It's morning here and it's a beautiful day. We went for our early morning walk in what was a foggy, much cooler than usual, morning. It's a sore morning for me. My upper back has been quite sore. If it's not one thing it's another, but I refuse to let it ruin my day. Already made a beautiful necklace this morning and plan to photograph the jewelry I've made so far, a little bit later in the day. At least the cold is much better. Just a slight sore throat left but a few more ginger, lemon, and honey teas and it'll be gone.
So now to recap a bit more on our travel to Bangalore a couple of weeks ago. On the day we headed to the airport, we were called by Super Shuttle and were told we were given a complimentary upgrade. So a nice SUV (very nice), came by and picked us up. We rode comfortably to the airport, checked in, went through security and found our gate and waited for our airplane. I was happy because I was feeling so much better and that's all I had wished for, for the day of the flight. Vikas and I both called our parents to let them know we were at the airport. As I was sitting there, I kept eyeing this woman's neck pillow. She was sitting next to me. Okay, I know this is already making you, the reader, probably smile cause you know me well enough to know that it's going to get a little funny. The pillow was purple and looked so soft and like memory foam and I was curious how soft it was. I wanted to reach out and grab it but, well, if someone reached out and touched my bag or neck pillow, I would let out a nice loud, "hey!" So, I looked in her direction, she was sitting next to me by the way, and I finally caught her gaze and I said hello. Then I mentioned that I admired her neck pillow and wondered if it was memory foam and then laughed saying, well, I didn't want to just reach out and touch it because you might think I was rude or just plain crazy. She was SO nice! She laughed and said she didn't think it was memory foam at all and that she borrowed it from her sister (or friend, can't remember now). Anyway, long story short, we chatted for a while and she ended up mentioning how she was traveling to Bombay. I mentioned I was too and we chatted about her trip and about mine and about India. It was great! It was so nice to get to socialize and meet someone so nice after how bad my previous month had been. As we got on the airplane and got seated, Vikas had a great idea and said, why don't we ask her to sit in the lounge with us. He is so sweet like that. I just adore him! We can each have a guest in the lounge and why not give someone a little extra relaxation before having to fly so far for so long. So when we saw her walking by, I just invited her and she was glad to accept our invitation.
Our flight was comfy, we had been upgraded to first class, and we relaxed as we headed to Newark. We arrived finally in Newark and got off the plane and waited for our new friend to come along. She was walking from the gate and looked a bit unnerved and when she walked up she mentioned that they told her they would take her backpack, since it would not fit into the overhead compartment, and that they would give it back to her when she got off the plane. Well, when she got off the plane, she was then told, she needed to go and pick it up at baggage claim. We followed her as far as security and waited for her to go and get her bag and come back through security. I felt so bad for her because, here she is, her first time going to India and she was being extra exhausted by this runaround by the airlines/airport. This was making the lounge look even better by this point. So we finally see her in the security line, except there's one thing missing, her backpack. We noticed she didn't have it with her. Not good, is all we thought to ourselves. She came back and told us, apparently, her backpack, with all her things, including what she might have needed during the flight, had been checked. She would not see it until she arrived in Bombay (hopefully).
She took it all in stride and shrugged it off as best she could and we all walked over to the lounge. We walked in and her first comment was something along the lines of, oh this is for the fancy people, or something like that. I laughed out loud and so did she and I replied with, yeh, well now you are one of those people but it's easy to get into the lounge when you fly a lot and when as much as we have so far, there should be something good to come of it. We eventually and easily talked her into signing up (for free) with Continental/United to get miles, which was a little over 18,000 of them. How could one pass that up? Oh, I'm forgetting something, the entire time before arriving to Newark, we didn't know each other's names. So as we were walking to the lounge, I introduced myself and she did as well. Her name is Alyssa. I won't mention a last name for privacy reasons. Anyway, so we found a spot in the TV room and sat and chatted, had snacks and I even went and used the showers, which, by the way, was AMAZING! Best idea ever to shower before flying to Bombay. I actually felt less gross when arriving in Bombay. I think it was the reason I actually slept well for once on the flight and while flying coach.
So long story short, Alyssa and I shared info and were going to try to meet up if her and her friend made it to Bangalore, which in the end, they aren't, but that's okay. We can hang out once I'm back in Austin. I love that I can make friends along journeys. It gets harder as we get older to make new friends, but when we do make them, it's really nice. Alyssa did get her backpack once arriving in Bombay and you could see her relief. We waited long enough for our luggage to come out, all of us. Then once it did, you could tell she was finally ready to get her journey truly started.
Alyssa, if you end up reading this, it was so nice to meet you and I will be happy to hang out and chat once back in Austin. I hope your travels in India are great ones and I can't wait to hear the great stories of your trip, including the return flight back to Austin.
Now about future plans, Vikas and I have our trip planned out for later this month. Yes, we are finally going to do some traveling. We are going to see Rajasthan. The cities we will see in Rajasthan are Jaipur, Ranthambore, and Udaipur. I plan to photograph a lot. It's so beautiful in this area. In Udaipur, are plan is to stay at two different hotels, mainly for specific reasons. One is the Taj Lake Palace in Udaipur, and it's in the middle of a lake. You take a ferry to get to it. See the link here: http://www.tajhotels.com/Luxury/Grand-Palaces-And-Iconic-Hotels/Taj-Lake-Palace-Udaipur/Photo-Gallery.html
The second hotel in Udaipur is one of the top ten hotels in the world chosen by Travel + Leisure Magazine. Ironically, it's cheaper than the previous hotel mentioned, the Taj Lake Palace. See link here: http://www.oberoihotels.com/oberoi_udaivilas/gallery.asp
Okay, pause, our cook/maid is here and she sometimes plays music when she cleans and cooks which is pleasant to me, all those Indian sounds and vocals, but all of a sudden, the song that is playing (on a radio station mind you) is, "I'm a Barbie girl in a Barbie World". Um what!? LOL!!!
Okay back to my story now. In Jaipur, we will be staying at the ITC Rajputana Hotel. See link here: http://www.itchotels.in/Hotels/itcrajputana/gallery.aspx
I can't wait to shop for some new pieces to make jewelry. The architecture is supposed to be amazing as well so I can't wait to get numerous new photographs.
In Ranthambore, we are going to go to a safari and hopefully will get a chance to spot some tigers. THAT is going to be amazing, if we do. Tigers are an endangered species and each year there are less and less. It's a sad situation. You can see the national park website here: http://www.ranthamborenationalpark.com/gallery.html
We'll also be staying at this AMAZING jungle like hotel. Love it!! See link here: http://www.oberoihotels.com/oberoi_vanyavilas/gallery.asp
After leaving Udaipur, our last city to see on our trip, we plan to stop in Bombay for a day to visit with Vikas' parents. I know they will be so happy to see us and it will be great to spend some time visiting with them. I think it's great we'll get the chance to do so. I haven't seen them since October.
Well, that's all from me for today. I might upload the Diwali photos today as well, but we'll see. I need to go see what I can do for this aching sore back of mine. Take care everyone and happy reading! I hope you are all have sweet dreams tonight in the U.S.
So now to recap a bit more on our travel to Bangalore a couple of weeks ago. On the day we headed to the airport, we were called by Super Shuttle and were told we were given a complimentary upgrade. So a nice SUV (very nice), came by and picked us up. We rode comfortably to the airport, checked in, went through security and found our gate and waited for our airplane. I was happy because I was feeling so much better and that's all I had wished for, for the day of the flight. Vikas and I both called our parents to let them know we were at the airport. As I was sitting there, I kept eyeing this woman's neck pillow. She was sitting next to me. Okay, I know this is already making you, the reader, probably smile cause you know me well enough to know that it's going to get a little funny. The pillow was purple and looked so soft and like memory foam and I was curious how soft it was. I wanted to reach out and grab it but, well, if someone reached out and touched my bag or neck pillow, I would let out a nice loud, "hey!" So, I looked in her direction, she was sitting next to me by the way, and I finally caught her gaze and I said hello. Then I mentioned that I admired her neck pillow and wondered if it was memory foam and then laughed saying, well, I didn't want to just reach out and touch it because you might think I was rude or just plain crazy. She was SO nice! She laughed and said she didn't think it was memory foam at all and that she borrowed it from her sister (or friend, can't remember now). Anyway, long story short, we chatted for a while and she ended up mentioning how she was traveling to Bombay. I mentioned I was too and we chatted about her trip and about mine and about India. It was great! It was so nice to get to socialize and meet someone so nice after how bad my previous month had been. As we got on the airplane and got seated, Vikas had a great idea and said, why don't we ask her to sit in the lounge with us. He is so sweet like that. I just adore him! We can each have a guest in the lounge and why not give someone a little extra relaxation before having to fly so far for so long. So when we saw her walking by, I just invited her and she was glad to accept our invitation.
Our flight was comfy, we had been upgraded to first class, and we relaxed as we headed to Newark. We arrived finally in Newark and got off the plane and waited for our new friend to come along. She was walking from the gate and looked a bit unnerved and when she walked up she mentioned that they told her they would take her backpack, since it would not fit into the overhead compartment, and that they would give it back to her when she got off the plane. Well, when she got off the plane, she was then told, she needed to go and pick it up at baggage claim. We followed her as far as security and waited for her to go and get her bag and come back through security. I felt so bad for her because, here she is, her first time going to India and she was being extra exhausted by this runaround by the airlines/airport. This was making the lounge look even better by this point. So we finally see her in the security line, except there's one thing missing, her backpack. We noticed she didn't have it with her. Not good, is all we thought to ourselves. She came back and told us, apparently, her backpack, with all her things, including what she might have needed during the flight, had been checked. She would not see it until she arrived in Bombay (hopefully).
She took it all in stride and shrugged it off as best she could and we all walked over to the lounge. We walked in and her first comment was something along the lines of, oh this is for the fancy people, or something like that. I laughed out loud and so did she and I replied with, yeh, well now you are one of those people but it's easy to get into the lounge when you fly a lot and when as much as we have so far, there should be something good to come of it. We eventually and easily talked her into signing up (for free) with Continental/United to get miles, which was a little over 18,000 of them. How could one pass that up? Oh, I'm forgetting something, the entire time before arriving to Newark, we didn't know each other's names. So as we were walking to the lounge, I introduced myself and she did as well. Her name is Alyssa. I won't mention a last name for privacy reasons. Anyway, so we found a spot in the TV room and sat and chatted, had snacks and I even went and used the showers, which, by the way, was AMAZING! Best idea ever to shower before flying to Bombay. I actually felt less gross when arriving in Bombay. I think it was the reason I actually slept well for once on the flight and while flying coach.
So long story short, Alyssa and I shared info and were going to try to meet up if her and her friend made it to Bangalore, which in the end, they aren't, but that's okay. We can hang out once I'm back in Austin. I love that I can make friends along journeys. It gets harder as we get older to make new friends, but when we do make them, it's really nice. Alyssa did get her backpack once arriving in Bombay and you could see her relief. We waited long enough for our luggage to come out, all of us. Then once it did, you could tell she was finally ready to get her journey truly started.
Alyssa, if you end up reading this, it was so nice to meet you and I will be happy to hang out and chat once back in Austin. I hope your travels in India are great ones and I can't wait to hear the great stories of your trip, including the return flight back to Austin.
Okay back to my story now. In Jaipur, we will be staying at the ITC Rajputana Hotel. See link here: http://www.itchotels.in/Hotels/itcrajputana/gallery.aspx
I can't wait to shop for some new pieces to make jewelry. The architecture is supposed to be amazing as well so I can't wait to get numerous new photographs.
In Ranthambore, we are going to go to a safari and hopefully will get a chance to spot some tigers. THAT is going to be amazing, if we do. Tigers are an endangered species and each year there are less and less. It's a sad situation. You can see the national park website here: http://www.ranthamborenationalpark.com/gallery.html
We'll also be staying at this AMAZING jungle like hotel. Love it!! See link here: http://www.oberoihotels.com/oberoi_vanyavilas/gallery.asp
After leaving Udaipur, our last city to see on our trip, we plan to stop in Bombay for a day to visit with Vikas' parents. I know they will be so happy to see us and it will be great to spend some time visiting with them. I think it's great we'll get the chance to do so. I haven't seen them since October.
Well, that's all from me for today. I might upload the Diwali photos today as well, but we'll see. I need to go see what I can do for this aching sore back of mine. Take care everyone and happy reading! I hope you are all have sweet dreams tonight in the U.S.
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