Its been about 2.5 months since we went to Switzerland and I'm still to get over the hangover. The place was picture perfect and couldnt have been better. That was also when I was last with Shikha. It gets exciting to think that in another 5 days I'll be with her again. This mini-travelogue was long due and I figured I finish it off at one go before the non-photographic memories take wing and flitter off.
Deciding on Switzerland
All our planning was done at last moment. We had earlier subscribed to an expensive timeshare resort scheme from Club Mahindra hoping to get to holiday in their Swiss properties and have a place to holiday for the next 25 years. We had decided on going to Switzerland because:
1. Shikha had to carry on to Boston from there and the flights seemed to be just perfect.
2. Greece would've been a little hot and VERY party-like at that point in the year - something we were'nt looking forward to, after so many marriage parties and running around.
3. We wanted something beautiful and relaxed and yet something that would be varied enough to appeal to our backpacking nature.
4. UK, though good from a connecting flight point of view - provided too iffy weather and a stupid infrastructure if you didnt have your car around the countryside.
5. Switzerland promised to be the most tourist friendly and give enough cultural variety - Swiss, German, Italian and French for a 12-day trip without running around too much.
6. We did NOT want to backpack around more than one country in Europe - esp on the honeymoon and with Shikha's super heavy luggage.
7. I was quite familiar with Switzerland so it would'nt as stressful considering that there was no time to research any other place
The timeshare of course didnt work - we realised that it is next to Impossible to get reservations on a Timeshare resort even two months before a holiday and in high season (even though we had bought a high-season timeshare). And we're not the kinds that plan a holiday so much in advance. So I cancelled our Timeshare just in time to get back the huge advance I had paid and were left with no honeymoon planned all of a sudden. Thanks for that g-talk discussion we had, Vij:)...you played a part in helping me cancel!!
We wanted to go someplace where we wouldnt able to just get up and go to in day to day life so Europe sounded ideal given our current situation (SE Asia would have been monsoony and India is something we keep doing anyway, all the time). So Europe it was and Switzerland it was. We also were totally against a package tour concept - doing it all yourself has an element of fun thats unparalelled.
Air Tickets
The visa was out of the way, we had tickets to Switz after much comparison (hot tip: select one travel agent and go with them, rather than going to too many places or websites). Make my Trip was'nt the cheapest option - the friendly neighbourhood travel agent was. We chose Mayfair travels (Nariman Point) to book our tickets and they gave us fair rates - better than some others and equal to many others. We travelled Swiss Airlines which though costlier, provided great service and of course, dropped us and luggage safely off at Zurich, Boston and Bombay respectively.
Stay
I went online and reserved a small studio apartment in the hills in central Switzerland where we could park all the luggage and then go all around the country (a little bit of backpacking was the idea behind it) and be totally relaxed in case we wanted to stay in on a day.
The high season in Switzerland (and all of Europe) is exactly when we were planning to go - July/August - so the costs were about 30%-50% more than in average season. It was a little tough to decide on something without seeing it and the Thorn Tree Forum on Lonely Planet came REALLY handy. Fellow travellers there helped me decide in real time and we had the apartment all figured out over emails. Sweet!
Our apartment was overlooking a glacier and though being Indian I was fairly cynical, it more than matched our expectations when we reached there.
Local travel
This is the most important part of planning - and can prove to be the costliest if you dont plan well. We had figured that we wanted to make use of the opportunity and see as much of the country as we could and yet be relaxed when we wanted to be. Euro rail offers a host of travel options. Swiss rail is fortunately the best of the Euro rails and VERY costly if you book individual tickets.
Unlimited travel passes are hence, the best option in case you're going to be travelling a lot and at your whim. Swiss rail offers many kinds of travel passes - the family pass, the super saver pass (for 2 or more adults travelling), the the Swiss card (first and last day unlimited travel and 50% on intervening days).
Considering that we'd be travelling across the length and breadth of the coutnry, we got a Swiss Rail Super saver pass for unlimited travel for 8 consecutive days (the next number of days is 15 - wish they had one for 10!). This entitled us to:
1. Unlimited travel on the Swiss rail network,
2. All trams and buses in all cities and most Post Buse routes (the Post office - die post operates buses in Switz) between cities
3. Most boats on most of the lakes in Switz (and there are MANY lakes in Switz)
4. Free entry to most of the museums and galleries in Switzerlands
All of this for approx Rs10k per head and was the best and the most VFM purchase we did for our Swiss trip.
Most of the trains run unreserved - lots of space and you need reservations on only a few special trains like the Glacier express or the Wilhelm Tell express or the Jungfraujoch bahn - and the extra amount is payable on the spot.
The Swiss rail pass can be purchased from any travel agent in India - we got ours from Thomas Cook who incidentally also gave excellent forex services for Shikha's Dollar needs for the US.
Forex planning
It is important to carry your own forex beforehand and not change at the last moment. Reason being that the Rupee is not freely convertible (yet) and not many countries provide a rupee-changing option with the local currency. So you have to change into Dollars/Euros and then into local currency (CHF/Swiss Francs in our case - Swiss accept both CHF and Euros but give back change in CHF so best to buy all CHF unless you're a Shakuntala Devi with numbers ). This roundabout conversion process means you lose about 5-10% straightaway. Also, it is NOT adviced to get money changed at the airports - the premium those guys charge is about 4%-10%.
The best thing to do is to visit the local moneychanger and do a little haggling with them for the best rates. An intelligent thing to do is to split up your money in cash and a Travel Card. A Travel card is like a debit card that you load up beforehand in India and can spend without incurring any commission/charges (unlike intl credit cards which charge hefty for every purchase made abroad) at merchant outlets throughout. In case you need to withdraw cash from an ATM abroad, the Travel card is charged one unit of CHF/other currency.
So estimate your cash needs (you need cash for tipping, buying small eats, little souveniers, local taxis and random little stuff) and load the rest beforehand into a travel card if you're travelling to Switzerland. Everywhere we went, merchant outlets accepted the cards (ours was a Visa) - so we purchased stuff without paying any commission that I had spent on all earlier travels through my credit card - which I now think was patently stupid. We made purchases for amounts as low as CHF10 with our travel card, so you'll understand how convinient and safe it is. I'm anyway not a big proponent of carrying a lot of cash around.
The travel card I think cost me only Rs200 and is valid for 2 years. It can be reloaded again and used. Any money left on it can be reconverted back at your convinience (and a favourable current forex rate) when you return
ICICI Bank offered us the best exchange on CHF cards and for cash we got the best rate from Thomas Cook. Shikha got her $$ card, Travellers chqs and $cash from Thomas Cook (best rates).
I did all the estimation and Shikha did all the haggling and she did a fab job of getting us the best rates - I was totally in awe of her negotiating skills by the end of it and was happy to remain as the backend support provider. The forex planning took a whole day to coordinate and get into place.
Communication
An often overlooked part - but its important to have an inexpensive, readily accessible line of communication when you're travelling across a foreign country.
International roaming on my SIM would have meant that I kept getting calls from telemarketers and kept paying through my nose for every call rcvd, sent or SMS sent. Not done!
Next best option: Matrix Cellular! All those ads you saw of "twaddi bhot yaad aandi hai mummeee" (my fave of all the matrix ads) suddenly made sense and we got an activated Swiss SIM card from Matrix in Delhi - all you have to do is fill a form, give them a copy of your credit cards and fax it across to them. We had our SIM delivered to us at home just before we left for the airport.
Great service, very reasonable rentals. No price for incomings and discounted rates for calling Indian phones. Also meant that Shikha and I could keep in touch throughout Switz in case of any emergency. So that was the number my office and our parents had for the 12 days and it was great to be in touch at cheap rates.
Insurance
ok, so we were stupid and didnt get any because there was'nt any time left in the 3 days of planning after we got our visas. Though we had separate health insurance coverages otherwise, travel and baggage insurance is MUST - a medical emergency in a foreign country can be VERY costly. Its not very costly either - for a couple of thousand bucks, you can rest assured that you wont go bankrupt if, god forbid, you need a helicopter evacuation (happens all the time there!)
Prior research
Switz is very tourist friendly and we got all kinds of maps, guide books, rail timetables and tips from the very accessible and helpful tourist offices that every city there has.
Not something you'd get in India so readily - so while I was very apprehensive about it, the lack of planning did'nt hurt us at all in Switzerland. Of course the fact that I'd lived there previously, helped:)
If you're thinking that this is a little too much of planning and if this sounds daunting - take heart. We figured most of this out in the 3 days after getting our marriage registration certificate and visa. The apartment had been figured out from before - and that was very easy too.
Switzerland remains amongst the most travel-friendly countries to go to. The trains run on clockwork, the tourist offices are friendly, the people are helpful and polite, it is very safe to travel all across, it is not a very large country so day trips back and forth are possible, the food is excellent, and the sights are of course, unforgettable.
It is also the costliest place to go to for a holiday, in Europe, after the French Riviera - but once you get that block out of your mind, it becomes very enjoyable. And doing everything on our own meant that we saved on a lot of money that'd have otherwise been wasted on inanities like a gujju cook with a package tour trip. And had more for all those sinful chocolates or the mind-bogglingly sexy (and expensive) swiss knives.
Everything was lined up miraculously and in about 3 days and we were all set to go back to Delhi and leave for Switzerland. Those 3 days were however also amongst the most hectic days ever - Shikha's US arrival coordination, her laptop purchase in the US, our visas, marriage registration, travel planning, forex planning and packing for 2 years in USA and yet trying to keep within the baggage limits totally sucked the life out of us in these days.
Please allocate atleast 3 more days in case you have gotten admission to a foreign university, just been married and are going on your honeymoon en route to settling down in the university!
Coming up next: Switzerland - mostly pictorial coz am now planning the US/Canada trip and dont even have Shikha to help out!
ps: whatever happend to the "i before e, except after c rule in 'foreign' "????
Monday, October 30, 2006
Sunday, October 29, 2006
All set
I'm off to the US and Canada for a month starting 2nd Nov. Really looking fwd to a lot of catching up with Shikha, a little bit of backpacking but NOT to the cold there. I'm also not very happy about having to wear thermal wear all the time inside - guess I'll be thankful for it there!
I'm also running in the New England marathon in Boston, so if you spot someone running (majorly out of breath)around in dark red shoes in Bombay or Boston, training to lose that flab accummulated over 5 months, please know its me. Red shoes were inspired by Vij and I'm loving em!!
I've had my fill of shopping for Shikha too - henceforth please consider me as an authority on Pashmina shawls and stoles in Bombay. Of course, all credits for help in shopping of women's clothing and jewellery go to BP (she becomes FBP over weekends: refer, post below).
I've also been let into a secret leading to a place which is just the right place for a perfect lunch or dinner - but am not spilling the beans till some time:-D
I know it goes against all principles of sharing a good thing but hey we dont want to wait in long queues, so pliss to accommodate till we know them well enough to walk in and get a table anytime and I'll spill then:D
And the building chowkidaars will also need to be braced up to recieve all those grateful gifts from anyone who goes there through this blog. Of course, if you already knew about it - we'll swap notes later and clink our glasses at each other:)
I'm also running in the New England marathon in Boston, so if you spot someone running (majorly out of breath)around in dark red shoes in Bombay or Boston, training to lose that flab accummulated over 5 months, please know its me. Red shoes were inspired by Vij and I'm loving em!!
I've had my fill of shopping for Shikha too - henceforth please consider me as an authority on Pashmina shawls and stoles in Bombay. Of course, all credits for help in shopping of women's clothing and jewellery go to BP (she becomes FBP over weekends: refer, post below).
I've also been let into a secret leading to a place which is just the right place for a perfect lunch or dinner - but am not spilling the beans till some time:-D
I know it goes against all principles of sharing a good thing but hey we dont want to wait in long queues, so pliss to accommodate till we know them well enough to walk in and get a table anytime and I'll spill then:D
And the building chowkidaars will also need to be braced up to recieve all those grateful gifts from anyone who goes there through this blog. Of course, if you already knew about it - we'll swap notes later and clink our glasses at each other:)
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Don - mushkil hi nahi, namumkin
Watched Don yesterday with my film buddy P (FBP) - we're specialists at catching the early morning show at INOX which means paying just about Rs89-Rs100 for a movie.
Had heard a lot of bad things about the movie but then a movie is made to be watched, hai na, so there we were. I sauntered into the hall and was shocked to see the entire hall full of people sitting patiently, waiting for the movie to begin after all the advertisements - this was the first time I've seen INOX so crowded on a morning show! Theres always something about walking into a cinema hall when everyone is already seated - hehe, you feel like a celebrity with almost everyone looking at you;-)
So anyway, the celebrity seated himself and shooed off an intruder from FBP's seat (please note: FBP always makes it a point to miss the first 20 minutes of any movie - in case of Don, she was plain unlucky - the first 20 minutes were advertisements so she was relegated to watching the movie from the begining).
Don left me stone-cold for the first hour and half. Shahrukh Khan was a horrible choice for someone to play Don. And I hated him smiling cockily through the early action scenes - instead of putting jaan into the scenes, there he was, smirking away while beating the lesser baddies to pulp. He was like a little squirt trying to look uber cool.
And then the dance sequence with Kareena Kapoor - gosh! Please notice Kareena's epileptic gyrations in the begining of the dance. Although to her credit, she looked pretty good in her close ups (FBP hated her hairstyle). In a scene when Shahrukh throws her on the bed, her thighs are quite jiggledy...hehe, I found that pretty ummm...enjoyable;-D Thank god Kareena was limited to just one item number, though.
Coming to Priyanka Chopra - I found the one scene where she was training - presumably doing a kata quite hilarious. The scene started from nowhere and ended as abruptly in 1 minute - and this was how the movie was through the first hour - made up of little bits and pieces which refused to merge seamlessly.
The movie became somewhat interesting after the Director had established all the links and gotten the bumpkin Don in - it was much smoother after that. To his credit, Farhan Akhtar managed not to lose the threads - and there were many threads in the movie - so the audience had a good handle on the different situations within the movie at all times.
I did not quite agree with being true to the original movie - many songs were totally out of place but had been put in just to gel with the original movie. They could have totally done away with Kareena's number, the Ganapati song and the 'Khaike paan' song (FBP liked the lyrics) and the movie would have been much tighter and interesting.
Can someone also please ask Shahrukh Khan to emote differently for different scenes? Although I quite enjoyed the look on his face when Kareena was all over him (heck, any guy would have that look on his face in such a situation), he carried the same look through most of the movie. Why did they get Shahrukh to play the Don in the first place? It should have been someone with a more manly presence like Abhishek Bachchan.
I loved the theme song/tune playing through the movie - it was very nice and very appropriate wherever it happened. Boman Irani was average - his role was'nt meant to bring out any brilliant acting anyway. Arjun Rampal was ok - though I dont agree with the concept of a geek who can also rappel down highrises with the effortless ease of an MI6 spy - it should have been more convincing.
I'm planning on catching the original movie now - was kind of missing Amitabh Bachchan's intensity throughout the movie.
Had heard a lot of bad things about the movie but then a movie is made to be watched, hai na, so there we were. I sauntered into the hall and was shocked to see the entire hall full of people sitting patiently, waiting for the movie to begin after all the advertisements - this was the first time I've seen INOX so crowded on a morning show! Theres always something about walking into a cinema hall when everyone is already seated - hehe, you feel like a celebrity with almost everyone looking at you;-)
So anyway, the celebrity seated himself and shooed off an intruder from FBP's seat (please note: FBP always makes it a point to miss the first 20 minutes of any movie - in case of Don, she was plain unlucky - the first 20 minutes were advertisements so she was relegated to watching the movie from the begining).
Don left me stone-cold for the first hour and half. Shahrukh Khan was a horrible choice for someone to play Don. And I hated him smiling cockily through the early action scenes - instead of putting jaan into the scenes, there he was, smirking away while beating the lesser baddies to pulp. He was like a little squirt trying to look uber cool.
And then the dance sequence with Kareena Kapoor - gosh! Please notice Kareena's epileptic gyrations in the begining of the dance. Although to her credit, she looked pretty good in her close ups (FBP hated her hairstyle). In a scene when Shahrukh throws her on the bed, her thighs are quite jiggledy...hehe, I found that pretty ummm...enjoyable;-D Thank god Kareena was limited to just one item number, though.
Coming to Priyanka Chopra - I found the one scene where she was training - presumably doing a kata quite hilarious. The scene started from nowhere and ended as abruptly in 1 minute - and this was how the movie was through the first hour - made up of little bits and pieces which refused to merge seamlessly.
The movie became somewhat interesting after the Director had established all the links and gotten the bumpkin Don in - it was much smoother after that. To his credit, Farhan Akhtar managed not to lose the threads - and there were many threads in the movie - so the audience had a good handle on the different situations within the movie at all times.
I did not quite agree with being true to the original movie - many songs were totally out of place but had been put in just to gel with the original movie. They could have totally done away with Kareena's number, the Ganapati song and the 'Khaike paan' song (FBP liked the lyrics) and the movie would have been much tighter and interesting.
Can someone also please ask Shahrukh Khan to emote differently for different scenes? Although I quite enjoyed the look on his face when Kareena was all over him (heck, any guy would have that look on his face in such a situation), he carried the same look through most of the movie. Why did they get Shahrukh to play the Don in the first place? It should have been someone with a more manly presence like Abhishek Bachchan.
I loved the theme song/tune playing through the movie - it was very nice and very appropriate wherever it happened. Boman Irani was average - his role was'nt meant to bring out any brilliant acting anyway. Arjun Rampal was ok - though I dont agree with the concept of a geek who can also rappel down highrises with the effortless ease of an MI6 spy - it should have been more convincing.
I'm planning on catching the original movie now - was kind of missing Amitabh Bachchan's intensity throughout the movie.
A month of festivities...and another of travel
October was a great month - so MANY holidays and festivities. The work kept happening at a frenetic pace - yesterday has to be the first time in my life that I was in office at 630am.
Diwali was in Delhi, with everyone coming down to be at one place. Shikha's b'day also coincided with Diwali this time around - it was sad to be speaking to her only on phone across thousands of miles.
It was all very hectic with my leaves starting on the 19th. The fun part was driving around to everyone's houses, giving gifts across town (yeah, Delhi is high on Diwali gifting - dont be surprised if your gift comes back to you through someone else!) and stopping at random places for chaat and last minute shopping.
On the night before Diwali, we got so late returning that we just had time to get food packed from a Gol Market shop and had it on the tables outside Kaleva at around 1 in the night. Then passing through Karol Bagh meant that the ladies HAD to stop for buying random Diwali stuff - even at 130am. So I remained in the car and indulged in some monochromatic and voyeuristic photography across the street:
The Diwali day was pretty much relaxed - most of the cleaning had been done and we went to my sister's place for lunch. I made kachoris for everyone (Shikha, are you listening? hehe), caught up bigtime with nephew-niece and indulged in some maniacal driving back home to escape the Diwali traffic which was just about to start.
Home meant an elaborate Diwali pooja and the best part - putting Diyas out everywhere
Though we were pretty much against bursting any firecrackers, having little kids meant that they couldnt be deprived of the experience and soon all the males were busy with all kinds of firecrackers - with kids watching from the sidelines...lol, I love it how the adults corner everything that is even remotely fun:
Returned on the day after Diwali and while all of Bombay is still getting over from its holiday hangover, I'm running against time to finish of work before the travels start in November - dont feel like doing any work though - Nariman Point is SO quite and calm, its almost unbelievable - tomorrow all the worker ants will be back, making the engines of the economy trundle again.
Diwali was in Delhi, with everyone coming down to be at one place. Shikha's b'day also coincided with Diwali this time around - it was sad to be speaking to her only on phone across thousands of miles.
It was all very hectic with my leaves starting on the 19th. The fun part was driving around to everyone's houses, giving gifts across town (yeah, Delhi is high on Diwali gifting - dont be surprised if your gift comes back to you through someone else!) and stopping at random places for chaat and last minute shopping.
On the night before Diwali, we got so late returning that we just had time to get food packed from a Gol Market shop and had it on the tables outside Kaleva at around 1 in the night. Then passing through Karol Bagh meant that the ladies HAD to stop for buying random Diwali stuff - even at 130am. So I remained in the car and indulged in some monochromatic and voyeuristic photography across the street:
The chaotic randomness of Diwali shopping expressed through the cluttered pic
Waiting for the last business before he can wrap up and be free
The Diwali day was pretty much relaxed - most of the cleaning had been done and we went to my sister's place for lunch. I made kachoris for everyone (Shikha, are you listening? hehe), caught up bigtime with nephew-niece and indulged in some maniacal driving back home to escape the Diwali traffic which was just about to start.
Home meant an elaborate Diwali pooja and the best part - putting Diyas out everywhere
Vani was given the responsibility of lighting the first few Diyas
Trying to protect the fire against the wind proved to be a full-time job for the little baby of our family
Though we were pretty much against bursting any firecrackers, having little kids meant that they couldnt be deprived of the experience and soon all the males were busy with all kinds of firecrackers - with kids watching from the sidelines...lol, I love it how the adults corner everything that is even remotely fun:
Playing with fire...can be a lot of fun
More relatives trickled in and soon we had a rocking firecracker session
Chakris - my personal favorite
Experimentation with Fuljhadis
Returned on the day after Diwali and while all of Bombay is still getting over from its holiday hangover, I'm running against time to finish of work before the travels start in November - dont feel like doing any work though - Nariman Point is SO quite and calm, its almost unbelievable - tomorrow all the worker ants will be back, making the engines of the economy trundle again.
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