Posts for International Travel
By Arvind Srinivasan
What would you do if you saw 11 teenage Mexicans in your neighborhood at midnight? Chances are, it's not what Mexicans do when they see 11 American boys in their neighborhood at midnight. I traveled to Guaymas, in the mainland of Mexico near San Carlos, on an immersion trip from my high school this February, and if I were asked the same question before and after the trip, I would surely have two different answers. It was truly a life changing trip.
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By Rohini Mohan
Are you one of those people who dream of being on a floating Bohemia, your every need catered to, while you lie on your deck chair in the sun, sipping your margarita, with miles of deep blue ocean to feast your eyes on? Or do you belong to the category that develops a rash at the thought of being confined to a ship for days on end, herded together with a loud, milling crowd, your only respite being unbearably touristy, over-commercialized ports of call? My husband used to be a die hard category 2, but after a 5 day tryst with a Carnival Cruise vacation, he is slowly inching his way into category 1 - well, kinda…
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By Rohini Mohan
 I could wax eloquent about the pleasure of taking a ‘back to nature’ holiday. Or how living in the Bay Area allows me the freedom to execute on it at the drop of a hat. The mountains, the desert, a thousand rivers and lakes, a national park, the ocean, I just have to wish it and I’m there within a few hours.
A couple of weeks ago we were reminiscing about one of the best trips we ever took – river rafting in the Ganga from Shivpuri to Rishikesh. The thrill of riding some of the most ferocious rapids in the world, the excitement of sleeping on the banks of the river, the fun of camping in the wild outdoors - my son was most envious of our nostalgia. We wanted to treat him to the same experience, and both California and Google came through dependably. An hour of research, a couple of phone calls and we were all set for a weekend rafting expedition on the American River less than an hour from Sacramento, in the heart of Gold Country. Loading ... |
By Madhav Mohan
 It’s that time of the year again. I am en route to India on one of my regular trips and I make yet another weary pit stop at good old Frankfurt airport. As arriving flights spit out people crisscrossing the globe, I am reminded of the Spaceports in the Science Fiction novels of yesteryear. Frankfurt airport could well be an intergalactic transit planet (or was it a white dwarf?) with hyper ships bringing in creatures from worlds light years away, on their way to some other exotic universe. I’ve traveled this route some years now and have long since ceased to be amazed at the sight of the throngs of Indians lounging in the transit area or sleepwalking past the Duty Free Stores in Terminal 1. But I never fail to get a kick out of the fact that I will typically meet 2 or 3 people I know.
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By R. Arun Kumar
 Imagine if you were asked, “When did you feel the happiest?” or its derivative, “What makes you feel full of life?” I might fumble with my reply if the question came out-of-the-blue, but when I am sitting behind the steering wheel of my car, peering ahead at an empty stretch of road that seems to go on forever, an azure blue sky beckoning me on, places crossed out in a folded piece of map waiting to be explored, the answer has always seemed so clear to me. I love the open road and all its possibilities…. More »
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By Rohini Mohan
 The Grand Canyon, painstakingly chiseled out over millions of years is testimony to the relentless power of nature. When you stand atop its great rim and peer down at the Colorado River, centuries of natural, geological and human history silently stare back at you. It humbles, you, yes, but it also provides you with a feeling of intense gratification, that you are part of its sheer magnificence, that it is a part of you. More »
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By Vidya Pradhan
 Global warming, shlobal warming! I refuse to be despondent about the future of a species that can be crammed into progressively smaller and smaller spaces over longer and longer periods of time and still be able to smile at the end of it. I am referring of course to our 7 hour flight to Newark, New Jersey on a trip to the Rocking Horse Ranch(RHR). Loading ... |
By Vidya Pradhan
 Travel tip No. 1. If vacationing in winter, make sure your connections are not through blizzard prone areas. I learnt this the hard way when we missed our connecting flight through Denver the week of the big snowstorm. After scrambling around for alternate flights we finally found some tickets on Southwest 2 days later. Of course we did get snowed by the full price fares. Sigh! Anniversary and birthday presents are on indefinite hold now.
San Antonio is such a little known holiday destination among my friends and acquaintances that everyone I told about it assumed we were visiting relatives. But the idea came from some website which assured us that kids would have plenty to keep them entertained. And raising a couple of Gen Z kids with low attention spans and boredom thresholds made that the most important criterion. Loading ... |
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