Veneto, Italy

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City: Verona (April 2008)

Location: between Milan and Venice, accessible by train

Attraction: Well Preserved Roman City (300BC), UNESCO World Heritage

Travel Tips: One day trip (5-6 hours) to visit important tourist attractions,

Excellent place for a quiet weekend

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The view of Verona in the evening and in the night from Castle San Pietro.

The bridge you see is Ponte Pietra (stone bridge), built in 100BC, is a Roman arc bridge over Adige river. It was part of Via Postumia (ancient Roman Highway).

The Tower that you see to your left is Torre dei Lamberti is 84m tall and built in 1172.

Just over the bridge you see San Giorgio in Braida (a roman catholic church) built in 16th century over a 12th century monastery.

View of Castelvecchio Bridge from Castelvecchio (Old Castle). It was built in middle ages under Scalinger Dynasty (~1360). The red brick structure is the most prominent example of Gothic Architecture of that time, similar to the Roman Castles I talked about in the city of Bellinzona (in Switzerland).

The Arena (or amphitheater) completed in 30AD is third largest in Italy (after world famous Collosseum in Rome, and another one in Capua).

Scalinger Tombs (from Scalinger Dynasty): In the court yard of San Maria Antica Church (from 7th century, rebuilt in 12th), are five Gothic funerary monuments (from 14th century).

Juliet's Balcony (House):

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is set in Verona. Although fully fictional, now they have an old house that is claimed to be Juliet's!

Piazza Delle Erbe:

The beautiful Piazza in the center, a place for local market.

There are so many monuments in Verona. I spent last two days of my Italy trip in Verona when I was completely exhausted by traveling. These two days turned out to be the most relaxing days. The youth hostel itself was in a very old ruins of a Castle in Hilly area and at a calm location. I needed a break from travelling before going back home, and I really got what I wanted.

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City: Venice (July 2011)

Location: Northern Italy, accessible by train

Attraction: City of water, UNESCO World Heritage

Travel Tips: One full day (8 hours) to experience the city, buy a map, walk through the complex network of narrow lanes and bridges, travel by boat, Do take a lot of pictures (the city appears a lot more impressive in pictures!!)

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Majorca (Mallorca), Spain (24-29 April 2011)

Balearic Islands (Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera) are located in the Mediterranean off the east coast of Spain. Majorca is largest island and most touristic. It has mountainous terrain in the west and comparatively flat landscape towards east. The economy of the island is mostly run by tourism, although a lot of Olive, Orange and to some extent also grape farms can be seen all over the island. It attracts millions of tourists mainly from UK and Germany. No wonder a lot of the businesses are owned by the Germans and English- Colonization in twenty-first century!





Palma:





Soller:




Alcudia:

This place was so beautiful that I didnt bother to take photographs. I couldnt resist crystal clear waters (shallow, little cold). I didn't visit the long coastline (10s of KMs) and jumped straight into the water that was nearest to our place. I also tried scuba diving for the first time (Group picture with our instructor below). It was an interesting experience altogether. I managed only 5-10 minutes of real diving eventually, that too near the coast!

Atlanta, Georgia (23-28 May 2010)

Last year I visited the US for the first time. It was the first time I attended an international conference, the first transatlantic flight I took and the first English-speaking country I visited. And the experience was extraordinary for several reasons.





When my supervisor first suggested this conference to me I opposed! primarily because of tedious visa procedure and problems faced by some of my colleagues here. Since the conference was strongly recommended, I decided to make the effort. Even though I got all the necessary information from one of my friends it was still an arduous task to prepare all the necessary documents, taking a visa appointment and visiting the consulate in Amsterdam. I wasted many working days but in the end it was worth it. I got a 10 year business visa for US!!



Usually when I go for workshops/schools, I take few days off to travel around. Since I had to attend my cousins wedding in India shortly after the conference, I decided to spend only a couple of days to satisfy all my travel needs! I was not sure what to expect from that country! But I certainly got more than my expectations!




So there I was! flying over Atlantic, to the US! to the country I knew so much about, to the country I knew so little about. I finally landed on the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. The first thing I noticed was of course the security, but there was more: the people! they were different. They were talking, a lot, and in English! It was so beautiful, just like being in a Hollywood movie. We took a train to Atlanta city and started walking from the station towards Georgia Tech. It has a big campus, green patches, departments and fraternities. So there was something different about this institute as well. After spending little more than a week in Atlanta I returned home with an impression of US I had not imagined I would have.



The Service: A notable difference between Europe and US is the customer service. In Europe, at least in Germany and the Netherlands where I have lived, shops are open mostly during working hours! Moreover, the staff doesn't care about you as much. I have seen shops close before closing-time and I have also been asked to leave the shop because it was the closing time. Sometimes, its very much like the service people are giving a favor to you! No wonder, the tips are uncommon in restaurants here. The contrary was true for the US. I was impressed! The customer is treated like son of God. The service I received I had not seen anywhere before that, not in India, not in Europe. The friendly smile and a helping hand by the airport staff, by the conference organizers, in restaurants, museums and in shopping malls. A tip of at least 15 percent is usually paid in restaurant but the expected service is also received. People in general talk a lot more than Europeans.



The Shopping: I had heard so much about US being cheap place to buy stuff that I really wanted to make my trip memorable. Being overly motivated I decided to carry almost no cloths with me in order to have the urgency to go and shop!! I had filled my bag with dutch newspapers on the way to US. As I didn't have any clean cloths to wear, we (my colleagues and I) had to go and shop for me. But they didn't know how desperate the situation really was. I spent 3 hours in Macy's buying trousers, shirts, socks and undergarments! Seriously, I had brought nothing from home :) We were in Macy's for so long that my colleagues ended up doing shopping of their own. We didn't speak another word on our way back!



The Public Transport: I had heard that public transport is not as efficient in the US as it is in Europe or, for that matter, in India. But I experienced it firsthand when I was asking about shopping areas and got the answer in terms of "xyz hours of driving distance from the city". Now this was something new for me. The Europe has excellent public transport system: interconnected complex network of trains, buses, trams, subways. Anyhow, I could find some shopping malls which were, although outside the city, accessible by train.



The Conference: I had attended several national conferences before but I had no idea attending a conference could be so exciting. The most important people working in my field were there. The conference talks were so good. I got to attend talks by so many renowned scientists and those who I admired. I got super motivated about my career prospects as a researcher and being part of such a wonderful community.



The Food: Europeans have little sense of food and taste. Its really the extreme in countries like the Netherlands and Switzerland. The only satisfactory cuisine I can have here, at least as an Indian, is either Italian, Spanish, Greek or Turkish. On the contrary, in the US, the same European food tasted a lot better! In general the food I had in small restaurants and in the conference was better than here in Europe.



The City: I live in the Netherlands, that too in South Holland: the most densely occupied area in Europe. There are no boundaries between cities here. So the first thing I admired was certainly the open space and the expanse of this city that went into forever expanding forest. We had to visit the house of Margaret Mitchell, author of the romantic novel 'Gone with the Wind', as my other office mate back here admired it a lot. I visited Starbucks, which is an international coffeehouse chain and an American invention, for the first time, although there are a few in the Netherlands as well. We went to CNN headquarters but it was unfortunately closed. The most exciting place I visited was "The World of Coca-Cola". I tried like 40 different varieties of Cola-Cola they sell in all different continents, it was awesome! Also, I watched a 4D movie showing Coca-Cola production process. They used a moving chair, wind, splashing water and a poking device in the seat to create 4D. We also had conference dinner one day in Aquarium, which was a nice experience.

Air Travel

These are the most irritating times that turn into strange, tiring, surprising, hilarious, and sometimes wonderful memories. It can be annoying to even think about air travel: the preparations you have to make, going to the airport in advance, baggage drop, security checks and all the waiting; and a connecting flight is just a disaster! But it is all worth the effort, not only because you get to the destination, but also you have those weird experiences on the way. Here are some of those experiences…

1) “The Window Seat”

Flying over thunderstorms in the night
It’s not as exciting as the lightening and the thunder that one can witness from the ground, but still mesmerizing. You see twinkling giant fireflies scattered all across the floor, although the sound of thunder is suppressed by the sound of airplane.

Flying over dense clouds during the day
I bet you remember the ‘Ramayan’, ‘Krishna’ or ‘Vikram aur Betaal’ directed by Ramanand Sagar (remember those arrows and faces in slow motion!). Well! In that case you have pretty good idea of how heaven looks like: a floor of cloud (cotton).

Sunrise and sunset
You can enjoy these on most long distance journeys. For both sunrise and sunset, when it is coming from behind the craft, I would recommend taking a seat in front-side of the craft before the wings (got to see the ground too). I just love to see sunrays striking the wing behind me.

Flying over cities in the night
It’s like the city is celebrating ‘the festival of lights’ every day and people don’t seem to know about it down there! The whole city is lit up: the roads, the buildings, the public places. I just love the view of Mumbai. South Holland (the whole province) is also lit up with dense network of roads (cobwebs), and the green houses- it's just breathtaking.

Landscapes
I once flew from Milan to Delft over Swiss alps and got to see Mont Blanc. The pilot made an announcement of it and then took the aircraft from one side of the mountain. You have to be on the right side of the aircraft, literally! ☺, to have access.
It’s nice to see contrasting landscapes, for example, deserts of the Middle East and frozen subarctic landscape of the Quebec.

Tips:

• Always take a window seat that is away from the wing. It is important to check-in in advance to make sure that you have a window seat. Always keep your camera with you.

• Check your route on googlemaps and the website of the airline. If you are a regular traveler, you will soon have the same feeling you have on Indian railways. ‘Hoshangabaad aa gaya bhae, ab ghaat chalu hoega aur phir Bhopal’. The whole journey will become very familiar to you, and you will truly become a global citizen.

2) “Free Holidays!”

At times you might encounter a long halt before a connecting flight, or you might miss the connecting flight. It certainly is an awful experience but this is how you can conciliate it.

Helsinki
I was once flying Finnair from Netherlands to India. I had 5:30 hr halt at Helsinki (Finland). Although the schedule was tight, Samir (my friend) and Sameer (I) travelled 1 hr one-way for sight seeing in Helsinki!! Daring, isn’t it. I am rather proud of Samir who agreed to that crazy idea.

Dubai
I was coming back from India last month and missed my connecting flight from Dubai. I was already tired of not sleeping the previous night, and then standing in the queue and hours of waiting followed. They eventually gave me a flight ticket for the next day, and arranged my stay in Dubai. I was so sleepy the time I got to the hotel, and yet I immediately took off and made a guided tour of Dubai: Al Fahidi fort, Jumeirah beach, Palm islands, Atlantis, ride on Abras, Jewelry market and Burj Khalifa. I never felt so strongly for a city as I felt for Dubai: ‘Diamond in the Rough’. The 10 hr sleep I got that night, just perfect end!


3) “Shit Happens!”

The time I was boarding a connecting flight to Mumbai with a boarding pass to Delhi!

I was flying Alitalia from Amsterdam to Delhi via Milan. I am so used to taking flights to Mumbai that, after landing in Milan, I went straight towards the flight that was going to Mumbai. I stood in the cue at the gate for an hour. When I was boarding the plane, I was told that I should be flying to Delhi! Well! That scared d shit outta me. Moreover, they have facilities to take you to the departure gates but not away from it. I ran like never before, and eventually got to the right gate (on another terminal), stood in the line again and got in the right flight. ☺

The time I missed my flight from Mumbai to Helsinki!

I had a flight from Mumbai to Amsterdam via Helsinki. I confused the departure time from Mumbai with the arrival time to Helsinki! And it was too late when I realized it. I still went to the airport and reached there past the departure time! There is always so much rush and crowd, but I got to see the peaceful side of the airport, and got to visit the airline office there. I later went to Finnair office in Mumbai and booked ticket for another day.


4) “Beautiful Strangers”

Oh! This would take forever. You gotta talk to people in airplanes, so many interesting people with so many interesting stories. I think, an airplane is The Place with people from most diverse backgrounds.