Travel Tales

On our way to Jaisalmer we crossed the iconic Ramdevra station. With plenty of daylight and throngs of people, it did seem very different from the mysterious place that I had always imagined it to be after having watched Satyajit Ray's Sonar Kella . Our train reached Jaisalmer at 11.40, right on time. We were to put up at Hotel Helsinki House, and they had sent us a car to take us to the hotel. The city seemed much quieter than Jaipur, with very few people and even less traffic on the road. And if Jaipur is 50% pink, Jaisalmer is 100% golden. Almost all the buildings are made from sandstone and the city dazzled under the afternoon sun. And soon at a distance we caught the first glimpse of the fort, sitting pretty on top of a hill. On check-in we were welcomed with a cup of tea and ushered into our room. The large bed was very inviting, but we stayed clear of it. A whole day of exploring was ahead of us. The hotel staff were kind enough to organise the desert safari for us; the plan

We had a very early morning flight to catch, 5.30 to be precise. Wasn't willing to take our chances with Uber or Ola in the middle of the night, so had booked a Meru cab for 3.30am. They are generally good for early morning airport transfer and we were not disappointed. As expected, the roads had almost no traffic and we were at the airport in no time. Our packing plan worked perfectly and there were absolutely no issues either at the airline's ticketing counter or at security check. We had some time to kill and having explored the limited things you can at an airport, we knew we were hungry. A quick bite and a cup of tea were just perfect. We were ready to fly! The flight was on time and fortunately, uneventful. In about two hours we had landed and by 8am we were on our Uber headed for our hotel. The city was still asleep. Most of the shops were closed and  there were only a few cars and two-wheelers on the roads. It was cloudy and there was a slight drizzle. We thought it wi

With just about twenty-four hours to go before the start of our trip, it is now time to get done with my packing. However, the challenge is not just with respect to the time in hand. The bigger task is to fit everything I will need for those 11 days into my backpack. And stay within the 7kgs that Indigo will allow me to bring as carry-on luggage. Truth be told, I have been planning the packing bit for some time now and have a fair idea of what I will be carrying. In fact a lot of stuff that I will travel with was specifically bought for this trip and any future tour where I plan to travel light. Apart from the limit to the size of the bag you can carry and the weight that you can put inside it, there are a whole set of other restrictions which airlines would impose on cabin baggage. It is a good idea to go through the airline website to find out the exact details. However, the one restriction that is pretty much consistently followed is the limit on liquids/gels one may carry. It

In 2015 we travelled to Ladakh, definitely the most brilliant trip of our lifetime. The following year didn’t involve any major travel and now we are all set to embark on our next big journey. This time we are headed to the land of the Rajputs – Rajasthan . We have planned an 11-day trip to India’s largest state and intend to cover four major cities – Jaipur, Udaipur, Jodhpur and Jaisalmer. I like to plan a lot before we travel, and while some may think that I overdo this, in my opinion it adds to the excitement and also ensures that we have all things sorted and waste little to no time once we reach the destination. First things first. The planned itinerary. I am sharing the brief version here. Hope we'll be able to stick to it. Friday, 1 September 5.45am Indigo flight from Kolkata to Jaipur Checkin at Hotel Kalyan Sightseeing in Jaipur 11.45pm Train to Jaisalmer (DLI-JSM Express) Saturday, 2 September Check in at Hotel Helsinki Ho