Travel and Maggi

Day 1

Some of the fall outs of last minute decisions during peak season are having to deal with annoying itineraries and ridiculous prices. Our flight to Puerto Rico had a 11 hour overnight layover in Atlanta. Whoops! Another hotel booking and double the check in baggage fees (Thanks Delta! Your customer service is something else. Not.) later, we arrived in Atlanta. We heard a lot of whooping and cheering in the airport arrivals section. The troops were home for the holidays - presumably from Iraq. While they deal with world problems, we had one brewing for ourselves - Dinner. No car + late night = hungry and irritated. Anyway problem solved. Luckily, we’d packed a few Maggi’s to get us through any bad days and poor culinary experiences (That’s life when you’re vegetarian). So, one maggi + coffee cups+ microwave later, we were all set to tackle the next day’s flight to San Juan – Puerto Rico!

Puerto Rico!

Puerto Rico trip – Dec 09

It’s funny how some decisions can be made very quickly. Out initial thoughts were to head to New Orleans for Christmas week. We even bought the travel guide! But something changed and off the fly (pun in retrospect) we decided to go someplace further. We booked our tickets to Puerto Rico and planned the entire trip in 2 weeks (after buying a new guide book of course). We did not have time to learn any Spanish phrases unfortunately.

Why Puerto Rico? Its in the Carribean. Its exotic. Its tropical which is nice since we've been shivering our a$$e$ out in Austin. Its not technically the US but we don't need a passport to get there from mainland US. (Imp since husband's passport was running out. Countries need 6 months validity for international travel. Not to mention that Indian passports always means visa i.e. more planning)

Trip Itinerary

Day 1 – Travel Austin- Atlanta. Overnight stay

Day 2 – Atlanta to San Juan – capital of Puerto Rico

Day 3 – San Juan and surroundings

Day 4 – Snorkeling and kayaking off Culebra (the Spanish Virgin isles)

Day 5 – El Yunke rainforest and kayaking into the bioluminescent bay in Fajardo

Day 6 – Luquillo beach – About 45 mins from San Juan

Day 7 – Driving on the Ruta Panaromica into the central mountains. Overnight stay in the mountains.

Day 8 – Guanica, in the South coast of Puerto Rico

Day 9 – Guanica

Day 10 – Return to Austin

PS: Advise for other Indians passport holders in the US planning a trip to Puerto Rico. Just your US driving license will do. Travel to Puerto Rico is considered domestic travel. You will not need your passport anywhere. Take it though - just to be safe (it has your US visa). Plus, your US mobile phones work there (no international roaming)

Travels and travails

I am going to kick start the revival of this blog with a brief description of the travels we have done here.

The real reason we came to the US was that a lot of other places are accessible from here. I think Sriram and I have been fairly happy with the travelling we have managed in the past 1 year (yes we recently completed out 1 year anniversary in Austin!).

Lets see. We arrived in Austin - Feb 09

April 09 - New York City - Always wonderful. Spent time with brother. Even after having spent months in NYC in the past, I had never seen Liberty island and Rockefeller Center. So with that done, I think I've completed the tourist circuit in NYC. Which means, I can do other stuff when I go there again next month. Oh wait its already March. So this month.Yippie!

June 09 - South Padre Island - Spring break Mecca and for us, a long interrogation by US emigration(the island is barely 30 miles from the border with Mexico). and we hadn't even left the state of Texas! One lesson learnt on that trip - carry passport everywhere you travel.

Houston - Boring. I can't even remember when we went!. Its the only place apart from Dallas (even more boring I hear) that's an easy drive from Austin. NASA was a total let down. Yawn. Did I say boring? The highlight of the trip was perhaps the old old pub we visited in downtown Houston. Their cash register was at least 2 centuries old and it rang real nice. Side note - I read just yesterday that the sound of the cash register is one of the most pleasant sounds on earth (it ranked something like #2 in a top ten list). The other highlight? I almost forgot. Leaving our car in a garage that was closed for a public holiday. Convincing the Mexican inside to let us in to retrieve the car so we can go back home was no mean task! Lesson - Use hotel valet. Even if it means 30 bucks a night. Robbery.

August 09 - Trip with parents and brother to the West Coast. Lovely

Vegas - Every bit as over the top as you hear it is. The shows are nice. The casinos - you could'nt lose your money faster. Vegas even seems to have liquor that costs thrice what it would in a regular pub. In any case, people from Austin are spoilt with the low cost of living. Couldn't believe that a pint of Budweiser (about 3-4 bucks in Austin) could be 9 bucks in Vegas. They just used some fancy packaging. Anyway, the fact that I lost my camera and it was actually found and returned to me (posted home by the Casino I lost it at). Priceless.

Grand Canyon - The best decision we made was to rent a car and do our own driving. The desert moonscapes around Vegas are to be seen to be believed. The Grand Canyon is breathtaking. We really want to go back there and make the hike down to the river. Sigh!

Los Angeles - Finally. The land of Hollywood. The drive was interesting. The traffic in LA - legendary. Universal studios - touristy. But surprisingly, we had a lot of fun. The veggie food in a cafe there was one of the best I've ever had. Santa Monica beach - cold. But a beautiful sunset.

The bay area and San Fransisco - Reunion with with old friend. Great time. San Fransisco - as magical as ever. The redwood trees again. I never cease to be amazed by their size. A whole day wine tasting in Napa - hic! I've never had this much champagne before. The flavoured ones were excellent.

Sept 09 - Trip to Bangalore and home sweet home. Does this count as "travel". I guess not. What would have counted was the trip to Goa. But then - that was a disaster. We got caught in torrential rains that flooded the area and we basically scooted from there before you can spell G-O-A. There was that trip to Calcutta too. The less said the better. The street food in Calcutta always rocks!

Dec 09 - Puerto Rico. Now this, I wont let any of you go easy. I have spent a precious few hours writing a travelogue and read it - you must. It will go on this blog shortly.

Am I back?

Its been a whole lot of time since I last blogged. Its funny how things turn out differently from what you imagine (I don't mean it in a good or bad way). Seeing as it was that I was set to make a huge move in life (really this is a pun!) to live and experience the US of A- Austin Texas it was. Wanted life to change a little bit- actually a whole lot. Living in Bangalore for all those years. Working. Earning good money. It was just way too predictable and I wanted to get away. Its even quite strange how the universe throws things at you when you need it. Not a few months before we left to the US - the husband and I, we had talked about how moving some place far - like the US will be really nice. So it happens.

I thought I'd have a lot to share and a lot to discuss and this blog would be brimming with posts. None of that happened.

It feels strange and I feel strange. I think I need to start writing again.