All posts tagged: Travel

Travel Pains: Lost Passports and Learnings from our Misadventures

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Losing passport while abroad is every traveller’s nightmare. In some places it could even be a scary proposition to have no identity. My husband and I are seasoned travellers, so this is not a scenario that we ever thought we would possibly be in.  Losing our Indian passports abroad was scary. Getting a new one issued was a big ordeal. Then trying to get a flight back home was another hassle. Here’s how it all went. It was our first long distance flight with our baby son who was just 10 months old. We flew from India to Phoenix to meet his cousin, then from there to Baltimore to meet friends. On the way to the airport for our flight back to India, we realised our passports were missing! We lost our Indian passports in the US…all three passports!  Lost passports during travel We had kept our passports in a passport folder with some foreign currency. The whole thing was missing. Frantic searching of our luggage and friend’s house was futile. Our best guess was …

view of himayat sagar lake after heavy rains

Things to do in Hyderabad – Himayat Sagar Lake View Point

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Hyderabad has a couple of artificial lakes that add to the scenic value of the city. One of them is Himayat Sagar. At one point it was considered way beyond the city but in recent times the city has grown to meet it. If you’ve driven on the roads along the lake, you’ll notice that they’re quite narrow. That doesn’t stop people from stopping their vehicles to take a few pictures, making it more chaotic. The rise of food stalls has increased the number of visitors who have little interest in the natural beauty or the tranquility of the place. However, if you take a small detour, you find a place where you can enjoy the view away from heavy crowds, and even discover some hidden paths. It’s best to go during off-peak times, like weekdays and early mornings if you want to take in the surroundings without noisy crowds. We found this place by chance. It is a turn on the road opposite the lake and leads up a small quarry. You get a …

gazebo on a lawn with pool next to it

Day Trip near Hyderabad – The Baby Elephant Farm

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Are you looking for day trip near Hyderabad? Check out the Baby Elephant Farm.  Short trips will give you enough time to learn something new, get refreshed in your mind and have some fun also! Getting away from the noise for some relaxing weekend R&R at a farm stay isn’t something you’ll want to pass on.  They only accept a limited number of people at a time so we had to pre-booked our trip and food. It had been raining all week and we were quite apprehensive about having to spend our time there indoors. Mercifully, the skies cleared up just in time for the weeknd! It took us hardly any time to reach there. It’s a green haven among a city intent on developing through building more concrete structures. The lush greenery, in part because of the monsoons, was a stark contrast to the construction sites all along the route. Our table was set up in a gorgeous shaded gazebo next to a small swimming pool. Our son wanted to immediately get in. After …

Travel Before and After Having Kids: Spot the Difference

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Before having kids I used to travel for pleasure quite often. Trips were organised around my interests and hobbies, but not defined by them. After having kids, I had to change the way that I travel and the things that I look for when in a new place. Now it’s all about “quality time” with the family, which is pretty cool actually. What kind of a traveller are you? My husband and I love to visit new places. He was the type to want to pack as much in a trip as possible, see everything, do everything. But I’ve converted him to my style of travel. I prefer to do a handful of things in a relaxed manner and enjoy it. Then our son was born and he changed both our travelling styles to, let’s just go relax on a beach somewhere! We started travelling with him when he was about six months old. Our first trip was to Goa because I needed to relax without any sight-seeing. Having been to Goa before, we had …

view of the city below from a flying plane with the airplace wing showing

Travel Pains: Some pet peeves of the travel life

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Do you love to travel? I’m not talking about seeing new places, I’m talking about the actual travel to get there. I love being in different places as much as I hate getting there. Doesn’t matter if it’s by road, rail, water, or air – I’d opt for instant transfer if it ever became a reality. Beam me up Scotty! I envy people who think of travel in a romanticised way: Enjoy the journey not just the destination. I’ve just never learned to do that. Impatience and inconvenience are big obstacles in my quest for enjoyment.  I’ve gone on road trips in and outside of India. I love the views, especially travelling in the hills with some heavenly music playing. But pretty soon you’ll get bumpy roads, traffic and dirty loos. It doesn’t help that I get motion sickness on those gorgeous mountain roads.  I’ve travelled by the Indian railway system countless times. In Mumbai locals and between cities. The longest I’ve travelled by train is from Delhi to Kerala – about two days. The …