Trips during our first year together

Travelling into the next phase of life with a significant other. We arrived at JFK airport in the evening of New Year’s Eve. Had a bonus side trip to Amsterdam, a fun filled 9 hours between flights exploring the sights near the grand centraal station and quick visit to Madurodam. Our cousin gave us a ride home and invited us to attend the celebration at the Bridgewater temple to usher in the New Year.

Our first road trip in the US was to the temple. He hadn't been there before and we lost our way. We arrived past midnight... thus beginning our adventures on the road. I always believed who and where we spend the New Year with charts the happenings of the year ahead and as expected, that year was filled with travel. Road trips during the spring and summer months and air travel in fall.

AAA helped us plan the routes and with triptik, travel books and map in hand we went on our adventures.   

• Mid-April, my husband had an official visit the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and we made it a short vacation including a drive thru and stay over in the Shenandoah National park, and a visit with family close to DC. We had the most wonderful time and I absolutely enjoyed being navigator and reading maps.
• May, we went to DC and in June to Boston. We stayed in downtown hotels where my husband was busy attending to his work while I enjoyed the local sights.
• July 4th, long weekend we went to Niagara falls via Corning, NY(loved the glass museum).  In Niagara falls on the canadian side, we stayed at a beautiful Bed and Breakfast place not too far from the falls. The fireworks, both in Canada and US were spectacular and the highlights of our trip.
• Later in July, we drove to Pittsburgh, PA for a birthday celebration in the family. We also visited the ISKCON Palace of Gold in West Virginia for a day. On our way back to NJ late in the evening, we got caught in an electric storm (lots of thunder and lightning without any rain) driving thru the open Pennsylvania country side.. The ups and downs in the terrain made it a spectacular sight to behold and also the most unique experience.

It was the last road trip we made that year. We went to India in October and surprised the family, arriving unannounced. We had our beautiful baby girl in December of the same year.

Note: Please bear with me on the lack of pictures; I will add some in the coming days. With no digital camera, we have lots of prints stored away carefully in cartons, and they need to be sorted, catalogued and scanned before I can share them.

My journey as a traveller..

Travel makes you realize people are the same all the world. As you know, I grew up in Bombay and travelled a lot around India with my family.  Now moving on to my journey, travelling alone or with friends. 

My first solo train trip was to Hyderabad by second class sleeper, the year I graduated from college.  My cousin lived there with his family and went to visit.  Also visited with close family friends in Secunderabad. I had met the family as a 5 year old with my parents and now I was a young lady ready to take on the world.  It was where I met my first boss, who asked me to stop by his workplace when I got back home. The offered me a job and soon enough I was off on my very first plane trip to Delhi for training.

Air travel was new to me.  I remembered asking dad as an 8 or 9 year old, if we could go by plane and was surprised when he said 'No', I couldn't understand, he travelled on most of his business trips by air. I didn't know it was expensive.  He told me, I travel by air since time is important in business and my company pays for all my business travel. When you grow older maybe you will also travel on the job. And I did.

In my second job, I travelled a whole lot more. As an analyst, my projects were in different parts of India.  During the years I worked there, I lived in Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi, Bangalore for extended periods of time.  I had a great group of friends and colleagues, we traveled quite a bit, hiking and trekking together. Discovering new places when we went on business conferences and conventions together as a group.

Finally, landed up with a consultants job in the middle east.. and was able to visit Kuwait, Dubai, Bahrain, and peep into Saudi, too.

My future husband and I fell in love while travelling across Italy by train. We had met the year before thanks to a mutual friend when he visited India to mee his family.  A few months later, I was working in the middle east.  We kept in touch and decided to meet half way in Italy. It was great fun getting to know him and discovering our mutual love for travel, meeting people, visiting places, learning the history and geography of the country and city, exploring museums, churches, gardens, and trying out various cuisines... Together, we managed to see 10 cities in 9 days. Rome, Genoa, Venice, Milan, Florence, Pisa, Naples, Capri, Sorrento, and Pompeii. 

We got married a year later.  As newly weds we had a fun time travelling in India.  We went to Delhi & Agra, Explored Goa, Tamil Nadu(Madras, Madurai, Kodaikanal, Coimbatore, Chidambaram to name a few)  and also Palghat district in Kerala.  Visiting with family and friends.  I was surprised by his love for shopping and bargaining.  Unexpectedly my papers were ready and I was able to travel back to the US with him 6 weeks later. Two days before the New Year.

Now you have some background and can better understand why travelling is such a huge part of who we are... More in the next...

Why do we travel.. Here goes my first blog..

'Travel grows the mind' my dad always said, a man of great wisdom.  I start with my dad as he is the inspiration to most of the things I do and who I am, today.   

We, my parents, sisters and I, travelled to various parts of India.  He travelled a great deal around the world on business trips.  Growing up our vacations took us all over India - Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamilnadu, Karnataka, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh..... when we travelled to Delhi to visit with one cousin, we also travelled to Chandigarh to visit another and then on to Shimla, Mathura, Agra, Fathepur Sikri, etc. on the side.  Every vacation had a primary location and many small trips on the side.  We depended on trains and buses, rickshaws, horse cart, bullock cart, whatever got us to where we wanted to go.. Helped that India has a great network of trains and bus even as early as the 60's when I was a little kid.   

We also had good people connections.. A network of family; first, second, third and sometimes fourth cousins and friends.  It wasn't one sided, they often visited and stayed with us in Bombay.  My parents were great hosts.  My mom had awesome people skills,, was a great cook, and loved history, geography and languages, all adding great value to our travels... We all loved to attend family weddings and various social gatherings, both closeby and in far away places.

Almost every Saturday afternoon, we would go to town by bus. Dad would quiz us about the important buildings we passed by, flora fountain, Victoria terminus, prince of wales museum, Jahangir art gallery are some places that come to mind... We visited art exhibitions, book fairs, anything interesting, walked in and out of stores, ate street food and more.  We looked  foward to our Saturday afternoons.  Never knowing where we would go until we got on a bus.. Malabar hills, Crawford market, nariman point....

Travelling on the job, gave me a very different perspective.  It took me to various cities across the country and allowed me to meet people from different backgrounds, cultures, nationalities and I learn that people everywhere are the basically the same.  I love people.

Once bitten by the travel bug it stays with you forever.  Our trips in those days were often on a tight and small budget.  The idea was to get out of our busy city lifestyle and connect with each other, we usually  travelled by second  and third class.   I remember playing cards, dumb charades, scrabble, word games, reading books..  Talking and making friends with total strangers... Also, watching the beautiful scenery, mountains, valleys, cities, towns, villages as the train chugged on..  The dust and discomfort a minor inconvenience,  it was all part of the vacation and discovering the country, family and more. The places and people mattered a whole lot more than luxuries and vacations to exotic locations. 

This is how it started, the next one is about my journey..