Place: Barcelona, Madrid, Ibiza, Frankfurt
Date(s) of Travel: November 2 - November 13, 2012
Barcelona
Madrid
Ibiza
Frankfurt
Some video Links:
My Experience:
It was getting cold and dark early. Signs of winter around the corner. Winter in England is quite dark and dull and you can get into depressive mode unless you gotta a goal to achieve. To motivate myself and face winter, I decided to go for a backpacking trip in Spain which is warm enough during november. There was no planning other than I decided to visit Barcelona first and go forward from there.
So I reached Barcelona on a fine evening. Oh my god, the weather was a bliss and you can roam around in a t-shirt. I boarded a bus from the airport to the city centre and as usual I got down at a different place because I was dreaming. After few hours, reached my hostel called "Hostel BCN" near the metro station called parallel. People in the hostel were helpful and friendly. The hostel is very near the famous "La Rambla" and has lot of restaurants around. The one thing I noticed about Barcelona is, people are so laid back and food is cheaper compared to other european countries.
The hostel organises lot of night out events and it was a way to socialize and get to meet people. I went to quite a few night clubs and especially the trance music in "Razzmatazz" club was mind blowing. The next day, I went to camp nou to watch a Barcelona football la liga match. It was a really big stadium and it was fun. There are quite a few sight seeing places in Barcelona. Since, I was partying all night I had visited only Sagrada Familia which is a church built by famous architect Antoni Gaudi. It was one of its kind and I recommend to everyone.
After three days in Barcelona, I left for madrid which is the capital city of Spain. Madrid is a vibrant and small city compared to Barcelona. I stayed in a hostel called "Hostel One Centro" near the city centre. The city centre was always buzzing with tourists and adding to that, there were loads of Borussia dortmund german football fans. There were so many restaurants and tapas bars around that area and you never feel alone for a moment. The next day, I went for a walking tour. It was one of the best way to experience the history and culture of the city. In the evening I went for the champions league football match between Borussia dortmund and Real madrid. It was one of the thrilling game ended with 2-2 score and I enjoyed every moment in Santiago Bernabeu stadium as a fan of Real madrid because of Rafa Nadal.
I met few people from Germany in the hostel. I hanged out with them for a few drinks and went for two night outs in a row. It was really fun and we became close friends. Hope one day I visit them in Germany. There was one day, I slept whole day because of heavy hangover from the previous night. Gotta hate hangover. After three days in madrid, I decided to go to Ibiza island in the Mediterranean sea.
I reached Ibiza in the late night and I boarded a bus to my hotel. Murphy's law struck again and I am in middle of nowhere. Finally, boarded a taxi to reach my hotel called "Hostal Marino" in San Antonio. It was already near midnight and still there were loads of people in the hotel restaurant eating dinner. It was one of the best hotels I stayed in my life because everyone was so friendly and the room was quite good too. The hotel was very close to famous "San Antonio beach" which is very famous for beach parties and sunset experience. Since I went in an off-season things were very quiet. The next day, I went for a walk around the beach and I got lost. I was looking for people who can speak english and then I bumped into this girl who is from Oregon, America. She was quite friendly and helpful and after few conversations I came to know she stays in the same hotel as mine.
The next day I hired a motorbike to roam around Ibiza to see few more places. I asked this girl, if she would like to join me for the bike trip and she agreed. :). Sometimes its better to have company rather than travel alone when the girl was pretty. We visited Cala D'Hort beach where you can see Es Vedra which is a small rocky island and it was quite beautiful. Then we went to the old city in Ibiza town which is near to the port. I liked the old city which is surrounded by a castle. Another thing I need to mention is, driving in the right hand side was a thrilling experience as I am used to drive in left side.
The next morning, I left Ibiza for Frankfurt, Germany. I couldn't say bye to that girl but I was little sad because beautiful moments got over very soon. On the way to Frankfurt, I have to catch a connecting flight via Palma de Mallorca. This was the first time, I travelled in a small propeller plane and it was fun as it flew over lot of islands. Finally, I reached Frankfurt in the evening and met my travel friends from two years back. I stayed in their house itself. It was really nice and I love Frankfurt city since I have been there often.
It was very cold in Frankfurt and I was less prepared. The city has a quite a few high rise buildings and some of them let people to visit the top floor where you can have a panoramic view of the city. I went to one of them and it was brilliant. In the evening I went to the botanical gardens in the city which was nice and there is a building in the garden which emulates tropical climate and they grow tropical plants for experimentation. Then along with my friends, I went to a music concert by a band called "The Reader" in a church. Yes, a concert in a church and I was surprised too. It was one of the nice bands where all the songs were almost like story telling and soothing to ears. After spending 10 fun filling days in Europe I left for London to face the winter.
Thought of Day: It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end. - Ernest Hemingway
Place: Snowdonia, Wales
Route: London Euston - Bangor - Llanberis(Basecamp) - Bangor - London Euston
Date(s) of Travel: August 25 - August 27, 2012
You can read more about the place here: Snowdonia, Wales
My Experience:
The last time I went to Snowdonia, I never had the opportunity to hike the mountain Snowdon. Some of my friends were planning for quite some time to hike snowdon during the long weekend in august. Since, I was in tenerife, spain I wasn't checking mails about this trip. But once I got back to London and got to know about these plans, I decided to join for the hike at the last minute. It was also an opportunity to meet some of my old friends from pune, India.
My friends already left in the morning for Llanberis, wales for the hike. I started in the afternoon and took a train to Bangor from London Euston and the journey was around 3 hours. From Bangor, I took a bus to Llanberis which is the basecamp for the trek. There are two youth hostels, one in Llanberis and another one in Pen-Y-Pass which is 20 minutes away by bus. I was managed to book a place only in Pen-Y-Pass, but all my friends stayed in Llanberis itself since they have planned everything bit earlier. Llanberis is a small tourist city where there are quite a few shops and also you can do some activities like visiting the thermal power station or taking the steam rail to the top of the mountain. Finally I reached my hostel in Pen-Y-Pass by another bus in the late evening.
The next day morning I came to Llanberis to join my friends for the hike. After buying some sandwiches for lunch we started our trek from Llanberis. The trek is quite a easy one from Llanberis route, as it goes along the way of steam railway. It was a sunny day and there were loads of people doing the hike. The mountains and landscapes were beautiful all along the way and you could see them in the above pictures. Due to the variable speed among our group, we missed out lot of people before reaching the summit. We reached the summit around 12.30 PM and it was very foggy at the top. There is a restaurant at the top where you can get food and some drinks. We had our lunch and decided to start back around 1.30 PM.
While walking back, I suggested my friends why don't we take the Pen-Y-Pass route. They call it as miners route as there were quite a few mines operated around that area. It was a little rough route but it was worth it as the landscapes were fantastic. There was a small lake between two mountains and we took some rest to enjoy the nature. Finally around, 6 PM we reached the Pen-Y-Pass area. In the hostel, they serve good food for dinner and breakfast was the best one.
The next day, it was raining all the time. Our train was in the evening and we decided to visit "Swallow Waterfalls" in the nearby village. Around 12 PM we headed back to bangor and took a train back to london. It was a wonderful hike with lot of fun memories.
Thought of Day: Not all those who wander are lost. - JRR Tolkien
Place: Tenerife - Canary Islands, Spain
Route: London Gatwick - Tenerife(Reina-Sofia) - London Gatwick
Date(s) of Travel: August 15 - August 23, 2012
You can read more about the event here: Tenerife, Canary Islands
My Experience:
My friends from Cippenham meadows, UK asked me if I would be interested in joining them for the lads holidays in Tenerife, Spain. I said, I would be more than interested in the trip and I was truly excited. One of our friend Stevie B sorted out everything from airport transfer, flight booking and hotel booking. It was a planned week long holiday in a city called "Las Americas" in the islands. Little I knew about tenerife or lads holidays, I stared the trip along with six other friends.
The flight from Gatwick was delayed for 4 hours, but I wasn't worried a bit as we spent the time in a pub inside airport. The flight journey was around 4.30 hours and finally we reached Tenerife south airport around 8 PM local time. We catched the tour bus and reached our hotel called Marola Portosin in Las americas. It was a nice hotel and it got an awesome swimming pool and good rooms with self cooking options. After refreshing up, we went to the party street around 11 PM. Its day 1 of the holidays and the drinking party started.
The whole party street in Las americas is filled with bars and disco clubs. When you go through the street, there will be loads of PRs from different bars and clubs trying to convince you to come to their bars with their attractive offers. The idea is, every day you start drinking in one bar and keep moving to another one. When it reaches around 3 AM you go to a club and dance till 7 AM. Good god, I had loads of vodka, rum and shots and within 2 hours I was smashed. My friends helped me to get back to the room, thats all I could remember.
I woke up with a bad hangover around 12 PM the next day and it was the case for everyone else. The whole tenerife island is filled with tourists and mostly british people and you get english breakfast all day in every restaurant. I tried the local food called Paela and it was really tasty. After few munches, you hit the swimming pool and spend the whole evening in the pool till the alcohol dries out of your body. There were lot of people near by the pool, just chilling out in the sun for the whole day to get their body tanned. I found it funny, then I came to know that its a fashion thing and you get to show off your tan back home. Anyhow, I am naturally tanned from India, so I wasn't bothered about that.
It was the same routine for all the seven days and it was savage. But it was fun to do once in a while and I got to know more about the friends and english culture. Apart from that, we went to the near by beach just for chilling. I noticed the sand was black in colour and got to know that there is a dormant volcano called Teide in the islands and because of the volcanic ashes and lava the sand in the beaches are black in colour. I was very excited and I decided to visit the volcano. After all the planning, one day morning I went to the bus stop and came to know that I missed the bus by 10 mins. Fuck that. Adding to that, there is only one bus for the whole day from Las americas to the volcano base. I got the timing right the next day and boarded the bus to see the volcano.
The volcano is situated in the middle of the islands. The bus journey was around 3 hours from the city and the whole journey was through loads of mountains. Since, it was peak summer everything was so dry and everything looked like a desert. Finally, reached the base of the volcano and people told me, it will take around 6 hrs to reach the top by trekking and I wasn't prepared very well too for the trek. So, I decided to go by the cable car and it was a thrilling experience where the ride is almost vertical. Once I reached the top, it was way cooler than the base and it was really nice. The people at the top said there are two small treks I can do to reach the crater of the volcano. As always, I did the trek and it took me around an hour to reach the desired point. The view from the top was quite amazing and you can check them in the above photos. I heard during winter seaon, the volcano is completely surrounded by snow. After spending some time in the mountain top, I came down to the base and got the bus back to Las americas.
After partying for seven days, we got back to London with loads of fun filled memories. Some of the pictures that I took in the clubs can't be publicly displayed so I am just putting up the pictures of the volcano trip and a small video made my Stevie B which summarises our partying in tenerife.
Thought of Day: To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries. - Aldous Huxley
Place: London 2012 Olympics
Date: August 11, 2012
Some video Links:
My Experience:
While I was growing up, watching olympics in television and cheering for my country was such a proud thing to do. Since I happened to be in London during 2012, I decided I should visit the olympic village and watch the games live. When they started issuing tickets it was a big mess. I couldn't get hold of any tickets during the first batch of sales. But during the second batch of sales, I was managed to buy a ticket for Womens handball final and medal ceremony. I was quite happy knowing I am gonna witness history.
The day arrived and I went to the olympic village. It was like a big festival and everyone was so happy to be part of this grand event. For most of the people its gonna be a once in a lifetime experience and I thought the same for me too. Walking from the stratford station to the olympic village entrance was itself joyful. All the volunteers welcomed everyone with big smile and making cheerful comments about different countries, people wearing costumes, kids holding their country flags. :)
After few security procedures, I was inside the village. I decided to walk around the village before going to my venue which was basketball arena. When I was walking near the main olympic stadium there was a huge noise of about 70000 people shouting. That time mo farah was running his final 5000m event and everybody went nuts. When he won most of brits were so happy and started jumping. Then I decided to go to the McDonalds which was massive in size and it was overfilled with people. They informed that the waiting time would be around 40 mins, so I decided to skip.
I started walking towards the basketball arena, where the womens handball final event gonna happen in an hour. On the way, there were a bunch of netherlands fans in orange costumes dancing, singing, shouting for their mens hockey final game. That was fun. When I reached the basketball arena, I came to know the final will be between norway and montenegro. There were loads of norway supporters and few for the other country. Once they opened the gates, I went in and the very moment was so thrilling.
The match was very good and it was a high scoring game. Norway won the game at the last minute, I felt little sad for montenegro because the girls were unbelievably pretty. Norway fans were quite happy with their country's win and started celebrating outside the arena for quite sometime. I watched few celebrations like a kid without taking my eyes off. Finally, started to my home with very good memories.
Thought of Day: Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first. - Mark Twain
Place: Paris, France
Route: London - Paris - London
Date(s) of Travel: July 20 - July 22, 2012
You can read more about the event here: Le Tour de france
My Experience:
1. I have been to paris already, but I missed out so many places during that trip. So I decided to do another trip and enjoy the city and watch the final stage of tour de france. I have always been a big fan of Lance armstrong and tour de france. So its a lifetime experience to watch it live.
2. I reached paris on a friday night and stayed in a youth hostel in the city centre which is very near to Notre Dame Cathedral. Since it was summer, everything was so beautiful and lot of buzz in the city. After having my dinner, suddenly saw a lot of roller skaters in the city. That was fun.
3. Next day morning, I went to the Notre Dame Cathedral. Spent a quite lot of time inside and around the area. Its one of the finest gothic architectural marvels. Watched a school band performing orchestra near the cathedral. It was really nice, especially I liked the james bond rendition. In the evening met a travel friend in paris. But some of the places in paris, you feel quite uncomfortable. (lot of ghettos, mostly in metro underground you get to see a lot of mugging).
4. Next day, I went to Pantheon. It is a mausoleum which contains remains of notable french people. And also, went to the nearby Luxembourg gardens. It is one of the well maintained garden which has a lot of character. I walked a lot through the city centre. There was a music festival went on and I catched a glimpse of it.
5. In the afternoon, went to Champs Elysees to watch the final stage of tour de france. Champs Elysees is one of the most famous street in the world. Watching the sprint finish of the last stage of tour de france was unbelievably awesome.
6. The one thing which I love about paris is the food. Oh god, parisians have a good sense of taste for food. Baguette, Bagels, cakes, salad with blue cheese, duck pate and red wine are some of that I tasted.
Thought of Day: I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them. - Mark Twain
Place: Box Hill - Surrey, England
Route: London Victoria - Box Hill - London Victoria
Date(s) of Travel: March 24, 2012
You can read more about the place(s) here: Box Hill - Surrey, England
My Experience:
1. I was so lazy all the winter and didn't do any trips or trek. Since the spring was just started, I said to my friends, we should go somewhere in the weekend.
2. Myself and my friends decided to go to Box hill in surrey which is an hour away from London. We went by a train from london victoria to box hill station. In UK, train tickets are a rip-off, but group save tickets are always a blessing.
3. From the box hill train station, it took around 10 minutes to reach the foothills of box hill. We walked along a small water stream to reach a place where you actually start climbing up.
4. It took around 15 minutes to climb the hill. The view point was real good where we relaxed for sometime. Its a pretty relaxed place with quiet a lot of kids having fun. On the other side of the hill, we further walked following a trail. It was an easy trek, I would say.
5. I did see a few mountain bikers testing their endurance limits. In the evening we reached the foothills of the other side. There is a coffee shop near the station which is a get together place for motorcyclists. Was quite happy to see loads of motorbikes.
Thought of Day: The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education. - Albert Einstein
