did as they changed their name. The food was fab. Slightly priced above average but great! Well it’s a touristy place, active for just the summer months, what can you expect. We sat down on the benches and obviously it being a Gay friendly town saw a lot of couples, more males than female couples. It wasn’t anything different because of that. I mean it was comfortable to hang out considering we were the only Indians out there. Yes! Surprisingly didn’t see any Indian. Well maybe if we had gone to a lounge/pub, club at night we would have seen or felt different? But we were too tired and hit the sack, (that age thing I tell you!)

Next day checked out of that place. Had breakfast and went to see the pilgrim’s monument. It was ok. It was a bit of a walk up stairs not too much but just a bit. We were informed it had great views. But hey after Sears tower and Empire state building this is not impressive obviously. Its just 7 bucks entry per person so no biggie. Picked up some souvenir there anyway and strolled back into town, walked and walked. Oh and also this tower like monument had stones engraved with names of cities around Boston, showed the city name and the year when it was established. Turns out all those cities were established in early to mid 1600s. Waltham, Boston, Cambridge for example are all established1630. Hmm! Cool! We got back onto the street again. By now there were more guys – more guy couples. Strolled a bit more. We had seen the light houses previous day on the ferry and we decided to take the motor boat ride to go see it up close. We took the ‘flyer’ service and got there its just a 10 minute ride. And it was unimpressive. Too many pebbles and open sea shells on the bank and dangerous to walk and light house was ok! Well there were 3-4 of them don’t remember which one we saw. We headed back and spotted another Thai place for lunch – Monkey bar! Yeah don’t know why we attacked Thai so much, but anyway. Meal was ok, good, not bad not too great as the previous night’s. Cant get over DH’s Vegetarian fried rice slurp! The waiter was a very friendly person. Ah! This place seemed to have the best customer service ever. Obviously cause it’s a touristy place so they thrive on summer tourists so they are very courteous and other big reason is because so many of them are gay! I think they must take over customer service completely in America if it’s the latter. They seem to enjoy and seem so naturally good at interacting with people. Or not sure if I am judging too quickly? San Francisco is a very big city so didn’t really see such huge concentration like here. Well! There was this gay parade when we visited SFO though. Anyway after that we started to drive back home it was about 4:30 pm. DH decided to deviate and we took a peek at another beach near by. It was beautiful, calm water and sandy (no pebbles and shells to prick your feet) we regretted we should have come here instead. I forget the name of the beach its not at the top of my head cos I was almost tired by then. We got back home at about 7:30pm and settled down. Only to head to an Indian club for August 15th and got back at about 3am. Yes! I wasn’t too happy about it but I gave in cos DH took me to Cape Cod as requested and he wanted to go clubbing (plus I may have to trick him and use this as a barter for some place he is suppose to take me which he is not interested in at all, typical guy thing!) J. I had a good time anyway so why complain.

NY trip with parents

Took my parents to NY this weekend. I have been planning for the past few weekends but weather was very unpredictable, finally we decided to drive down irrespective of what the weather forecast said. We stayed over at a friend's place. I was very keen not to stay at anyone's place when we take parents around whether my husband's parents or my parents, but this time our friends really insisted we stay over at their place or there was no other way. Friday evening we drove down to Jersey city. Saturday morning parents and I started our tour. DH stayed back as he was very tierd and it made sense as he wanted to spend time with our friends. Their house was very close to the liberty island. So DH dropped us to the ferry terminal and we took the ferry and spend 2-3 hours at the island, and in the return we took the ferry to to NY city. I have to mention our friend's apartment location in Jersey city, we can see the serene Statue of liberty from their bedroom window and beautiful NY skyline from the living room. We just loved it! Did the usual Wall street, bull, etc and witnessed a television serial shooting there as well.

Stopped over at Star cafe for lunch and my parents really loved the Veg pannins there. I was keen that as much as possible they do not eat Indian as they get enough of it back home. Then took the subway to Penn station and did the Empire state building tour. The day had been pretty cloudy to begin with and cool but hadn't rained. By the time we reached the 86th floor on Empire, the clouds cleared up and parents got a spectacular view. I am glad the clouds decided to part and let the rays of the sun shine through. By the time we got out of the building we were tierd had walked so much. We met DH at Madison Square, grabbed a bite for dinner - which was Katti rolls - I really loved it. Our friends have been telling us so much about it we finally got to taste it. In fact the previous night also we had tried it but at Greenwich village. It was yummm! I also had the best Veg falafal there.

Anyway by the time it had got dark, and we had witnessed an arrest also in NY city. Some shoplifter was arrested by these handsome NYPD officers. We reached time square and it really wowed my parents as expected, clicked pictures and we rested on those stairs that have been built now. Almost 2 years back when I went with DH' parents we were struggling to find a place to rest our feet, so that we could admire the hustle-bustle, sitting. Now those stairs were such a blessing really. When my mom and I went and got some souvenirs, commotion had started again. An African-American woman was yelling at the cops as there was an emeregency and a baby was lying on the road and not breathing. So many cops surrounded the street and we happend to see a young Indian couple panicking and crying as their 3-5 yeard old son was lying on the side of the street- still and not breathing and responding. CPR was performed and by this time an ambulance arrived. It took 10 mins for ambulance to come. And whatever it is the paramedics did the boy started moving his hands and gave some hope to the parents. By this time our mood was kinda off, seeing the upset parents cry and the boy lying on the roada nd the exhaustion hit us. We then took a cab till the station and took the train back to Jersey city!

I had not left anything else for Sunday, so we got ready had a filling breakfast on India street at Dosa house, I sacrificed half my dosa to eat Pani puri (typical of me!) and we drove back home.

Now I have to plan the Niagara trip. Parents and I are planning to go sometime midweek in the Goto- chinatown buses and not bother DH with all the driving (I dont want to drive at all that far, beyond 2 hours of drive, thats not me!) .

Washington DC

Another check on the to-do travel list. Last year I wanted to go check out the Cherry Blossom festival but some how didnt happen, with a new job and back and forth travel between Canada and Boston. This time we decided to make the weekend a long weekend and drove to Jersey city from Boston Thursday night. Our best record ever - reached Jersey city in 3 hours. It was nice to spend time with good friends. And the next day we raided Edison, Oaktree. And the previous night we had already had Paradise biryani. Friday evening we headed to DE and stayed over with another set of friends and had a good time. We had got biryani and kebabs for them from Ali Baba express, it was lousy and was already stale and we had to throw the entire food. Learnt our lesson never ever to buy stuff from there. Saturday morning we drove towards DC. And it was a pretty long drive due to the traffic. DC seemed like a nice city. We walked a lot all around the cherry blossomed trees, the White House, etc we started at about 3pm and got back to the hotel at about 7-8pm ish. Somehow I imagined the cherry blossom to be a bit more dense. It was certainly beautiful when its in full bloom and so many of them. But overall we found it just - okay! White house I knew will not have a Buckingham Palace effect even, so I was fine with that. It was just surprising to see that much crowd. It was really packed and with a lot of Indians :) I had forgotten to charge the camera. I am usually ready with such things but anyway Iphone was pretty handy that way.

We met some new people, who were our friend's friends. Ate Thai that night which was pretty medicore, except my husband's veggie fried rice which never seems to disappoint us. My eggplant curry was not that great. Half the group wanted to go clubbing so we parted ways. (I know me refusing to go out) But it was already 2 nights in a row I hadnt slept and I was in a real bad state Saturday night. I cannot get adjusted to new bed and new place easily and end up staying awake pretty much all night long. I slept like a baby once we got back to the hotel due to the backlog of sleep.

Sunday morning after we checked out from the hotel, had a very good breakfast at Ihop. and drove towards DE dropped at the same friend's place for tea. Then headed back to Jersey city. This time attacked the India street. Ate chaat at Rajbhog and P enjoyed the Butter masala dosa at the Dosa place. Ended with a great Masala chai.

Our drive back to Boston was not that bad either, we stopped over a friend's place in Stamford to see their new baby. He was such a beautiful child - very content and happy!

It was a nice weekend, we met so many of our friends after a long time. And not to mention the Indian food we hogged!

Montreal

Spent a day in Montreal for the labor day weekend. The drive from Boston is reasonable and its as close as NY is to the south. Moreover Vermont is a beautiful state to drive past. The weather was good and city was lively and busy. We went and saw the Olympic stadium and the Notre Dam Basilica church, rest of the time strolled on Rue Saint Catherine and Rue Saint Denis. We even tried a couple of Indian restaurants out of curiosity and they were pretty decent. There was a store that sold Nepalese clothes and knick-knacks which I particulary liked on Rue St Denis. Even outside on the way from Notre Dame Basilica church to the water front, there was an Indian store that sold Souvenir stuff that had Indian kurtas and middle eastern clothes which was really good. I was tempted as usual and got myself a kurta and P bought me this Nepali wrap-around skirt as well . The place reminded me of Auckland a bit, though the skyline is better than Auckland but Auckland is over all a bigger place as its the main commerical capital in NZ. The strong French culture truly makes it a "foreign" experience, which I really liked. The people spoke decent English though so it was not difficult at all.

The stroll on the water front also was pretty good. All in all I thought its a fantastic city to spend the weekend, small cosy, yet busy. The people were friendly and very bindas, had a good dressing sense and style too, a place where freedom is I guess personified, so you see all kinds and types of people and places (well though I even felt Toronto is 'freedom' personified). I am waiting to visit Montreal in winter and stroll in the underground city and do some shopping. Cirque du Soleil is the other thing that we didnt do as we didnt have enough time, though it can be seen in any other city, since its base is Montreal, I thought it would add that extra charm.

On Rue St Denis, it so happened that a cyclist squeezed in between 2 cars and waited for the red traffic light to turn green. One car passenger to the left of the cyclist opened the door without seeing the cyclist to get off and hit the cyclist who lost his balance fell on the other car to the right. The car from which a passenger had got off sped as the lights turned green and this car which had suffered a small dent due to the cyclist falling on that car, the driver got off that car and began mercilessly beating the cyclist. I was shocked, P got off to stop that guy, by this time the driver had lifted his cycle and was willing to throw it on that cyclist, a small thin college kid and the driver a middle aged and well built/obese man! Some lady started yelling in french, turned out there was a cop car, 2 cars behind us, for some reason no cop came forward for a few minutes. Our interpretation was he didnt want to go there alone, by the time the cop walked till that car driver and cyclist, 2 other cops joined him, and took them to the side to resolve the matter. Phew! it was such a mood off to see a person being beaten up like that all for a small dent on his Honda SUV, irrespective of whose fault it is.

To Jamaica and back

Another check on my travel itinerary for life - Jamaica - Montego Bay and Negril; husband and I made a trip for our anniversary. This was the first trip officially we have had since we got married - just the two of us and to celebrate our anniversary. I enjoy spontaneous holidaying and dont particulary like those "very typical" holidaying that people do, religiously spend the first anniversary at Hawaii or Vegas, yep I find it typical and boring. This time I wanted to go to the Rockies and Banff in Canada and relax a day or two in Vancouver. I prefer the active sight seeing places where you can visit musueums, national parks, scenic drives - I basically need continous sight seeing actively, and travel across places, while my husband needs to relax, he just prefers going to one place and back and whatever activties it is do it in that very same place. Added Jamaica, Hawaii are in the bottom of my list of places to see cos the kind of fun I have had at the beach in Goa and Kovalam in India, I simply think nothing can beat that. I love the beach at Goa and thats it, nothing can match my country's beach. Hawaii might have that extra Polynesian culture attaraction, but which I also had the taste of while living in New Zealand, we had people there from all those Polynesian islands and I was even able to recognize Tongan and Samoan languages sometime back ;)

Anyway P won the battle and we picked Jamaica. As usual last minute packing and rushed to the airport. As soon as we landed it just seemed like a rural town in India. The resort by itself reminded me of coastal Karnataka/Kerala. The banana and coconut trees, the sultry weather etc. First day we explored the resort, checked out the options we had on things to do etc. Since it was a package most of the activities were included in our package including food and alcohol. From second day there was no looking back. We did para sailing and jet skiiing and went sailing. Jet skiing I had already done in Goa, but this time my husband himself jet skiied I was the pillion rider so it was a lot of fun, my husband did snorkling, took wind surfing lessons and happily wind surfed on the Caribbean sea while I enjoyed the Jamaican rum to the last drop (Rum punch/Pina Colada et al; I happen to really savor Rum, so I obviously enjoyed myself). Unfortunately I didnt enjoy para sailing at all, I was too scared to have my life hanging on to a rope, however strong it maybe, and I held on to the side straps so tightly, my arms really hurt for a day or two, while my husband didnt enjoy it for a totally opposite reason, he expected it to go higher and be more fun and he thought the guy ripped us off by taking us only for 10 minutes instead of a good half hour. No way I could have been hanging like that for 30 mins praying and scared! And now I wonder if I will ever sky dive or try the hot air balloon, sigh! Snorkling wasnt my thing either, I cannot imagine 'not breathing', I panic - so I didnt want to put myself through it. Maybe the only place I will force myself to give it a try will be Great Barrier Reef when ever it is, if I ever visit OZ.

We had some good veggie options available at all the restaurants at the resort. We especially enjoyed Zucchini cakes and vegetable kebabs. We tried the Thai restaurant at the resort, one of the days was international food special, so there was really good Italian food too. People were really friendly and approachable. Since they won all those medals at the Olympics while we were in Jamaica, it added that extra festivity. I believe a lot of Indians (Indian origin) are well settled in West Indes. The locals told us that all doctors are of Indian origin there. When I went to the spa, this lady looked totally Jamaican but was mentioning how her grand father was Indian and they all believe that Indians are really beautiful and people with mixed (east) Indian race are considered good looking in Jamaica, now that made me surely proud :) In fact at the spa, they totally played Hindustani music while I relaxed and had my massage and it was a great feeling (I enjoy Hindustani you see).

I have to admit 4-5 days on the beach was great fun. I actually lasted without getting antsy in one place for 5 days at a stretch while on a vacation, which is pretty good. The long walks, the sunset by the beach, and the amazingly soft sand (one of the softest sandy beach I have ever been too undoudtedly is in Jamaica). Not to mention I utlized all my beach wear and clothes which were not used for ages. My sample from work of Banana Boat sun block was utilized to the fullest, but yet we did get tanned a bit.

We also went to the Rick's cafe, apparently voted the among the 10 best cafes in the world. The cafe food by itself was ordinary, but the location was deadly! The sunset was absolutely beautiful. The whole setting was very serene to look at yet the place was very lively, with tourists, a local band entertaining guests with Reggae. And I happened to taste the strongest Rum based drink ever here.

Our journey back wasnt as smooth as the flight to Jamaica, unfortunately the plane had some issues and didnt take off at Montego bay, and passengers were all put up in Ritz Carlton, but the whole day was wasted at the airport. US Airways gave us 5 different reasons every hour (mechanical issue/maintenance issue/ a red light that wont turn off/ reconfiguring something - the highlight was when the pilot announced if he could borrow someone's cell phone to call US and get some instructions from the service center at Pittsburgh or somewhere in the US) and finally the airline said we will only leave next day at 8am and we had to leave Ritz at 5:30am the next day to get there in time. Ritz Carlton was absolutely stunning, a huge hotel, but unfortunately I was tierd to enjoy it and since we had to be at the airport early morning we barely did anything that evening. I was kind of unhappy of losing an extra day vacation at work because of this too. Next day morning, we check in as usual at the airport and the 8am becomes 9am and then it becomes 10am. The pilot and crew members arrive just in time before boarding the 10am flight. And you should have seen the reaction, passengers were absolutely bugged. Obviously the crew members knew in advance it would be that late but just cos the airlines didnt want so many passengers having breakfast at the Ritz they made everyone get up so early and caused inconvenience was the conclusion drawn by everyone. Well the dinner was very expensive at Ritz and then the stay for all the 150 passengers, so I can imagine feeding the plane full of passengers again with breakfast was too much for the airline. They however issued us breakfast coupons of $12 each at the airport, so now that rumor was confirmed. Then the reason we were told for delay to 10am is cos Charlotte airport's customs opens only at 2pm. Ah! so the airlines knew this in advance and they just fooled us and kept us waiting since early morning? I didnt care I just wanted to be in US at that point of time. Passengers were swearing, cursing and taking oaths to never visit Jamaica again. Well I dont know if the country is to be blamed for US Airways cheap tricks but I guess people end up remembering the inconvenience more than how much fun past few days of vacation might have been. But the airline did give some travel vouchers to passengers after reaching Charlotte. And that was another drama, they issued it to some passengers, who advised us to go pick it up as well and when we went to the counter, the person tried to pretend there was no such vouchers that were ever given. I pursued and argued and finally he gave it to us. Hopped on to our flight to Boston and was glad to be home.

Back home, there is so much to catch up, work/emails, friends, family, etc etc Back to routine. Now Jamaica feels like as if it were a dream. Yeah Mon! :)

Busy week ...

Where do I begin. Last weekend husband and I decided to meet up somewhere in the US for his birthday. I didnt care where. Unfortunately air tickets were too high for my last minute plan to meet him, so I decided to take the Greyhound bus one way and fly back, return to Toronto. Now starts the adventure. I have never travelled alone in an overnight road trip, and that too in a bus. Back home we took overnight buses to Bangalore from Hyd (when we had to make urgent trips) or from Bangalore to Udupi even, but again never travelled alone there even. And here I am also talking cross-country. Phew! Whatever I gathered about the journey online and from an aquaintance I was informed the US immigration is at its worst at Buffalo/Niagara. Well how worse can it get I thought anyway, took the bus from Bay, Street in Toronto. The bus started half hour late and was packed till Niagara. An African descent woman going to Georgia and I started talking and time flew, did not realize when the immigration booths came up. She shared her story, as to how she was going to bring her daughter back in Canada after a divorce etc. Now I was taking the bus to Albany, NY and my husband was suppose to come and pick me up there, we decided we will spend a night there somewhere nearby or drive back to Boston whichever.

Anyway the whole set up was so eerie at the immigration. I dont know what 'image' the American Customs and Immigration wants to create for itself, but they surely are successful in making even an honest person nervous. My immigration went ok, straightforward. Customs too, they made everyone remove their bags from the bus obviously and checked. Somehow they opened everyone's bags/suitcases and skipped me. Thank god! I thought, this time I was carrying dirty laundry back home too (all my formal wear and winter wear that I wouldnt need), I spared him the stink.

Anyway the bus then dropped the passengers of to Buffalo and everyone had to get off and take their respective buses to wherever it is we were going. My bus driver from Buffalo to Albany didnt appear so they had to call a replacement, further delay. Finally we started, we were a bunch of very different people in the bus I must say. A Mexican who kept staring at me for some reason, an African American older lady going to see family who kept smiling at me. A British traveller in his 30's. A student from Tajakistan. A senile old genetleman behind me going to see his son who is now 23 years old, apparently, and was 2 years when he had last seen him (probably another divorce story). This man kept hallucinating and talking to himself the whole night. (Yes! sad and scary, but no sleep for me!). And then a teenage girl or boy, honestly I couldnt make out the sex, dressed in black with all that silver jewellery, looked very wierd and smoked at every busstop non stop, barely in her/his mid teens, looked like one of those satan worshipper/ cult person. And me :) Traveling is indeed interesting, each traveller has a story. And if you sit back and watch/observe people you can almost read their stories...... The bus then took off, and I tried my level best to sleep. But didnt happen, the seat beside me was vacant (2 seater) but not enough for my long legs. Next stop was Rochester, and my lovely bus driver couldnt find the bus stop. A street was cornered off by Police (something had happend as there was debris all over the closed road) so my driver after taking the exit, honked and asked the cop for the bus station which was very close to that street cornered off my the police (it just kept getting wierd) and there we were greeted by Border Patrol personnel. He religiously came and checked each of our passports and even asked a couple of questions to some of the passengers. US citizens and GC holders didnt need to show passports, just picture ids. And how would he recognize them? As long as they speak their accent and are blue-eyed caucasians is it? I thought and rolled my sleepy eyes. Some passenger didnt have his GC so the Officer called the immigration from his cell phone plugged in his last name and some other id that person was carrying and checked his credentials. Oh yes! I was surprised in the detailed and quick inspection once again. This was something new apparently according to a co-passenger who travels up and down via bus on this route. It reminded me of some movie where this happens, (too sleepy to think of the movie, but the immigration at Niagara reminded me of Babel, where the nanny with kids is trying to get back into the US). The bus station and people and the whole setting at Rochester was not pleasing, thank god I dont live there. And pretty much this driver (who I realized was new) needed directions to find the bus stations after taking the exits. And like I can sleep now when I know the driver dosent know the way? Yeah right! :) And then there was this Asian/Chinese passenger who kept complaining when it got cold with the air conditioning, he was my spokesperson, thank god for him, he spared me from requesting the same each time to the driver. He would exactly start complaining to the driver to reduce the air conditioning when I was feeling cold. And then when it would start getting warm and stuffy, complain again to make it cooler. Ok now definitely I cannot sleep.

The next biggest stop was Syracuse. Where more people got in, more young people actually. The bus was full but luckily I still got to keep my seat empty beside me to stretch. Finally I arrived at Albany and was happy to get off and see my husband. P, had to drive 2 hours to be there - started 4 am to be there at 6am to pick me up from Boston. Albany bus station was as deserted as it could be at that hour, thank god husband had arrived before I did. And then P announced we will spend the weekend in some sort of resort. He hadnt mentioned this to me so it was a surprise. Yes, his birthday was the next day, I got there informing him in advance and he surprises me. I guess I am proud in that sense, at the level of our relationship. Instead of a stereo type way of me landing in Boston, giving a surprise and getting a cake ....; you know the whole birthday paraphernalia, I mean? Anyway I tried to sleep as P mentioned it was couple of hours drive (I didnt sleep a wink in the bus).

Finally we got to PA and it was the Poconos, Ceasars resorts. Awwwww! it was so romantic. We had a great weekend there. Simply great - jacuzzi and a pool in our suite, in our very own suite what else to say. P is great at such things, sometimes subtle gestures which make me really happy and blush!! (Indeed small gestures like this are treasure for a life time). He was a very romantic person when I met him when I was 17 and he is still now after almost 10 years ;). We had taken Monday off, so we drove to Boston back after spending couple of nights, listening to some hindi songs of the late 80's and early 90's (who yes all the Maine Pyar kiya times) and I flew back to Toronto Monday night. And then there was delay again due to thunderstorms, I reached 3 hours late. Did you know that the ground staff are not allowed outside during thunderstorms? Union rules apparently, not sure just in Canada and US or everywhere. So my plane was at the gate but we/passengerd had to wait, as we were safe there but couldnt get the staff come out until the storm settles, to let us in. And finally after reaching home I couldnt sleep either, cos it was one of the most horrific thunders I have heard in my life. It was like the world was coming to an end or something (or I would expect that bad rumbling of clouds when something really untoward is happening). Hence had the grumpiest of Tuesday mornings ever.

And since then work! work! work! - presentations, customer issues, production issues, technology issues and this was all amid team building session with our boss and supply chain team 2 nights in a row! ......and this weekend in Toronto more work! Sigh!

To Canada and back!

Last week or so was so very hectic. We went to Canada for our visa stamping. We were suppose to go to India and get that done but circumstances changed and we went to Canada. And guess what we were amid one of the coldest Canadian winters. A winter even Canada had not seen for last 6 years, and we got to witness it. Continuous snow all days we were there. Our appointment was at the Ottawa visa office. I have concluded that I have had enough with the US visa process and people, hence not to complain. This experience did not make me change my opinion. The biggest relief were the Canadians, who are a friendly lot. The Canadian immigration officers, a total contrast to the US counterparts, simply make your day soon as you land in their country (reminds me of New Zealand actually, else they are usually hostile towards you, aren't they?).

I landed in Toronto, spent a day and took a greyhound bus to Ottawa to meet my husband. By that time the cold had taken over me and I had a fever and cough and cold. The US visa interview was routine, my husband was asked routine questions. I stood beside him, and the visa officer almost did not even look or ask me any questions. One exciting thing at Ottawa was the stay at the hostel, The Jail, they called it and it was an old jail converted to a hostel. Most of the things were intact including the jail doors (gates) and so on, interesting! The visa process apparently now has changed, in the sense they take 2 more extra days to return the passports, as they have added an extra step for fraud check, so my husband had to extend his stay and we headed back to Toronto ( 4 1/2 drive from Ottawa) to stay at a friend's. All I did was eat and sleep and recovered from my fever.

Finally we collected our passports again in Ottawa and we decided to take the bus to Boston. My husband had lost his return ticket, due to the extended stay and since he got his in a deal and this was the cheapest and quickest way to get back home. The bus journey was postponed by 12 hours again because of snow, our bus journey started from Ottawa and we landed in Montreal and took a break for the night there and then started for Boston the next day. And finally a trip planned for 6 days ended up being 9 days. On our way back from Montreal we saw some real scenic views all through Vermont. It was surprising how beautiful it actually was in winter.

Though the cold wasn't that great, Canada as a country seems to be a great place to live, at least my first impressions have been very good. People are friendly and warm.

New Zealand

I realized I did not create a travelogue from my New Zealand trip. I will probably attempt to recap the journey at some point of time. But I guess these pictures we took contribute towards it to a large extent and another word 'spellbinding'!

Our Photoblog

A place called New Jersey

Its so happened that for the last couple of weekends we were in New Jersey. Yes the desi adda. I was in plain shock when I visited NJ the very first time or rather I should be specific - Oaktree Road/Edison. Not to mention that every store and restaurant is desi but so are the people of course. I just felt like I was in Hyderabad/India, not one bit in US of A. Do you even need to speak English here? 1. Gujrati 2. Hindi/Telugu is enough to survive :) Last few visits I some how got used to the idea. We enjoyed some great Indian food and also experienced the rash driving (where indicators hold no significance and neither does giving yield). And highlight was that by the time we had come out of the restaurant after a great meal at Ming (served the best Indian Chinese food, slurrp!) somebody had spat on our car door - oh yes the same old pan residue mercilessly dropped everywhere back home or so it used to be. But I wondered what it would be like if I lived in a place that just resembled India but not situated in India.

Hmmm, I think I am personally happy living in the Greater Boston area or a place which is not too far from a Indian ghetto like NJ and San Jose. We can drive up whenever we miss the Indian food and feeling of being in India. Since I have the chance to live outside India for a while might as well experience the foreign way of living instead of being stuck like a frog in the well.