A windy, rainy and cold weekend around the Ides of March may not be the best time to visit Paris, but a lazy, sunny, English, September afternoon is surely a good time to write about it on a borrowed IBM T23 Thinkpad!
With 4 couples, two toddlers and me the single guy, it was a sizeable desi batch making a trip from the southern tip of England to Paris. May or may not be interesting or useful to you, but just for the record, here are the names: Vadiraj-Kaustubha-little hyperactive devil Anirudh(The Pyatis), Subodh-Urmi-little cute devil Shreya(The Ranjans), Manmeet-Ashu (The Sardars) and Prateek-Ruchi (The Agrawals) and Kiran(The Writer).
I must mention here, the enthusiasm and efforts of Rajesh and Pressi for getting a Schengen visa, in vain.
By the way, just to make sure that my ego is not the only entity getting enriched by this piece of writing, I am going to mention Information whenever there is something for you remember if you ever you make a trip to Paris.
(The well-read, high IQ lot of you who have read the Dummies series of books will recognise what I am trying to achieve. The others.. do not bother, just read on).
So, here is the first piece of
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Information:
The Schengen visa is the visa required for all the "Schengen" European countries e.g. France, Holland, Belgium, Italy, Greece, Germany, Austria etc.
If you plan to travel to, say 3 countries - France, Belgium and Holland - then you need to apply for the Schengen Tourist visa at the Consulate of that country which you plan to enter first.
We took a 30-day visa valid for a period of 6 months.. What it means is I can spend a total of 30 days in any of the European countries, in a span of 6 months.
You will need a valid passport, bank statements, confirmed hotel and travel bookings and some other documents to apply for a Schengen visa.
Here is the link :
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Okay, back to the trip.
Being bright software engineers from India, we came up with brilliant out-of-the-box cheapest plans to reach Paris. And, much like the fate of out-of-the-box software projects, we ended up shelling out more than we ought to. At the end of this article, I will anyway document "Learnings and Best Practices", but I'll first continue with what we did. That'd cover WWW (What went Wrong :-)) )
Living in Portsmouth, the sea did seep into our thinking. Cannot blame ourselves really, but that is what happens when every little corner in the town has something to do with ships, sailors and the sea.
Naturally, we took the sea route to France. Our decision was triggered by a brainwave from Subodh that Brittany Ferries offers cheap overnight travel to France and we dont have to make the 2 hour journey to London to catch Eurostar or a flight. And the decision gained some credibility when we learnt that the Portsmouth-Caen return fare was just £45.00.
Wait a minute, I just said Caen and it is not in the top 10 holiday destinations in the world. So I better introduce it.
Caen (pronounced as Caan) is a town in Normandy area of France where the D-Day landings happened at the end of World War II. The Ouistreham port at Caen was one of the battlefields. Dad's generation can related to Caen via movies like "The Longest Day".
Folks from the current generations : Need not relate to Caen. You'll probably never have to go there to reach Paris :-)
As new battlefields are being identified by mankind on other parts of this planet, the Old Battlefields have turned into tourist spots. Maybe a good idea to promote tourism : Wage a bloody war, build history around it and thereby generate tourism for the next generation.
Brittany Ferries operates overnight trips (about 6 hours) from Portsmouth to Caen. If the sea is not too rough, the ride is worth every penny. With lovely restaurants, bars, lounges, shops and decent cabins, it can be fun in a group. Here are some pictures of the ship :
The plan was to reach Caen on a Friday early morning (19 March, to be precise), quickly make a 2-hour train ride to Paris and get ready for sightseeing by 12-1 pm. We conveniently forgot that we were desis.
So when we docked at Caen and headed straight for immigration, the bloke there realised that this was the most important day of his life. The present and future of France lay in his hands, and he would give his best that day. Wondering what the hell I am trying to say ? Well, basically the officer incharge at the port hadn't really handled immigrations and entry clearances earlier. So he was kind of stressed out, confused and totally went berserk when he saw a bunch of desis (with one guy actually wearing a turban). He checked every inch of our passports and interviewed each one of us about every single detail, before finally letting us in.
The best joke :
It is Manmeet (Sardar) and Ashu's turn for the interview.
Pointing to Ashu, Officer asks Sardar : "Is she your wife ?"
Sardar confidently answers : "Yes Sir!"
No expression on officer's face.
Pointing to Sardar, Officer asks Ashu : "Is he your husband ?"
For a moment, we were all confused as to who was the Surd.. Manmeet or the officer..
People get married to each other in India, without even talking to each other for 10 mins and this fellow interviewed us just to let us visit the Eiffel tower. Damn him.
Really hate these sort of moments, when you have to struggle to prove you are a good, peace-loving citizen of the world, just because of your colour..
Anyway, having realised that we were just harmless tourists, he finally let us in around 12 pm and wished us "Enjoy your trip". Damn him. He was just an unidentified risk in the project.
After 3 hours of boredom, when we walked out of the terminals and took the bus to the train station, we found that Caen was the typical European village that we all had imagined. Ginger bread cottages, little children on swings, old people, a little chapel, tiny winding roads, flowers and greenery everywhere.. We loved it and quickly forgot the immigration officer. Damn him.
Looking back, he was just a regular guy trying to do his job properly. Okay, bless him.
After reaching the train station, we realised that whatever we heard about food and language barriers in Europe are all true.
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Information :
- It is tough to get vegetarian food in smaller places in Europe. Just saying "No meat" is not good. Many places consider eggs and seafood as vegetarian.
- Even if you do eat meat, it is quite uncooked. Not enough for desi palates.
- You might get a lot of respect when you speak English in India, but not in France. Worth spending some time learning a few french phrases. Here is the link :
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The ride and the route was good. Green fields and white sheep were standard. Fast smooth trains , impressive stations, ticket collectors in suits - are all true. Sit by the window, turn on your favourite music (instrumental, Kadri's saxophone is what I tried), sip beer and watch the countryside. Worth every penny.
Manmeet
We reached Paris around 4 pm at the Gare du Nord station (The North station). Eagerly worked our way out with all our heavy bags and the kids' prams. Very eager to have a first glimpse of The City of Lights. Expectations ran high. After all, we all were the good students in our class, who toiled hard, got into software, worked hard (patao-ed our managers) and secured onsite positions. We deserved to have see beautiful places in the world.
Scene cut. Click here to read what happened next.
Saturday, September 11, 2004
Sunday, September 05, 2004
Idle brain - Philosophical question
Why do people need to travel ?
When every place on earth more or less looks the same with buildings, trees, hills, water and animals (and ofcourse crowds),
why is it that people feel the need to travel and go sightseeing ?
Much like all questions involving human beings, this one too is complicated.
The traveller brigade would stick to their logic that you expand your mental horizon, you learn new things, meet new people and learn about different cultures. Not to forget that you get to taste different cuisine and also get a small halo to show off to your friends.
The anti-travelling crowd ofcourse roll out all the mature phrases - "all places are the same", "you've seen one, you've seen them all", "buy some useful rather than wasting money on tickets and hotels".
After making all the trips very enthusiastically, I've good memories (digital :-) ) and pictures of all of them.
But not sure if I've really added anything useful to my head.
I now know that Scotch has to be tasted on the rocks at the tip of your tongue along with scottish shortbread,
that the D-Day landings happened in Ouistreham,
that there are more than 500 varities of beer in Belgium and why Holland is called Netherlands.
So ?
Inviting your comments. (Unless ofcourse you get into another loop - "What will I achieve if I comment on this ?" )
PS: I will post all Europe pictures and actually start writing about each trip soon er, tomorrow.. During weekend actually.
When every place on earth more or less looks the same with buildings, trees, hills, water and animals (and ofcourse crowds),
why is it that people feel the need to travel and go sightseeing ?
Much like all questions involving human beings, this one too is complicated.
The traveller brigade would stick to their logic that you expand your mental horizon, you learn new things, meet new people and learn about different cultures. Not to forget that you get to taste different cuisine and also get a small halo to show off to your friends.
The anti-travelling crowd ofcourse roll out all the mature phrases - "all places are the same", "you've seen one, you've seen them all", "buy some useful rather than wasting money on tickets and hotels".
After making all the trips very enthusiastically, I've good memories (digital :-) ) and pictures of all of them.
But not sure if I've really added anything useful to my head.
I now know that Scotch has to be tasted on the rocks at the tip of your tongue along with scottish shortbread,
that the D-Day landings happened in Ouistreham,
that there are more than 500 varities of beer in Belgium and why Holland is called Netherlands.
So ?
Inviting your comments. (Unless ofcourse you get into another loop - "What will I achieve if I comment on this ?" )
PS: I will post all Europe pictures and actually start writing about each trip soon er, tomorrow.. During weekend actually.
The European Bug - A desi's perspective
I am a desi. At heart, in thinking, by habit, by mindset. For me, Europe means Yash Chopra's movies.
I am part of the Great Indian post-1995 Engineering Graduate club.
I talk about India in 21st century, Indian value systems, honesty, ambition and simplicity sipping a Rs.50 coffee at Cafe Coffee Day or Barista at Indiranagar.
I dumped my Metallurgical Engineering education ( ?? ), conveniently avoided foundries and shop floors and jumped straight into the IT pool. After all, software "allows me to use my brain, provides me more scope to prove myself". (Never mind if I am just running jobs, agents, spending 4 hours on changing font sizes, updating timesheets and organizing team meetings)
Splashed about for a year.5 in Infosys, "the bellwether of Indian IT (whatever that means)" and moved to IBM - "The dancing elephant providing solutions for a small planet".
Currently in the UK, trying to hang on for 6 more months.
Okay, now that we've established who I am, let me throw some light on my Europe trips.
I must say that all the above effort to paint a picture is to basically let you know that I am part of that category of Indians which is somewhere in between the elite Mittals, Shyamalans, Bosess and the poor souls who risk lives for menial jobs in the Middle East.
Like a middle-class Indian Resident, I am a middle class Non Resident Indian. I can afford to take European holidays but not with 5-star champagne cruises. Will plan for 5 countries in 10 days, not 10 days in a seaside villa. Ready to try out a couple of wines, but ultra careful on food (no meat, no meat).
Before we start, a few tips/tidbits :
- Like any sightseeing exercise, a trip to European countries will overshoot budget.
Doesn't matter even if it is a total kanjoos budget (in which you carry your luggage for a whole day without spending the night at a hotel and you pack rotis, fruits, chips etc for 3 days )
- The cities are a dirty as our regular Indian cities.
- You will see more desis (Thou shalt not wish/help each other) than the local Europeans.
- Do not try and polish your English. Europeans are not interested in English. Just speak plain English, slowly.
- It is not always cold. May - August is HOT. Even if you've seen 40 deg C in your hometown, you will feel hot here at 25 degrees. Don't know why.
- Pickpockets and conmen do operate. Travel in a desi group, split cash between bags and pockets.
And the universal advice to all desis :
Please do not convert every Euro (Rs. 55) or Pound (Rs. 82) when you go on these trips. Just relax and have a holiday. Avoid the urge to cover 20 attractions in 1 day just to back and brag to your friends.
Okay, now..
I had the opportunity (read that as "mood to spend pounds" ) to go around Paris, Belgium/Holland, Scotland and smaller places in UK like the Isle of Wight, Bath etc.
Italy was missed due to a last minute brainwave by a Sardar colleague that the budget was overshooting. Not interested in seeing Switzerland as a bachelor.
Germany - boring.
Austria, Sweden, Finland - cancelled due to realisation of the rupee value of Pounds.
In the next few blogs, I'll try and pour out all my memories of these trips using the best English I can :-))
I am part of the Great Indian post-1995 Engineering Graduate club.
I talk about India in 21st century, Indian value systems, honesty, ambition and simplicity sipping a Rs.50 coffee at Cafe Coffee Day or Barista at Indiranagar.
I dumped my Metallurgical Engineering education ( ?? ), conveniently avoided foundries and shop floors and jumped straight into the IT pool. After all, software "allows me to use my brain, provides me more scope to prove myself". (Never mind if I am just running jobs, agents, spending 4 hours on changing font sizes, updating timesheets and organizing team meetings)
Splashed about for a year.5 in Infosys, "the bellwether of Indian IT (whatever that means)" and moved to IBM - "The dancing elephant providing solutions for a small planet".
Currently in the UK, trying to hang on for 6 more months.
Okay, now that we've established who I am, let me throw some light on my Europe trips.
I must say that all the above effort to paint a picture is to basically let you know that I am part of that category of Indians which is somewhere in between the elite Mittals, Shyamalans, Bosess and the poor souls who risk lives for menial jobs in the Middle East.
Like a middle-class Indian Resident, I am a middle class Non Resident Indian. I can afford to take European holidays but not with 5-star champagne cruises. Will plan for 5 countries in 10 days, not 10 days in a seaside villa. Ready to try out a couple of wines, but ultra careful on food (no meat, no meat).
Before we start, a few tips/tidbits :
- Like any sightseeing exercise, a trip to European countries will overshoot budget.
Doesn't matter even if it is a total kanjoos budget (in which you carry your luggage for a whole day without spending the night at a hotel and you pack rotis, fruits, chips etc for 3 days )
- The cities are a dirty as our regular Indian cities.
- You will see more desis (Thou shalt not wish/help each other) than the local Europeans.
- Do not try and polish your English. Europeans are not interested in English. Just speak plain English, slowly.
- It is not always cold. May - August is HOT. Even if you've seen 40 deg C in your hometown, you will feel hot here at 25 degrees. Don't know why.
- Pickpockets and conmen do operate. Travel in a desi group, split cash between bags and pockets.
And the universal advice to all desis :
Please do not convert every Euro (Rs. 55) or Pound (Rs. 82) when you go on these trips. Just relax and have a holiday. Avoid the urge to cover 20 attractions in 1 day just to back and brag to your friends.
Okay, now..
I had the opportunity (read that as "mood to spend pounds" ) to go around Paris, Belgium/Holland, Scotland and smaller places in UK like the Isle of Wight, Bath etc.
Italy was missed due to a last minute brainwave by a Sardar colleague that the budget was overshooting. Not interested in seeing Switzerland as a bachelor.
Germany - boring.
Austria, Sweden, Finland - cancelled due to realisation of the rupee value of Pounds.
In the next few blogs, I'll try and pour out all my memories of these trips using the best English I can :-))
Friday, June 11, 2004
The Traveller
Tiny place to capture my travel experiences. Planning to add all travel-related articles, tips etc. You are most welcome to contribute your experiences, but please make sure that the experience is first-hand.
Let's go!!!!
Let's go!!!!
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