anishawasthi
Anish Awasthi Joined: March 5th 2009
Logged in: February 8th 2012
Logged in: February 8th 2012
Travel Blog Posts
Engelberg
The whole world seemed to be bent on setting roadblocks for our Swiss holidays. Incessant rains lashed Delhi for days and there was a real threat of floods in Delhi just before our departure. Dengue and eye flu cases were rising exponentially, terrorist strike seemed imminent and many of the lanes on the road leading to the airport were blocked for commonwealth games. Then they gave the Ayodhya verdict the same evening on which we were to catch our flight. Even the forecast for the four days of our stay in Zurich was cloudy and heavy rains. “Problem aa chuki hai” was the ophthalmologist’s diagnosis as he examined Akshat’s eyes just two days before our holidays. We had discovered the viral infection early as we were in a high state of alert and timely medication just ... read more
Rickshaw from the Hotel
This Haridwar trip had been cancelled many times before, but this time we pulled out all stops to make it happen. It was turning out to be too embarrassing for us to inform Anupama's parents of all the cancelled trips. This time tickets and bookings were done just in time to grab the last six seats available in shatabdi express from Haridwar. Things moved like clockwork with the taxi for the station arriving on time, everybody reaching well before the departure and the train too departed on time. It was getting too boring with all this perfection when the Indian Railways did its bit to spice up the occasion. I was calmly sitting on my seat when suddenly I felt as if was raining inside the compartment. Water from the air conditioning system was dripping on ... read more
Off we go
I had always wanted to go on a flash holiday, Just book the hotel, pack the bags and hit the road. Our planned holidays to Haridwar were cancelled. we were all in a sullen mood. we then decided to join Ankita and Sidharth in Agra. They were already there and we would join them midway in their holiday. A short one night break in Agra. Thats all that we could manage with all our time constraints. Since the hotel would be the same in which Ankita-sidharth were staying, no time was wasted on selecting the hotel. The booking of Hotel was a breeze. The response to the telephone and web enquiries was fast. They just sent us some discounted rates and the booking was completed in minutes, no credit card number, no deposit in accounts, they ... read more
Manicured Trees
the train tickets from Rennes to Paris were booked a day in advance. it ensured that we got adjacent seats. it was all like clockwork, the taxi arrived at the right time, we checked out of the hotel, reached the station half an hour before departure, took our position under the huge screen to look for our train number, the french are so efficient, they will announce the platform number just minutes before departure. i was dreaming of a smooth ride sitting side by side, enjoying and sharing our experiences so far, seeing the beautiful french countryside roll by. i will be scoring over anupama on this one, a well planned in advance journey, that too on a train that will take us directly to the station on the airport, near our hotel, saving the money ... read more
The problem and the solution
the flight to paris was three and a half hours late, so we had prepared ourselves for the long haul at the waiting lounge, using our favorite tool to kill time, anupama and me think on same wavelength on this issue. started with ice cream and moved on to tea and chips when we the heard the boarding call just half an hour after the scheduled time. the announcer was not so sure and would stop in the middle, so we ignored the first few announcements as a mistake. but after the third one they could not be ignored further and the flight did actually start just after an hours delay. looks like we are going by road, anupama commented sleepily as the plane taxied for almost an hour before taking off. the delay in the ... read more
shilon resort sept 2009 083
kalka shatabdi was right on time. i have been noticing that trains in india are now actually following schedules, something that was not expected a few years ago. there was a reception committee awaiting us at kalka station. some railway official had kindly asked some of his colleagues to recieve us. we were taken to the dormitory with four beds neatly arranged to "freshen up".inspite of the best efforts of the government machinery the room still looked dirty but tolerable. it was till i made the mistake of heading towards the loo. it was a sight that takes a lifetime to forget. After a hearty refreshment of mixed paranthas with butter and curd at the station canteen we boarded the innova booked in advance by our well wisher. looks like the taxi driver had been stretched ... read more
grey sunset
Jaisalmer express from old delhi to jaisalmer arrived almost an hour late at the platform. we were in 2nd ac coach number A1. we rushed to the only second ac coach with our heavy luggage but the door was locked. the coach has AE written on it with chalk. we went to the other end of the coach hoping there was a reservation chart on it, but there was none and it was locked too. after some bumpy to and from motion from one end of the coach to another in which we frequently lost sight of each other and kept in touch by shouting in the crowd i finally managed to find a railway official who confirmed that AE was A1 and some angel opened the door. count on the indian railways to make your ... read more
It was all very nice to see the chivalry of the French people when the conditions were ideal. We developed a severe complex seeing cars stopping for us to cross the road. People smiling and letting you go in front of them. I noticed it was all very well when there were more empty seats in the bus than people waiting outside and none was in any particular hurry. The real test of the system was on the morning we had to catch the flight to Delhi. There were a couple of passengers with a little luggage waiting for the hotel shuttle before us. A few more joined soon after and I was curious to see if they will maintain the same decorum as we had seen earlier. The shuttle bus arrived and we could see ... read more
