Category: Travel

I am a middle class Indian cliche`. Engineer. MBA. And following my hobbies post all the years of obsessing over degrees. Travel and backpacking happened about 7 years back. It has been a road well traveled since then – with backpacks, friends and beautiful memories. If there was one life advice I could give to you, it would be to travel the length and breadth of this world, while you can.

Golden Circle

I think I am living in a refurbished bathroom. No kidding. I see pipes running down by the side. Throwback to first year of engineering where I had to jump over a table to get to my bed, because there was just no space! The only difference being that I am paying friggin’ 50 euros for this hole. Anyway, the town more than makes up for it. Writing this post from Vik. A small town on the South Coast of Iceland.

Going over the last couple of days. I woke up super super late day before, after telling myself that I will wake up super early and head out to the Golden Circle. Woke up at noon (!) and ran for it. Reached my car and had a parking ticket slapped to it. Ugh. Clearly, the day was going my way. Picked milk and bananas and started driving. The point being that I am living it cheap, wherever I can. The day’s itinerary was Pingvellir National Park, Laugvartn Fontana (bread place), Geysir and Gullfoss. The rye bread place had to be parked for later, because late etc.  Continue reading “Golden Circle” →

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Northern Lights!

The guide said there are three things required to see Northern Lights.

  1. Solar flares
  2. Clear sky
  3. Dark night

Yesterday, all the three lined up. Took a guided tour, as I wasn’t too sure about where to go or whether the roads were okay to drive in the night. Remember my comment in my last post about my large parent set?  I don’t like being responsible for myself! Anyway, on hindsight, I should have booked a guided tour with lesser number of people. But for starters, this was pretty great.  Continue reading “Northern Lights!” →

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Chasing Northern Lights in Iceland

So, check in to the hostel is at 3 pm, which to my utmost distress, is still 1 hour 9 minutes away! Sitting in a street facing cafe in Reykjavik, as I type this. Watching people go by. The girls next to me are eating chicken tacos, which makes me a tiny bit homesick. Yes, LA is home nowadays and yes, tacos do represent that city. Make peace with it.

Landed in Reykjavik today, amidst snow, a pitch dark morning and -1 degree Celsius temperature. Ecstatic. Not. Sun rise happens at 9.45 am here. Since I have friends who behave like parents on top of my own set of parents, I decided to wait for sunlight before I started driving from Keflavik to Reykjavik. Continue reading “Chasing Northern Lights in Iceland” →

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Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)

So, Sam and I have a new pact. Of course, this happened post the trip to Saigon. But it’s a good note to start with. My trips to home always have Singapore plugged in. Because that is home too. Going forward, Sam and I will do one South Asian city at a time for each of these trips. A year which takes away close ones tends to bring the ones still around , closer. Also, I am writing this down to make this as legit as I can. 🙂

Saigon is straight out of chaos theory. Too many people. Too many bikes. Too few traffic lights. Street carts selling all sorts of wares. I loved it. There is a home-like sense of familiarity here. And an old world charm. Both traits that I miss significantly in American cities. Continue reading “Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)” →

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Austin

The thing about Sam is that she does not like visiting people. She is the quintessential host with queen bee like traits. Boils down to you visiting her. Which I actually like. It has become akin to going home once a year. There is always a fridge full of food and a home full of love. Anyway, this isn’t one about one of my visits to Singapore. She came to Dallas in December 2015 for work, and since Dallas doesn’t swing my boat (or anyone else’s for that matter!), we decided to do a road trip to Austin for the weekend. Duly pulled in Adnan too. Continue reading “Austin” →

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Manhattan

One of my favorite cities by far. The vibe of this city is one of the best in US. Living in New York for a year has been on the list for a while, but for now I have been sneaking in trips whenever possible. I am pretty sure that I haven’t even scratched the surface of what this city has to offer. But I still have a definitive list of must-do things.  Continue reading “Manhattan” →

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