Saturday, 17 December 2016

The awesome Plan B

My funda in life is simple you are here to enjoy your life to the fullest and if you do what you love you will always have a great time <3

No matter where you go, you will always have fun and come with beautiful memories. So the initial plan was to go to Rann of Kutch but turns out Plan B was more fun.I was in Ahmadabad , I decided to go solo again.

So to start with on saturday morning randomly browsing through pictures I discovered this lovely place called "Thol bird sanctuary". As it was just 26km from where I was staying, I thought of giving a shot. I checked with local cab dealers, Ola and finally settled for 500rs round trip with auto driver. I think it was a good deal :)

It hardly took us 30-40 to reach the place. It was 2:30 PM when I reached thol , I payed 50 rs at the ticket counter and started my walk into the forest.
Its a very lovely place, I instantly fell in love with the place. You can see lovers making out, photographers busy with there high end cameras, families having mini picnic, boys groups chasing girls and passing comments, kids having a great time running here and there and trying to scare the birds :). But as you go deep into the forest, you are on your own :) the silence, the birds, the lake, the sun rays, the trees ,everything is so serene that you completely forget everything and start enjoying nature and its beauty.
 

I was all alone but not lonely or scared, I was infact loving it <3. I started clicking pics of birds, forest, selfies and for some time i was just sitting there ideal doing nothing and feeling relaxed and happy.


There is only 1 food stall which sells water and some chips. But I had bananas ,apple and water with me so that was my lunch for the day :) as i had already had a heavy breakfast.
It was an amazing experience, it reminded me of Helsinki forests :)

Next day early morning I booked a whole day cab with Ola which costed be around 2700rs for entire day, distance covered was 290kms. I know its costly but I wanted to cover remote places and wont be able to do the same by using public transport.
Anyways so my first stop was beautiful Sun Temple of Modhera - 96km from my place. The entry fee for Sun temple is 15rs for Indians and 300rs for Foreigners. This sun temple is dedicated to Sun God. It is situated on the banks of Pushpavati River in Modhera, Gujarat. the temple is built in such a manner that the sun light, peeping into the temple from all sides, falls directly on the statue of the god.





In front of the temple is a colossal tank, which was once known as Surya kund or Rama Kund.
It is photographers paradise, it is very beautiful place. I took pictures from almost all the sides and as i was not quite satisfied with my selfies skills, I rather asked people to click pictures of me :)

From there we moved to another beautiful place just 37km, Rani ki Vav( The queen's Stepwell).The road to Rani ki vav goes through a narrow village. I first had lunch at the toran hotel, which is near the location. There were much options, so i opted for puri bhaji and chas. The entry fee for Rani ki Vav is also same as Sun temple.



Rani ki vav is an intricately constructed stewell situated in the town of Patan, Gujarat. It is Unesco, world heritage Site and located on the banks of Saraswati River which was built in 11th century during Solanki Dynasty.

Just near by is Patola house, where you can witness the patola sari making process. The entry fee is 10rs and they explain the entire history and weaving process of Patola sari. In the 12th Century King of Solanki Dynasty invited 700 patola weavers to Patan. Since then they are making these beautiful silk saris. Each year they can make only 3 sari and cost starts from 1.5 lac per sari.


From there i wanted to visit the bohra houses. Siddhpur have the magnificent and beautiful havelis or medieval homes of Bohra traders. They are famous for their delicate wooden architecture and interior decoration of medieval style of India.
Some gilrs wanted to be in my photo, I asked them how will i give them these pics and they were just happy getting clicked :)



I would say it was a weekend well spent and I love such adventours where I can be with myself and do whatever I love to do.
Thats all for now, see you later.
Do what you love and do it more often.  What a t shirt reference :)





Thursday, 25 February 2016

She is Woman



She is beautiful
She is smart
She is intelligent
She is funny
She is witty
She is naughty
She is caring
She is loving
She is understanding
She is Strong
She is independent
But who is she???
She is Daughter, She is sister, She is wife, She is friend, She is Mother.
She is you , She is me, She is Woman...

This blog is dedicated to all woman's out there who are simply awesome...
She loves to travel , she loves to dance, she loves to cook, she loves to drive....
Drive?? Oh yess she knows it and loves it... Its her passion and dream. And that dream came true when Times women's drive announced there all women's drive to Goa.She got wings to her dreams thanks to @Timeswomensdrive

Its a drive with purpose... What a brilliant Idea of spreading breast cancer awareness with friends and fun. She is glad to be part of this Nobel cause. And what better way to celebrate womanhood, friendship, Independence, spreading cancer Awareness, Making new friends,Enjoying the drive.

@timeswomendrive are spreading awareness from past 6 years. It all started with 150 cars from Mumbai, driven exclusively by women all the way to Lavasa and this year its Pune,Mumbai and Bangalore all the way to Goa, total of 435 cars.For the love of fulfilling dreams, feels great doesn't it??? 

They have won various awards : Guinness Book of World Records, the Limca Book of Records, the INMA, but the best award is smile on each woman's face :)

They are doing an awesome Job and we women are blessed to be part of this Nobel cause. Hope by reading this article and checking there sites you all would get inspired and join them/follow them. Cheers to Womanhood!!! Cheers to being woman!!! Cheers to each one of you!!!!!
Be Yourself!!! Be You!!!!!



Check this song out : I am strong(strong), I am invincible(invincible) , I am woman.

There official Site: http://timeswomensdrive.com/about-us.php
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavasa_Women%27s_Drive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TimesWomensDrive
Twitter: @Timeswomendrive
Instagram: Timeswomendrive

Comment below...What do you think? Who is She :)

Monday, 4 January 2016

First Solo - TN @Glance


" Traveling alone is the single best gift you can give to yourself" and that is exactly what I did when i decided to travel to the unknown - Tamil Nadu.

Main udna chahti hoon, daudna chahti hoon, girna bhi chahti hoon(Fractured my leg) ... bus rukna... Rukana nahi chahti......




All said have you gone mad to go alone(Read akeli ladki khuli tijori in India) but I said why not?? Why should boys have all the fun!!!!
So here I go all alone on my own, no pre booked package no travel agents.... all on my own...
Even I was scared at first .... but after reaching my first destination .... I just forgot everything .. n started enjoying, having fun and making new Friends on my way.... I had never enjoyed so much with anyone else than I enjoyed with my self .... It is altogether a different experience when you travel all alone... you don't know what is going to happen next ... where will you stay ... how that city will be ... how will ppl treat you .... and when you are all scared you get to meet some awesome ppl on your way.. and the unexpected happens ....you start enjoying your own company... you don't feel alone anymore .... and you fall in love with yourself.... It is an awesome experience and I believe everyone should try it and experience the magic of traveling ....


Pune=>Chennai=>Mahabalipuram=>Pondicherry=>Madurai=>Kanyakumari=>Rameshwaram=>Kodaikanal=>B'lore=>Pune

Mode of Travel : Flight,Bus,train,auto and truck :)

Made friends from all around the world.



I think everyone should experience the magic of travel....To travel is to take a journey into yourself. Do what you feel like doing... Listen to your heart...Never give up on what you really what to do... Its your life.... Live it the way you want to not what others expect out of you..... Believe in yourself and live life to the fullest!!!!! There a whole world out there go explore it

Wednesday, 23 December 2015

Ho Ho !!!! Meet Santa

First of all wish you all a very merry Christmas!!! May all your dreams come true..
Video : Chat with Santa

 

So lets begin the journey to meet Santa himself and to less unknown world of Arctic Circle.
From childhood i always wanted to meet Santa. So when I was in Helsinki I decided to make my dream come true and planned a trip to Rovaniemi - The Official Hometown of Santa Claus.



Rovaniemi:

Rovaniemi is a city in the Finland's northernmost province, Lapland.It is the capital of Lapland and official land of Santa.
You can refer these sites for Info: Rovaniemi Info

 When to Visit:

Rovaniemi can be visited during Winter time(mostly preferred) or during Summer time.
Winter time:
Northern Light's:  The Northern Lights are best viewed on clear nights between late August and late March.
Winter sports
Summer time:
Mindnight Sun : Rovaniemi basks in the light of the Midnight Sun from early June to early July.
summer activities and events
September is the time of Autumn Leaf Color, and nature virtually explodes into a spectacular display of earthy hues

 How to Reach:

By Air: 
Daily flights between Rovaniemi and Helsinki are operated by Finnair and Norwegian throughout the year
By Road:
Finnish railroads are operated by state company VR. Rovaniemi is easy to reach by rail from many Finnish towns, with several trains running to and from Helsinki every day.
Rovaniemi is easy to get to by car from all directions.

 Where to Stay:

There are good and cheap options in rovaniemi for staying, you can refer the below link.
Booking Hotel

What all to See:

  • Santa Claus
  • Northern Lights
  • Artic circle
  •  Midnight Sun
  • Ranua Wildlife Park

 

 

 

Planning begins 


Now that i definitely want to go to rovaniemi , lets plan how, with whom, budget,accommodation, flight tickets, sight seeing.

What I actually Did:


First part was convincing someone to come along, which is the toughest one. After convincing 7 friends finally 1 friend actually showed interest and the trip date was freezed - 24th July 2015. I visited rovaniemi during the summer time as I was going back to india on 15th Aug 2015.

I got a great deal and I booked the return train tickets from Helsinki to Rovaniemi for 64 Euro per head. Out train was from Helsinki to Ollu and Ollu to Rovaniemi, if we took direct train , it was expensive.
Total Journey time - 15 hours one side(some buffer time)





We booked hotel borealis. It is good guesthouse near to railyway station and has clean rooms with basic towel, clean bedsheets, free wifi, guest parking and kitchen. They also provide you breakfast in the morning.
Total Cost - 60 euro per night.















 We started our exciting journey with a cup of coffee- Kulta Katrina.

Initial Plan:

 Day 1 25th July 2015 - Visit Santa Claus Village.
                                         Have great lunch and dinner.
                                         Roam around the city
                                         Watch Midnight Sun

Day 2 26th July 2015 - Visit Zoo
                                       Artikum
                                       Back to helsinki with great memories.

Trains all over the europe are always on schedule. We reached rovaniemi at around 11 AM in the morning. We rushed to our hotel following the instructions mentioned in the map.
Plan for the day was to spend the entire day at Santa clause village, come back and have a little party and see the midnight sun. But as soon as we reached Bus top our plan went for a toss as the last bus for Santa clause village had already left so now we needed to change our plan as below

Actual Plan:

 Day 1 25th July 2015 - Visit Artikum
                                         Have great lunch and dinner.
                                         Roam around the city
                                         Watch midnight sun from the balcony(as we were drunk).

Day 2 26th July 2015 - Visit Santa Claus Village
                                       Visit Zoo
                                       Back to helsinki with great memories.

We decided to visit the artikum , roam around city, have Mc d burger, have some drink and just relax.
Artikum is nice but not that great, may be we had lot of expectations from it, but it was a different experience . Some glimpse of it.



The day ended with nice finnish Vodaka - koskenkorva and some nonsense talks. Overall the day was not as expected but still it was lot of fun :)

Day 2 Sunday :

We got up early, backed all our luggage, had breakfast (cornflakes, fruits, milk/coffee, juice,cake,muffin, bread butter , jam, eggs) and headed straight to the bus depo to catch our bus to Santa claus village. 
It was a small 10 seater bus. We reached the village in about 30 min. This was the best part of the trip atleast for me, not for him - he wanted some snow and sledging and all but hello!!!! it is summer time, how can you expect snow. ...
Anyways i was very happy and did everything as per plan.
Met Santa - Huge queue , had to wait for 40 min but it was all worth it.
Sent letters to my near and dear ones :)
Got my letter of certificate - Artic circle.
Clicked many pictures and had lots of fun


Then we checked the bus to the Zoo but it was already late and we didnt had much time so we decided to go by cab instead - it cost us 270 bugs :( but its okay it happens..
Okay now the zoo is far from the city , you can visit this if you really want to see some wild artic animals else you can skip it. The charges are 12 euro entry fee per head.





We took the same cab back to our guest house, took our luggage , packed food from indian restuarant and headed station to catch our train to helsinki.

Do let me know did you like this article and also if you have any questions/ suggestions post in the comments box below.