Our 2010 Travel destinations

It already is 2011, and I'm posting about 2010 destinations. Seems a bit odd, till I declare that the destinations referred to are the places I visited in 2010 with my wife. It's 2+ years, and we are maintaining the momentum to go to new places with surprising frequency. So here are the destinations:

A) Kotdwar: My mother belongs to this lovely town in Himalayan foothills, and I attended a cousin's wedding in January 2010.

B) Nainital: A beautiful hill town in Uttarakhand. Spent 4 days in April 2010.

C) Ladakh: Week long vacation in beautiful Ladakh in June 2010. Visited highest and second highest motorable roads in world (Khardungla Pass and Changla Pass). Saw the mesmerizing Pangong Lake. Had a tent stay in Nubra valley. visited sand dunes of Hunder. Did biking in vast open roads and rafting in Zanskar and Indus River.

D) Weeklong official trip to USA: Made memorable by numerous walks I took in evenings. This was in September.

E) Hong Kong: Stayed there for a day while returning back to India. Peak Tram, bird park and amazing skyline. Did a lot of shopping. Hong Kong is a shopping paradise.

F) Udaipur: City of lakes and palaces. Liked the Crystal palace. This was in early November.

G) Nepal: Went to celebrate our second anniversary. Visited Kathmandu, Bhaktpur and Nagarkot. Amazing temples and really liked the tastefully decorated Narayanhiti Palace.

H) Munnar and Alleppey (Kerala): Rounded up the year with a weeklong Kerala holiday. Loved both Munnar and alleppey. We were fortunate in choice of hotels in both places. In Munnar, my hotel was on a hillside slope, and had cottages at various heights. In Alleppey, I stayed in a homestay at the intersection of Pamba River and Kollam Canal.

Whew... 2010 was hectic. Goal for 2011 will be to match it in number of places we visit.

Pune in December

December 2009 destination of travel was Pune, not for tourism, but for PhD thesis defense of my wife at Pune University.

The trip turned out to be fruitful, with my wife earning her PhD degree, and us enjoying memorable time in excellent hotel Bhairavee, and a government guest house. We also watched many episodes of 'Jeeves and Wooster' (with Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie as lead actors), an excellent adaptation of PG Wodehouse Novels by BBC. BBC and Granada Television have an excellent track record of producing faithful TV versions popular novels. I recommend 'Pride and Prejudice', 'Sense and Sensibility'and 'Sherlock Holmes' to anyone who likes the respective novels.

I'm still Around

I'm writing a new post after really long time. What happened to me?
I fell... in love :-)

In last 3 years, I spent most of my free time with my girlfriend (who now is my wife). She's Bengali, and is presently busy celebrating Durga Puja with her parents. This leaves me with some free time after years. I'll be joining in the celebrations from today evening for next 4 days, but thought about restarting this blog, while I still have some time.

I flattered myself to be a travel loving person, but I realized my potential only during last 1 year or so. This is a direct result of marrying someone who:
a) Understands me better than myself
b) Is a travel freak herself

As a result, we have been to following places in last one year:
A) Munich (She went alone because this was 2 weeks before our marriage, and it was an official trip). I've been to Munich earlier, and she refreshed my memories with her vivid description of the city.
B) Spain - Madrid, Toledo, Cordoba, Sevilla, Granada, Malaga, Torremolinos, Barcelona
This was a two week trip, the most enterprising travel effort from my side, considering that every single detail of trip was planned by me.
C) Kolkata
D) Digha (West Bengal)
E) Rishikesh, Haridwar, Tehri Dam
F) Mussourie, Dhanaulti
G) Dharamshala, Mcleodgunj - Besides the usual charms of Dharamshala, we trekked upto Nadi and Triund, a total of 36 km trek/walk. If I had any doubts about my wife's being a travel freak, they were removed in this trek.
H) Pune, Mumbai
I) Kotdwar, Lansdowne
J) Singapore : I forgot this in my original post!!! How can I forget the Bird Park, the Night Safari, Merlion, Sentosa Island and Orchard Road?
K) Goa

All this happened despite the busy(?) schedules for both of us. Me, someone who did not take any single leave on some years, utilized all of my vacation balance in 1 year.

The hunt is on for the next place to travel to :-)