Day 01/ Bagdogra – Darjeeling: Arrive Bagdogra and drive to Gangtok (5hrs) by private 4x4. Stay in Cherry Hill Inn. Very clean and comfortable, clear view of the Kanchenjunga mountains and view of the valley.
Day 02/ Gangtok Sightseeing: After breakfast went sight seeing: Research Institute of Tibetology, Chorten (Stupa), and Rumtek Monastery. Night stay in Gangtok.
Day O3/ Gangtok Sightseeing: Visited waterfall, M.G. Marg shopping center.
Day 04/ Gangtok – Darjeeling: On arrival transfer to New Elgin hotel. Night stay in Darjeeling.
Day 05/ Darjeeling Sightseeing: After breakfast proceed for Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Ropeway, Tensing – Gumbo Rock, Tibetan Refugee Self Help Center, Peace Pagoda & Rock Garden. We went to the local market to shop for Darjeeling teas. Night stay in Darjeeling.
Day O6/ Darjeeling Sightseeing: We skipped the planned early morning excursion to Tiger hill, Ghoom Monastery & Batasia Loop as it was raining and very cloudy. We did visit the Tea Estates. Night stay in Darjeeling.
Day 07/ Darjeeling - Bagdogra – Departure to board flight for Delhi.
Recommendation: Bagdogra- Darjeeling-Gangtok will be a more scenic itin.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Travel in a recession
So you really enjoy travelling but the dollar is plummeting in value. Do you stop travelling? Some of us cannot. It is almost like an addiction. We can’t stop exploring this beautiful world a bit at a time. There are five things we do (and so can you) to plan your next trip without pinching pennies or worrying about emptying your kids education fund.
ONE: Identify destinations where the dollar is strong. While US dollar is weak against Euro and Pound, travelling in areas where Dollar is still strong such as within US, Central and Southern Americas is highly attractive. If you ever wanted to visit Hawaii, Alaska, Maine, Costa Rica, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, just to name a few, now is a great time to consider these places. If you have the time, places further away in Africa, South Asia and Eastern Europe are great destinations.
TWO: Use airline frequent flier miles. Almost all credit card companies these days give you rewards or points for a specific airline carrier. If you have miles or points that you can convert into mile awards, this is a great time to use those miles.
THREE: Prepay as much of your costs in U.S. dollars as you can. Instead of exchanging cash at the airport, and paying higher exchange rates and commissions, use your credit card or the ATM card to pay for your expenses. Use your ATM card to take out only the amount of cash you might need for a few days at a time.
FOUR: Use local or a small travel agent to plan your trip. Instead of using a large tour operator or luxury travel company, use a local or niche travel agent to create a personalized and perhaps a private itinerary at lower cost.
FIVE: Identify and create a themed experience for your trip. This will help focus your trip on the “must see” and help eliminate all the other extras. Many years ago, my husband and I went to Egypt. Both of us had just joined the professional workforce, so were short on cash. Instead of an all encompassing, luxury trip, we chose instead to focus only on the ancient Egypt and created a private itinerary with the help of a local travel agent. We saw all the ancient monuments, landmarks and artifacts, travelled exclusively in a private rail compartment and by car, and included a few highly unique but absolutely charming off the beaten path highlights to our trip such as a visit to the Valley of the Queens and High noon tea by the Nile river for an incredibly unique experience. As you can see we still rave about that trip. Since then we have travelled to Mexico, Italy, Costa Rica, India, Hawaii and many other places but there has always been a theme to our trips.
ONE: Identify destinations where the dollar is strong. While US dollar is weak against Euro and Pound, travelling in areas where Dollar is still strong such as within US, Central and Southern Americas is highly attractive. If you ever wanted to visit Hawaii, Alaska, Maine, Costa Rica, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, just to name a few, now is a great time to consider these places. If you have the time, places further away in Africa, South Asia and Eastern Europe are great destinations.
TWO: Use airline frequent flier miles. Almost all credit card companies these days give you rewards or points for a specific airline carrier. If you have miles or points that you can convert into mile awards, this is a great time to use those miles.
THREE: Prepay as much of your costs in U.S. dollars as you can. Instead of exchanging cash at the airport, and paying higher exchange rates and commissions, use your credit card or the ATM card to pay for your expenses. Use your ATM card to take out only the amount of cash you might need for a few days at a time.
FOUR: Use local or a small travel agent to plan your trip. Instead of using a large tour operator or luxury travel company, use a local or niche travel agent to create a personalized and perhaps a private itinerary at lower cost.
FIVE: Identify and create a themed experience for your trip. This will help focus your trip on the “must see” and help eliminate all the other extras. Many years ago, my husband and I went to Egypt. Both of us had just joined the professional workforce, so were short on cash. Instead of an all encompassing, luxury trip, we chose instead to focus only on the ancient Egypt and created a private itinerary with the help of a local travel agent. We saw all the ancient monuments, landmarks and artifacts, travelled exclusively in a private rail compartment and by car, and included a few highly unique but absolutely charming off the beaten path highlights to our trip such as a visit to the Valley of the Queens and High noon tea by the Nile river for an incredibly unique experience. As you can see we still rave about that trip. Since then we have travelled to Mexico, Italy, Costa Rica, India, Hawaii and many other places but there has always been a theme to our trips.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Serendipity and Travel
While I am a planner, I am a huge proponent of not planning down to the last meal to the last minute. I want people to be open to the wonders of the world and what they may find along the way. When ever I come across people who have returned from a recent trip, I always ask what was their most memorable part of the trip. Almost always, it turns out to be something they did not plan on their itinerary.
On our recent family trip to Costa Rica, an eco-adventure trip that included zip lining, whitewater rafting, rappelling, my favorite memory is spending an afternoon with my family on a small pristine beach in Dominical that we stumbled upon. This beach had two sea caves that connected the beach to the ocean creating a blow hole effect perfect for body surfing. We spent our afternoon on this cozy little place where the rainforest met the ocean water with nothing but a small sliver of sand in between, a stream meandering through the forest, hiking the muddy river and body surfing the caves. I can’t remember how we had planned to spend that time or if we had planned anything at all, but then that is .. Serendipity.
A wise man once said.. if you follow a path too closely you will miss the wonders that you may find along your way.
There was a village woman who walked 2 Kos (miles) each way to the river to bring water for her family’s daily needs. She used to carry two pots of water on her shoulders every day and even then the water was barely sufficient to meet the daily needs. One pot had a small hole in it. Every day by the time this woman reached home, the broken pot was almost half empty. One day her neighbor asked why do you always carry that broken pot ? The woman replied, most people look at the path along which they walk to the river, but I look at the beautiful flowers growing along that path, that my broken pot waters. Moral of the story, its not always the path that provides the most wonder but often the small things along that path.
On our recent family trip to Costa Rica, an eco-adventure trip that included zip lining, whitewater rafting, rappelling, my favorite memory is spending an afternoon with my family on a small pristine beach in Dominical that we stumbled upon. This beach had two sea caves that connected the beach to the ocean creating a blow hole effect perfect for body surfing. We spent our afternoon on this cozy little place where the rainforest met the ocean water with nothing but a small sliver of sand in between, a stream meandering through the forest, hiking the muddy river and body surfing the caves. I can’t remember how we had planned to spend that time or if we had planned anything at all, but then that is .. Serendipity.
A wise man once said.. if you follow a path too closely you will miss the wonders that you may find along your way.
There was a village woman who walked 2 Kos (miles) each way to the river to bring water for her family’s daily needs. She used to carry two pots of water on her shoulders every day and even then the water was barely sufficient to meet the daily needs. One pot had a small hole in it. Every day by the time this woman reached home, the broken pot was almost half empty. One day her neighbor asked why do you always carry that broken pot ? The woman replied, most people look at the path along which they walk to the river, but I look at the beautiful flowers growing along that path, that my broken pot waters. Moral of the story, its not always the path that provides the most wonder but often the small things along that path.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)