Portugal
February 17, 2017 § Leave a comment
It was a wonderful 10 day trip with another couple. We flew Delta to Paris, France and then took Air France to Lisbon, Portugal. Delta we had a terrible experience with pre-reserved vegetarian food, and Air France screwed up and over booked the flight and we had to be bumped to a later flight. After 10ish hours on Delta and with a baby, I thought it would be worse but wasn’t all that bad.
We finally got to Lisbon and were very energized when we got to the apt. We met our friends at the apartment in Alfama district. See: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/11235071. The views from the balcony were really 
wonderful and the location was perfect.
The day we landed we decided to take a walk around the apartment and grab dinner. We ended up finding a beautiful church along the way.
Dinner was at a nice sit down place, but none of found Portugese food particularly special given our craving for spicy food.
Though we expected a lot of cloudy and rainy days, we totally lucked out and the weather turned out to be perfect and the next morning we headed to Catselo San Jorge. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A3o_Jorge_Castle
Wonderful views, and a guided tour of the castle made for a great experience. Recommends: Free guided tours at fixed times.
An added bonus at the castle are the resident peacocks which regularly put on a show for the patrons of the cafe.
Later that evening we headed to the Barrio Alto for some Fado music Tasco Do Chico. See: https://www.yelp.com/biz/tasca-do-chico-lisboa. Unfortunately A fell asleep so we had to leave early but the intial Fado which seemed like it was the doorman coming in to sing, was just wonderful. There were a lot of locals which tells me the place is pretty legit. Our friends stayed for the main act which was a woman who came in to sing Fado and they tell us she was just wonderful. The place is cool, so worth a visit. Recommend against: dont order the sangria, it was just way too sugary.
Next up, we drove to Sintra and we headed straight to Pena Palace. Pena Palace was apparently an inspiration for Walt Disney to build his own magical kingdom and it did not disappoint — it was everything I had thought it was going to be. Our friends expected a Moorish castle and so were a little let down by the very child-friendly architecture, so I’d def read up on it before you go. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pena_Palace
Then we headed over to Quinta da Regaleira which is just magical. I loved it more than Pena Palace. 
Island of Hawai’i
December 7, 2016 § Leave a comment
Madhu and I took Baby A to the big Island of Hawai’i. I’ll write more about our amazing experience there.
So the island looks like this.
Day 1:
- Fly Alaska direct from Seattle to Big Island, Hawaii
- Took the taxi from the Big island airport to Kona Reef: $50
- Stayed at Kona Reef aptB26, review here:
Day 2:
- Kekaha kai state park: saw turtles just laying on the beach. Great beach
- Lunch at Tree Cafe
Day 3:
- Went down to the beach at Kona Reef
Day 4:
- We took a snorkelling trip
Day 5:
We flew from
Where did we stay?
Kona Reef B26
Mauna Loa Shores #407
Rajasthan
September 11, 2014 § Leave a comment
Links
- http://www.tripwip.com/incredible-rajasthan-a-2320-kms-road-trip-without-reservations/3/
- http://vratnaparkhi.hubpages.com/hub/Rajasthan-11-days-road-trip-best-places-to-see
- Buses to and from ajmer: http://bustickets.makemytrip.com/BusIntegration/buslisting.htm?userEmail=&userPnrNo=&isDirect=Y&session_cId=141049547560992361&departure=MMTCC1333%2CJaipur&arrival=MMTCC1019%2CAjmer&departureDate=01%2F10%2F2014&track=chn-17-10&channel=B2C_LST_MOD#
- Hotel in Agra: ttp://www.up-tourism.com/online1/index.asp
- Agra, Fatehpursikri, Mathura: http://www.up-tourism.com/destination/agra/excursions.htm
- Hotels in Rajasthan: http://rtdc.rajasthan.gov.in/DetailHotel.aspx?Hotelid=13
- Bikaner: http://thatandthisinmumbai.wordpress.com/2013/03/27/forts-of-rajasthan-1-the-junagarh-fort-of-bikaner/
- Jaisalmer: http://thatandthisinmumbai.wordpress.com/2013/04/11/forts-of-rajasthan-2-the-golden-fort-of-jaisalmer/
- Jodhpur: http://thatandthisinmumbai.wordpress.com/2013/04/28/forts-of-rajasthan-3-mehrangarh-fort-of-jodhpur/
- Kumbalgarh fort: http://thatandthisinmumbai.wordpress.com/2013/06/15/forts-of-rajasthan-4-kumbhalgarh-fort/
- Chittogarh fort: http://thatandthisinmumbai.wordpress.com/2013/07/04/forts-of-rajasthan-5-chittorgarh-fort/
Jaipur to Ajmer bus
Ajmer to Jaipur bus
Jaipur places to see
The main attractions in Jaipur were:
1. Amer/Amber fort
2. Jaigad
3. Jal mahal
4. City palace
5. Jantar Mantar
6. Chokhi Dhani
7. Birla temple
8. Hawa Mahal
Drive from Jaipur to Bikaner (330 Km) – 5 hrs
Check out Fatephur and Mandwa haveli’s along the way.
Junagarh fort in Bikaner
Spend the nite at RTDC in Bikaner (Booked)
Check out Junagarh palace
Have the pista kulfi at Sankala sweet mart in the local bikaner market. Real yummy Kulfi.
Drive from Bikaner to Gajner, Pokaran, Sam sand dunes
Bikaner to Jaisalmer is around 300km (
Gajner palace built on lake,
Centophas outside of Pokaran,
Golden fort in jaisalmer
and then get to SAM san dunes.
Stay in the tented RTDC accommodation at SAM
Drive from SAM to Barmar
Check out kiradu and marabar
Drive from Jaisalmer to Jodhpur (300km – 5/6hrs)
Spend the nite in jodhpur
Drive from Jodhpur to Ranakpur
Umaid bhavan, fort. blue city from fort you may want to go to mandor
Drive from Rankpur to Kumbagarh to Udaipur
Explore jain temple, small hindu temples and the rankapur temple, Kumbalgarh fort (7:00pm light show)
Rush out to the fort view point to take photos
Spend the nite in udaipur rtdc
Drive from Udaipur to chittogarh
get to chittogarh fort by 6:00pm for light show
Spend the nite in chittogarh daramshala
Leave Chittogarh by 6:00am and drive to Ranthambore for 2:30 pm safari
Spend the nite Ranthambore
Ranthambore do the morning safari at 7:00 and then drive back to jaipur (3hrs). Worst case get to jaipur by 2:00pm.
Fly out of jaipur that day.
Spend the nite in chennai
Spend the day in chennai
Fly out of chennai +1 4:55 am on Oct 13
Polaama 