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
October 22, 2006
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
July 8, 2006
Tanzania, Zanzibar and Safari
Dates: June 24th - July 8th
Having a lifelong love for animals, our trip to Tanzania promised to truly be the trip of a lifetime - and boy, it certainly didn't disappoint.
We arrived in Dar es Salaam late on Saturday evening. It was great to see Nadya's parents again, and it was such a relief to see Sasha happy and living well in Tanzania. After two great days with Nadya's parents, wandering around Dar, eating fabulous food (both in restaurants and at home) and, of course, drinking lots of coconut water, we headed off to our Safari on Tuesday morning.
The Safari started off on a bit of a bad note. Our flight to Kilimanjaro from Dar was delayed for four hours. But you know what they say, good things come to those who wait... and the wait was worth it.
Our guide picked us up from Kilimanjaro airport and, after a small pitstop in Arusha to do some paperwork, we were on the road headed to Lake Manyara. After the long delay at the airport, Nadya and I were quite hungry and so we stopped at a souvenir shop off the side of the road for a picnic lunch; it sounds a little dry, but the shop had a nice thatch covered picnic table out front which was a nice place to stop for a quick picnic. We stayed there for about 30 minutes and then headed out for Lake Manyara.
Lake Manyara was very different than I expected. My impression of Africa was one of dry deserts and hot, arid plains. The Lake Manyara reserve is none of these things; in fact, it is a beautiful, lushly forested area surrounding a vast lake nestled in the mountains. I felt more like I was off-roading in the wilderness of British Columbia than in what I misguidedly had envisioned as Africa. Our first evening safari was by any measure, a success. The most beautiful giraffe picture I took on the whole trip was taken this first evening - just a simple closeup of a giraffe feeding. Following our first drive of the trip, we headed on to the Lake Manyara lodge for the night. Dinner and breakfast is included at all of the lodges and the food is considerably better than you'd think. Oddly, many of the people running the restaurants at the lodges throughout the safari are Indians, so each meal included some good, flavorful Indian food.
The second day on safari started with an early-morning drive in Lake Manyara. I must say, the fresh mountain air and the lush greenary this early morning was refreshing, as were the many animals out starting their day. The one animal that stands out in my mind from this drive was a poor, skinny male lion that had clearly seen better days - but there he was, wandering through the forest, probably searching for his next meal.
After the early morning drive and a quick shower and breakfast at Lake Manyara Lodge, we headed off for the long drive to the Serengeti. If I thought that Lake Manyara was lush, this drive would provide an even bigger surprise. Ngorongoro crater is the largest complete crater in the world. In addition to its unique topography that provides shelter for the animals, a cooling mist every morning, and altitude that allows thick forests to grow even during the usually dry, hot Tanzanian summers, Ngorongoro crater has extremely fertile volcanic soil. This soil, when combined with the other unique features of this region, result in amazingly green, thick, moist and full forest cover. The lucky animals of Ngorongoro have truly found the mytical garden of eden. I'll write a lot more about Ngorongoro a little later, but for now, we couldn't stay and had to continue on our journey to Serengeti.
[Still need to write about Serengeti]
[Still need to write about Ngorongoro]
[Still need to write about Zanzibar]
Day 1: Flight from Paris to Dar es Salaam
Day 2: Dar es Salaam
Day 3: Dar es Salaam
Day 4: Flight from Dar es Salaam to Kilimanjaro and Lake Manyara
Day 5: Lake Manyara, Serengeti
Day 6: Serengeti
Day 7: Serengeti and drive to Ngorongoro
Day 8: Ngorongoro and flight to Zanzibar
Day 9: Zanzibar
Day 10: Zanzibar and flight to Dar es Salaam
Day 11 - 14: Dar es Salaam
To summarize our trip: we had a fantastic time. There is nothing more beautiful than seeing these beautiful animals in their natural habitat. We saw so many animals, all unique in their own way. The most striking thing about seeing them in the wild is that they are so healthy and full of character and personality. We should really shut down all zoos and preserve their habitat so they can live free and naturally.
Having a lifelong love for animals, our trip to Tanzania promised to truly be the trip of a lifetime - and boy, it certainly didn't disappoint.
We arrived in Dar es Salaam late on Saturday evening. It was great to see Nadya's parents again, and it was such a relief to see Sasha happy and living well in Tanzania. After two great days with Nadya's parents, wandering around Dar, eating fabulous food (both in restaurants and at home) and, of course, drinking lots of coconut water, we headed off to our Safari on Tuesday morning.
The Safari started off on a bit of a bad note. Our flight to Kilimanjaro from Dar was delayed for four hours. But you know what they say, good things come to those who wait... and the wait was worth it.
Our guide picked us up from Kilimanjaro airport and, after a small pitstop in Arusha to do some paperwork, we were on the road headed to Lake Manyara. After the long delay at the airport, Nadya and I were quite hungry and so we stopped at a souvenir shop off the side of the road for a picnic lunch; it sounds a little dry, but the shop had a nice thatch covered picnic table out front which was a nice place to stop for a quick picnic. We stayed there for about 30 minutes and then headed out for Lake Manyara.
Lake Manyara was very different than I expected. My impression of Africa was one of dry deserts and hot, arid plains. The Lake Manyara reserve is none of these things; in fact, it is a beautiful, lushly forested area surrounding a vast lake nestled in the mountains. I felt more like I was off-roading in the wilderness of British Columbia than in what I misguidedly had envisioned as Africa. Our first evening safari was by any measure, a success. The most beautiful giraffe picture I took on the whole trip was taken this first evening - just a simple closeup of a giraffe feeding. Following our first drive of the trip, we headed on to the Lake Manyara lodge for the night. Dinner and breakfast is included at all of the lodges and the food is considerably better than you'd think. Oddly, many of the people running the restaurants at the lodges throughout the safari are Indians, so each meal included some good, flavorful Indian food.
The second day on safari started with an early-morning drive in Lake Manyara. I must say, the fresh mountain air and the lush greenary this early morning was refreshing, as were the many animals out starting their day. The one animal that stands out in my mind from this drive was a poor, skinny male lion that had clearly seen better days - but there he was, wandering through the forest, probably searching for his next meal.
After the early morning drive and a quick shower and breakfast at Lake Manyara Lodge, we headed off for the long drive to the Serengeti. If I thought that Lake Manyara was lush, this drive would provide an even bigger surprise. Ngorongoro crater is the largest complete crater in the world. In addition to its unique topography that provides shelter for the animals, a cooling mist every morning, and altitude that allows thick forests to grow even during the usually dry, hot Tanzanian summers, Ngorongoro crater has extremely fertile volcanic soil. This soil, when combined with the other unique features of this region, result in amazingly green, thick, moist and full forest cover. The lucky animals of Ngorongoro have truly found the mytical garden of eden. I'll write a lot more about Ngorongoro a little later, but for now, we couldn't stay and had to continue on our journey to Serengeti.
[Still need to write about Serengeti]
[Still need to write about Ngorongoro]
[Still need to write about Zanzibar]
Day 1: Flight from Paris to Dar es Salaam
Day 2: Dar es Salaam
Day 3: Dar es Salaam
Day 4: Flight from Dar es Salaam to Kilimanjaro and Lake Manyara
Day 5: Lake Manyara, Serengeti
Day 6: Serengeti
Day 7: Serengeti and drive to Ngorongoro
Day 8: Ngorongoro and flight to Zanzibar
Day 9: Zanzibar
Day 10: Zanzibar and flight to Dar es Salaam
Day 11 - 14: Dar es Salaam
To summarize our trip: we had a fantastic time. There is nothing more beautiful than seeing these beautiful animals in their natural habitat. We saw so many animals, all unique in their own way. The most striking thing about seeing them in the wild is that they are so healthy and full of character and personality. We should really shut down all zoos and preserve their habitat so they can live free and naturally.
June 6, 2006
French Riviera
Dates: June 2nd to June 6th, 2006
Marseille, Toulon, Cannes, Antibes, Nice, Monaco
I had to go to Cannes for a Business Objects user conference in May. Unfortunately, I didn't take Nadya with me, but promised to take her back to the South of France ASAP. So, without delay, we decided to take a five day vacation to Marseille, Toulon, Cannes, Antibes, Nice and Monaco a month later.
We started the trip off with a 3 hour TGV train ride from Paris to Marseille, where we rented a car and started driving along the coast. Since we had been to Marseille a few months earlier, we decided not to spend any time and and just head on off to Cannes.
For our first night, we stayed in Cannes. We mostly just spent the evening having dinner at a nice Italian restaurant near the shore and wandered around the promenade for a few hours.
The next day, we headed off to Nice. The drive from Cannes to Nice was, well, nice and the beautiful turquoise water was just like all of the pictures we'd seen of the area. We spent two nights in Nice with trips to the market, wandering around town and two drives along the corniches to Monaco.
We actually ended up going to Monaco twice. First, we drove through the grand corniche during the day. This was an incredible drive with incredible views and a rather scary, winding scenary. In Monaco, we visited the museum and walked through the gardens and to the palace. Monaco was beautiful; very much like an adult disneyland. Clean, shiny, safe, but beautiful. In the evening, we had dinner in Villefrance sur mer and spent another evening in Monaco. This time, we just sat outside the Monte Carlo drinking cafes and eating a great ice cream sundae. Just watching the people and incredible cars was quite a scene. Sometimes there is nothing better in the world than just sitting there watching and taking in the ambience.
After two nights in Nice, some walks around town and long walks along the beach, we headed off to Marseille to spend the 4th night and relax. Our plan was to go to Chateau D'If but, for some reason, the boats weren't running that day. This was a let down since we'd now been to Marseille twice in the last few months, but not once being able to get to Chateau D'If.... well, better luck next time.
All in all, we had a fantastic trip. Gotta love those French RTT days that you can wrap around the weekends to take a 5 day break in some of the most beautiful places in the world!
Marseille, Toulon, Cannes, Antibes, Nice, Monaco
I had to go to Cannes for a Business Objects user conference in May. Unfortunately, I didn't take Nadya with me, but promised to take her back to the South of France ASAP. So, without delay, we decided to take a five day vacation to Marseille, Toulon, Cannes, Antibes, Nice and Monaco a month later.
We started the trip off with a 3 hour TGV train ride from Paris to Marseille, where we rented a car and started driving along the coast. Since we had been to Marseille a few months earlier, we decided not to spend any time and and just head on off to Cannes.
For our first night, we stayed in Cannes. We mostly just spent the evening having dinner at a nice Italian restaurant near the shore and wandered around the promenade for a few hours.
The next day, we headed off to Nice. The drive from Cannes to Nice was, well, nice and the beautiful turquoise water was just like all of the pictures we'd seen of the area. We spent two nights in Nice with trips to the market, wandering around town and two drives along the corniches to Monaco.
We actually ended up going to Monaco twice. First, we drove through the grand corniche during the day. This was an incredible drive with incredible views and a rather scary, winding scenary. In Monaco, we visited the museum and walked through the gardens and to the palace. Monaco was beautiful; very much like an adult disneyland. Clean, shiny, safe, but beautiful. In the evening, we had dinner in Villefrance sur mer and spent another evening in Monaco. This time, we just sat outside the Monte Carlo drinking cafes and eating a great ice cream sundae. Just watching the people and incredible cars was quite a scene. Sometimes there is nothing better in the world than just sitting there watching and taking in the ambience.
After two nights in Nice, some walks around town and long walks along the beach, we headed off to Marseille to spend the 4th night and relax. Our plan was to go to Chateau D'If but, for some reason, the boats weren't running that day. This was a let down since we'd now been to Marseille twice in the last few months, but not once being able to get to Chateau D'If.... well, better luck next time.
All in all, we had a fantastic trip. Gotta love those French RTT days that you can wrap around the weekends to take a 5 day break in some of the most beautiful places in the world!