Dates: March 24th to 26th, 2007
At the last minute, Nadya and I decided to rent a car and drive out to Bruges for a relaxing long weekend. After a few very exhausting weeks at work, this was a welcome vacation and Bruges turned out to be the perfect place to enjoy a relaxing, yet interesting long weekend.
We left Saturday morning for the three hour drive from Paris to Bruges. The drive was uneventful but it's worthwhile mentioning the very cool and very fast TGV, Eurostar and Thalys trains that sped by us at 300 km/h.
We arrived in Bruges and were immediately enchanted by this beautiful town, appropriately called the "Venice of the North". With its cobblestone lanes, intricate architecture, horse-and-carriages, old-style windmills and, of course, canals, Bruges was much more than we'd envisioned.
We took our time in Bruges and didn't try to pack too much into the trip. The goal was simply to relax and take in the beauty, which is exactly what we did. For both of our full days there, we spent the majority of our time wandering the streets and canals of Bruges. Of course, we also paid a visit or two to the numerous Tea Houses, Friteries (that would be French Fry shops/stands) and Chocolate Houses in Bruges.
March 26, 2007
December 1, 2006
New York
I had to make a trip out to New York, Oklahoma, and Houston for work so we decided to make a little trip out of it so that Nadya and I could spend some time with Aliya and Ameya in New York. This was my first time in New York since I was quite young, so even a few days of seeing the city and wandering around was welcome.
We arrived in New York on Friday after a relatively quick 6 hour flight from Paris. We only had three days before I had meetings, so we packed a lot into those few days. We did TONS of shopping (ironically - or by design - it was the Thanksgiving sales weekend), ate great food at an asian fusion restaurant, a Korean BBQ and, of course, fantastic hot dogs, pretzels and bagels.
October 22, 2006
Warsaw and Krakow, Poland
Dates: October 14th to 18th, 2006
Mom and Dad were on a trip to central Europe (Budapest, Prague and Vienna) so we decided to meet up with them in Poland for a fews days together touring the country.
The plan was to fly into Warsaw on Saturday morning, then drive to Krakow on Monday, and then fly back to Paris on Wednesday. Unfortunately, things got off to a tough start on Saturday. For one reason or another, our alarm clock didn't go off on Saturday morning, so we completely missed our flight to Warsaw. Normally, this wouldn't be a terribly big deal, but we had booked our tickets with a low-cost airline (Wizzair) so we knew that there would be no help in trying to rebook us on another flight later in the day (in fact, I don't think they fly between Paris and Warsaw more than once a day). I figured the only way we would get a decent flight on the same day would be though Air France. After a number of calls, one incorrect booking in French (from Warsaw to Paris) and a near-heart-attack at the 800 euro/ticket cost, I finally managed to get us a flight to Warsaw later in the day using my Air France points.
We arrived in Warsaw on Saturday afternoon and checked into our hotel (the Radisson). The hotel clerk managed to upsell us to an executive suite, which came in handy the next day when it started raining. The hotel was fantastic; in fact, so good that Nadya and I decided to just spend the next few hours in the hotel while we waited for my parents to arrive on a later flight.
Sunday
Old town
Uprising Museum
Best Pirogie Restaurant
Monday
Drive to Black Madonna
Auschwitz
Krakow - dinner in Old town square
Tuesday
Old town and Wawel Hill
Salt mine
Dinner at hotel
On Wednesday morning, we had a quick breakfast very early in the morning with Mom and Dad. They had an earlier flight than us so we said our goodbyes and then went to the airport a few hours later
Mom and Dad were on a trip to central Europe (Budapest, Prague and Vienna) so we decided to meet up with them in Poland for a fews days together touring the country.
The plan was to fly into Warsaw on Saturday morning, then drive to Krakow on Monday, and then fly back to Paris on Wednesday. Unfortunately, things got off to a tough start on Saturday. For one reason or another, our alarm clock didn't go off on Saturday morning, so we completely missed our flight to Warsaw. Normally, this wouldn't be a terribly big deal, but we had booked our tickets with a low-cost airline (Wizzair) so we knew that there would be no help in trying to rebook us on another flight later in the day (in fact, I don't think they fly between Paris and Warsaw more than once a day). I figured the only way we would get a decent flight on the same day would be though Air France. After a number of calls, one incorrect booking in French (from Warsaw to Paris) and a near-heart-attack at the 800 euro/ticket cost, I finally managed to get us a flight to Warsaw later in the day using my Air France points.
We arrived in Warsaw on Saturday afternoon and checked into our hotel (the Radisson). The hotel clerk managed to upsell us to an executive suite, which came in handy the next day when it started raining. The hotel was fantastic; in fact, so good that Nadya and I decided to just spend the next few hours in the hotel while we waited for my parents to arrive on a later flight.
Sunday
Old town
Uprising Museum
Best Pirogie Restaurant
Monday
Drive to Black Madonna
Auschwitz
Krakow - dinner in Old town square
Tuesday
Old town and Wawel Hill
Salt mine
Dinner at hotel
On Wednesday morning, we had a quick breakfast very early in the morning with Mom and Dad. They had an earlier flight than us so we said our goodbyes and then went to the airport a few hours later
October 1, 2006
8 rules for traveling Europe
I'm no "expert", but over the past few years, I've learnt a few things about traveling economically and comfortably in Europe. Here are a few rules I try to stick to in order to get the best bang for the buck when traveling around Europe:
1. Be flexible with dates; even a few days of flexibility can save you a lot of money. Search for tickets by entering date ranges instead of very specific dates and times. Check out www.skycanner.net to find the cheapest flights in your date range (there are also other equally good cheap-flight checkers on the web - I just happen to use this one).
2. Be flexible on your destination. Usually, I don't even know which country or city I want to visit; I just say "I want to travel for a few days sometime in September" and see what interests me at the best price.
3. Book early. This is usually a given, but particularly true for trains. I've been able to find low-cost plane tickets just a few days before departure a number of times, but train tickets that could have been purchased for 30 euros if booked 2 months early could cost up to 100 euros just a few days before departure.
4. Consider connection costs for the cheap flights. Often, you only save [for example] 50 euros by taking the low cost airline instead of, say, Air France, but the fact that the low cost airline requires a long trek to and from the departing and destination airports can often make up the difference easily and, even worse, sometimes cost you more.
5. Eat food from the markets. For the first few months of travel throughout Europe we always went to the really nice restaurants and ate wonderfully. But, once we tried buying local food at markets and eating by the many fountains and piazzas throughout Europe, we began to enjoy those (cheap) meals more than the expensive ones. They cost less, you get to try out your French/Spanish/Italian/Whatever at the market, and watch the people and culture walk by as you enjoy the local fare in a Piazza - what more can you ask for?
6. Don't worry. Seriously, I've spent a lot of unnecessary money when I first started traveling Europe simply out of fear of the unknown; I'd stay at the nice "North American Style" hotels, waste money on travelers checks, and eat at restaurants that spoke English. Not only did I waste a lot of money, but I also missed out on a lot of the local culture. So, just don't worry and plunge in as if you are a local.
7. Rent a car. If you're planning on visiting many cities in a single country or region (and you have at least one person travelling with you), car rental can be the best deal. You can rent cars for around 100 euros per week in many parts of Europe so it's not only cheaper than all the train tickets you might otherwise need, but you'll get to see the countryside too - which is where the traditional culture often thrives. One more note: diesel cars are much more economical.
8. The best souvenirs are the memories. Do you really need that Paris bumper sticker?
1. Be flexible with dates; even a few days of flexibility can save you a lot of money. Search for tickets by entering date ranges instead of very specific dates and times. Check out www.skycanner.net to find the cheapest flights in your date range (there are also other equally good cheap-flight checkers on the web - I just happen to use this one).
2. Be flexible on your destination. Usually, I don't even know which country or city I want to visit; I just say "I want to travel for a few days sometime in September" and see what interests me at the best price.
3. Book early. This is usually a given, but particularly true for trains. I've been able to find low-cost plane tickets just a few days before departure a number of times, but train tickets that could have been purchased for 30 euros if booked 2 months early could cost up to 100 euros just a few days before departure.
4. Consider connection costs for the cheap flights. Often, you only save [for example] 50 euros by taking the low cost airline instead of, say, Air France, but the fact that the low cost airline requires a long trek to and from the departing and destination airports can often make up the difference easily and, even worse, sometimes cost you more.
5. Eat food from the markets. For the first few months of travel throughout Europe we always went to the really nice restaurants and ate wonderfully. But, once we tried buying local food at markets and eating by the many fountains and piazzas throughout Europe, we began to enjoy those (cheap) meals more than the expensive ones. They cost less, you get to try out your French/Spanish/Italian/Whatever at the market, and watch the people and culture walk by as you enjoy the local fare in a Piazza - what more can you ask for?
6. Don't worry. Seriously, I've spent a lot of unnecessary money when I first started traveling Europe simply out of fear of the unknown; I'd stay at the nice "North American Style" hotels, waste money on travelers checks, and eat at restaurants that spoke English. Not only did I waste a lot of money, but I also missed out on a lot of the local culture. So, just don't worry and plunge in as if you are a local.
7. Rent a car. If you're planning on visiting many cities in a single country or region (and you have at least one person travelling with you), car rental can be the best deal. You can rent cars for around 100 euros per week in many parts of Europe so it's not only cheaper than all the train tickets you might otherwise need, but you'll get to see the countryside too - which is where the traditional culture often thrives. One more note: diesel cars are much more economical.
8. The best souvenirs are the memories. Do you really need that Paris bumper sticker?
September 17, 2006
I'll never see it all... but I'll sure have fun trying.
Our European Adventures
Originally uploaded by SaurabhA.
So far, we've had a great time, made some great friends and have had the opportunity to tour around France, Europe, and even India and Tanzania.
Some of the sights we've seen so far:
France: Paris, Champagne, Saint Malo, Mont Saint Michel, Loire Valley, Strasbourg, Marseille, Bordeaux, St. Emillion, Arcachon, Cannes, Toulon, Nice, Antibes
Monaco
Germany: Berlin, Baden-Baden, Heidelberg, Rhine Valley, Frankfurt, Rothenburg, Munich, Fussen, Stuttgart
Portugal: Lisbon
Spain: Barcelona, Madrid
Italy: Rome (in 2003), Florence (in 2003), Venice, Milan
Switzerland: Geneva, Bern, Zurich, Interlaken
Belgium: Brussels, Bruges
Netherlands: Amsterdam
Hungary: Budapest
Austria: Vienna
Czech Republic: Prague
United Kingdom: London
Greece: Athens, Hydra
Turkey: Istanbul
India: Bangalore, Pune
Tanzania: Dar es Salaam, Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Lake Manyara, Zanzibar
Poland: Warsaw, Krakow
Here are my Favorite European Photos.
My wish list:
China, Southern Spain, Egypt, Scandanavia, Ireland, Scotland, Russia, Ukraine, South America, New Zealand, Australia, Kenya, Morocco, Antarctica, Alaska, Madagascar, Japan, India, Syria, Jordan