Photography and Food
Pictures and food dominate my travel. And lots of hot coffee.
Well, before you turn the page, there is some logic to it. Rather, my perspective of it.
We travel to please our senses. Completely different input to our brains is refreshing. Our senses i.e. sight, sound, smell, taste, touch – are used to the daily mundane routine and the brain is tuned into monotony. The creation of ideas/thoughts in the brain gets into the same routine and eventually we feel that life is just, stuck.
Most people need recreation. “Re creation” of their selves. A nice movie & a dinner or some beer-over-football would generally do, but over longer periods of time, we need a bigger break. The senses need radically different inputs to recreate the brain and its impressions.
Getting my point? Yes, that is the reason people take big vacations and go out to explore places, cities, hills, seas and forests.
They go out and absorb the new sights and sounds and feel refreshed. But sights & sounds only satisfy the eyes and ears. Capture those moments on still and video cameras. Even after 5 years you will actually feel the place when you watch those pictures/videos.
The same thing goes with the tongue. Taste the local food, don’t compare it with your native cuisine. Just enjoy the food as it is. Remember those tastes, find out those recipes. Come back home and try out those recipes after 2 years. Those lovely memories will surely be rekindled when you stoke your taste buds.
It is like recording on tape. Your sensory organs record the images in your brain and play them for you. Use this mechanism intelligently and you’ll find new ways of recreation !
Monday, June 19, 2006
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Package Tours
For me, travel always meant planning, budgeting, last minute arrangements and a little bit of chilling out. Until I discovered the joys of package tours.
My earliest memory of a package tour was the Delhi-Agra tour which I went when I was about 6 years old. I remember we were horded around like programmed robots - "Get-down-at-Yamuna-and-have-a-dip", "30-mins-at-Qutb-Minar", "If-you-miss-the-bus-at-Taj-Mahal-then-catch-us-at-xyz-place" etc. Somehow I was under the impression that package tours don't give you enough freedom to explore things on your own and have your own privacy.
Well, I realised only in 2004 that common sense was not my sole birthright. People in the tourism business have given some thought to this over the years and the process has matured to a point where we now have "tour guide" as a career.
Take a look at Haggis Adventures
This is a tourism company started in Scotland by people with passion for tourism (and Scotland). During Easter 2004, being a desi bachelor in the UK with lot of desire for travel, but no company, I blindly booked a package for 269 pounds at Haggis Adventures. I had my own concerns about the kind of people who would travel with me and how I could gel with them.
I did not regret it. Not a bit.
Will write more about my Haggis Adventure (yes, I will explain what is Haggis too !) later.. But for now, I am convinced that package tours are the best.
So my next holidays did not involve "Planning, budgeting, last minute arrangements and a little bit of chilling out".
I now do only two things: 1. Research a little bit and identify a great tour operator 2. CHILL OUT !
The primary concern for many people is the costs involved in buying a package.. "Wouldn't it be cheaper to do-it-yourself ?", "Will I really be interested in all the places those guys show us?", "Will I get enough time for my leisure shopping ?"..
Believe me, all those are things of the past. You do get packages to suit every pocket. And the little premium you pay is WORTH it since you don't really have to haggle with taxis, you don't have to handle conmen or waste time in hunting for accomodation, food or directions.
If you don't want to see every single spot in the city, you could always opt out.
I've tried the group tour at Haggis Adventures and also a customised private 7-day tour which I bought from Orbit World for my honeymoon trip to Shimla-Kulu-Manali. It was pretty good.
Fun does come in packages.
My earliest memory of a package tour was the Delhi-Agra tour which I went when I was about 6 years old. I remember we were horded around like programmed robots - "Get-down-at-Yamuna-and-have-a-dip", "30-mins-at-Qutb-Minar", "If-you-miss-the-bus-at-Taj-Mahal-then-catch-us-at-xyz-place" etc. Somehow I was under the impression that package tours don't give you enough freedom to explore things on your own and have your own privacy.
Well, I realised only in 2004 that common sense was not my sole birthright. People in the tourism business have given some thought to this over the years and the process has matured to a point where we now have "tour guide" as a career.
Take a look at Haggis Adventures
This is a tourism company started in Scotland by people with passion for tourism (and Scotland). During Easter 2004, being a desi bachelor in the UK with lot of desire for travel, but no company, I blindly booked a package for 269 pounds at Haggis Adventures. I had my own concerns about the kind of people who would travel with me and how I could gel with them.
I did not regret it. Not a bit.
Will write more about my Haggis Adventure (yes, I will explain what is Haggis too !) later.. But for now, I am convinced that package tours are the best.
So my next holidays did not involve "Planning, budgeting, last minute arrangements and a little bit of chilling out".
I now do only two things: 1. Research a little bit and identify a great tour operator 2. CHILL OUT !
The primary concern for many people is the costs involved in buying a package.. "Wouldn't it be cheaper to do-it-yourself ?", "Will I really be interested in all the places those guys show us?", "Will I get enough time for my leisure shopping ?"..
Believe me, all those are things of the past. You do get packages to suit every pocket. And the little premium you pay is WORTH it since you don't really have to haggle with taxis, you don't have to handle conmen or waste time in hunting for accomodation, food or directions.
If you don't want to see every single spot in the city, you could always opt out.
I've tried the group tour at Haggis Adventures and also a customised private 7-day tour which I bought from Orbit World for my honeymoon trip to Shimla-Kulu-Manali. It was pretty good.
Fun does come in packages.
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