Mumbai and Sri Lanka Trip From : 06 - 01 - 2014 - To - 20 - 01 - 2014.

It had been a long time since we had gone on a trip abroad .
After our return from Cambodia Indonesia Trip in March 2013 , by the year end both Priti & I were getting  " trip sickness " . When the suffering became acute and the bug of wander lust finally bit us we decided on a Kesari trip of Sri Lanka of 7 days / 6 hotel nights starting from Mumbai  at 0130 hours on  13 January 2014  and ending at 0430 hours at Mumbai on 20 January 2014 .

 Pradip & co were asking us to visit them for some time now and as we also had not visited Mumbai for some time decided to combine visit to Pradip & Shrikant along with Sri Lanka trip . So we planned to departure for Mumbai on 06 January 2014 stay for 6 days with Pradip .

Shrish & Jaya Tatwawadi had told us to inform them if we plan any trip so we told them about our plans . They decided to join . As Tats were in Mumbai ,We went & booked the trip for both of us on 23 October 2013 by paying ₹ 100,000/- as advance for both of us .  As all our friend circle , Mangal Behere , also knew of our plan , She convinced Pradip and also booked the trip.
Final payments were by Tats & Self on 19 December 2013. Final Trip cost ,  per head , worked out as follows :
In ₹ ; 34990 - 10000  (discount ) =                  ₹ 24,990/- 
In $ ; 560 ( On payment day 
exchange @63.75=₹35744 )     =                   ₹ 35,744/-
Taxes                                                         ₹   1827/-
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Total Cost per head                                      ₹ 61,861/ --700 (Sr Ctz discount) = 61,161?-
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Mumbai.

We travelled by Vidharbha Express on 06 January 2014 . This time got down at Thane . Getting a Taxi proved problematic as we never reached proper taxi stand but were intercepted by taxi & Auto fellows .

Advice to first timers at Thane station is that do not take an Auto as autos of Thane are not allowed in Greater Mumbai limits .

Also insists & settle that the coolie takes you to the proper taxi stand . 

Stay at Pradip's place was all that we expected and thoroughly enjoyed . Also a night spent with Dada & Shrikant gave pleasure to all . 

On 09 January Pradip took us to see the Pagoda . 

Pagoda.

Global vipassana Pagoda and Meditation Center

In Mumbai it is commonly referred to as " The Pagoda " but the correct

 correct nomenclature is " Global vipassana Pagoda and Meditation Center ".

(for the convenience  of writing " Pagoda " is used here ) .

The Pagoda is located on Gorai Creek in the North-West of Mumbai approximately 25 KMs from Pradip's house and took us about an hour by car. It is very close to Essel World Amusement Part in fact the first parking lot one come across are those of the Essel World before parking confirm that Pagoda is still ahead ! The first glimpse of the pagoda is much before one reaches this parking lot.

The first glimpse of the Pagoda while still about 3-4 kilometers away .

Some information about the Pagoda courtesy wiki .

The Global Vipassana Pagoda is a Meditation Hall near Gorai, North-west of Mumbai,India. The Pagoda was inaugurated by Pratibha Patil, then President of India on 8 February 2009 It is built on donated land on a peninsula between Gorai creek and the Arabian Sea. The pagoda is to serve as a monument of peace and harmony.

The center of the Global Vipassana Pagoda contains the world's largest stone dome built without any supporting pillars. The height of the dome is approximately 29 metres, while the height of the building is 96.12 meters, External diameter of the largest section of the dome is 97.46m and the shorter sections is 94.82m. Internal diameter of the dome is 85.15m.The inside of the pagoda is hollow and serves as a very large meditation hall with an area covering more than 6000 m²(65,000 ft²). The massive inner dome seats over 8000 people enabling them to practice the non-sectarian Vipassana meditation . More interested people can find full details here.

Some Photos of Pagoda and allied buildings

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The Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara or Kelaniya Temple is a Buddhist temple in Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, seven miles from Colombo. Buddhists believe the temple to have been hallowed during the third and final visit of the Buddha to Sri Lanka, eight years after gaining enlightenment. Its history would thus go back to before 500 BCE.The Mahawansa records that the original Stupa at Kelaniya enshrined a gem-studded throne on which the Buddha sat and preached. The temple flourished during the Kotte era but much of its land was confiscated during the Portuguese empire. Under the Dutch empire, however, there were new gifts of land and under the patronage of King Kirthi Sri Rajasingha the temple was rebuilt. It was refurbished in the first half of the 20th century with the help of Helena Wijewardana. The temple is also famous for its image of the reclining Buddha and paintings which depict important events in the life of the Buddha, in the history of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, also incidents from the Jataka tales.  An 18-foot stone statue of the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara has been erected at the temple.

Kelaniya Temple Complex more photos.

Independence Memorial Hall (also Independence Commemoration Hall) is a national monument in Sri Lanka built for commemoration of the independence of Sri Lanka from the British rule with the establishment of Dominion of Ceylon on February 4, 1948. It is located at the Independence Square (formerly Torrington Square) in the Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo. It also houses the Independence Memorial Museum.The monument was built at the location where the formal ceremony marking the start of self-rule, with the opening of the first parliament by the HRH Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester occurred at a special podium February 4, 1948.Located at the head of the monument is the statue of the first prime minister of the country Rt. Hon. Don Stephen Senanayake "The Father of the Nation". Most of the annual National Independence Day celebrations have been held here. Apart from a monument it served as the ceremonial assembly hall for the Senate of Ceylon and the House of Representatives of Ceylon until the parliament was moved to the new parliament complex. Currently it is the venue for religious events and annual national day celebrations.

   

Nagpur - to - Rome,Europe Trip Part III.

Departed Mumbai 09:45. Landed Dubai 11:15 Dubai time . We were taken to Terminal 3. It seems that Terminal 3 is used mainly by Emirates flights.Other airlines get other terminals.For that matter it did did look different from our previous visit . Here are some photos of terminal 3.

Some difference from Mumbai ?

Kind fellow traveller shot us .

Some awesome shops.

These are plastic palms, with their money power they could have got real one as well !!!

Tarmac view.

Finally taxing out 'for the flight for Rome.

Another aircraft ready to taxi.

Nagpur - to - Rome.Europe Trip Part II.

Pradip and Surekha dropped us at the airport by 05:30 .Check in time was 06:30 so we just hung around. 

Some fellow travellers also hanging around :)

Fellow in the wheel chair took this photo.

Hanging around was not too difficult as I did some window shopping.

Finally finally it was 06:30 and the check in counters were open and we joined the "Q"

Check - in , Emirates Flight EK 0505 W to Dubai.

After that finally , in the Emirates Boeing 777. 

In side the 777.

What leg room ? This is economy class !!

As we taxied-out I saw that there was a bird on the wings , near the aileron.It was packing at some things I know not what .To my surprise it kept sitting on the wing even after the aircraft started ,and taxied out. It was right there almost up to line up . In all my years I have not seen a bird taking such a long ride on an aeroplane :-).

Never seen a bird taking such long air-plane ride !!!

Nagpur - to Rome, Europe Tour.Part I

 08 May 2011, the day we were to commence our Europe trip dawned bright and and sunny or may be it looked so as we were very happy .There is no doubt that your mental state , to a very large extant does affect, how the world appears to you . if you are happy, the day dawns bright & sunny . If you are sad, the day dawns gloomy .

As per initial plans we were to leave Nagpur by Indigo flight around 22:00,reach Mumbai by 23:30. Check in at 06:30 to catch the flight for Dubai at 09:45 ,  Due to these timings, we had decided to stay at the airport rather then go to Pradip's place . However with the Tours and Travels , nothing is confirmed till such time tickets are in your hands . And so it was this time as well . We were finally handed over Jetlite flight  S2 116 from Nagpur to Mumbai.Nagpur, departure : 19:55. Arrive Mumbai : 21:30.With this we also changed our plan and decided to go to Pradip and so we did . Flight was on time and we arrived at Mumbai on time .

We had landed in Mumbai after a long time . There was tremendous improvements in the airport . It looked as good as any airport in the world . May be a bit small , but that may be also be because the domestic and the international terminals are located separately. Here are two snaps .

Mumbai Airport .Domestic Arrivals.

Mumbai Airport.

After collecting our baggage we left for Pradip's place . There a surprise awaited Priti.

Surprise cake !!!

Cake is so delicious !!!!

Surekha had brought a cake and we had an impromptu ,belated birthday party for Priti.                                                                              

After couple of hours sleep we were refreshed . At 05:30 Pradip and Surekha dropped us at Departure lounge of International Departures.

Europe Trip .The Start.

  We were thinking of Europe trip for some time ,so finally in November 2010 , when Priti gave me the go ahead to plan for the tour some time in 2011, I started googling for  2011 Europe tours. To my surprise,not one company had come out with programme for 2011. It was only in last week of December 2011 that most of them unveiled the 2011 plans.Priti was very keen to see the tulip fields in full bloom . So that started another round of searches on the internet. We found that the place we want to go for tulips was Keukenhof , Lisse,Holland. Also for the year 2011,Tulip season was from 16  March 2011 to 20 May 2011, annual tulip day being on 16 April 2011.This meant that we had to be in Keukenhof between March and May .
The average maximum temperatures in European cities around  March to early May were 07 to 11 deg C. We do not like cold and decided that it was too cold for comfort .Temperatures where we would feel comfortable were around only June and July.This did not meet our tulip season dates . Finally a compromise was arrived at.We decided to take a tour which would put us in Europe as late as possible in May , but definitely in Keukenhof before 20 May . But the moment you compromise you only get the second best potion and we were to experience it first hand on reaching Keukenhof.  Having decided on the dates search started for tours to suit our needs . Almost all the Tours & travel guys had tours planned during those days.Then started the comparative study.Every one had similar packages . The number of countries . the cities to be visited were almost identical with minor changes.Our market survey and comparative study between some of the leading tour brands was finally over . We had zeroed on the Thomas Cook . Once we called , their rep came over habbaha habbaha .They were offering following tours
1,Avismarniya Europe.
2.--------do----------- with Scotland .
3.--------do-----------with France.
4. Along with all the three above packages Egypt, 2 nights 3 days package was available as an add on for Rs 20,000/ in Euro's.
We opted for ,Avismarniya Europe with Scotland and Egypt as an add on .The dates were 07 May 2011 Egypt and reach Rome on 09 May 2011 to join their regular Avismarniya Europe tour with out any add ons.
 We booked the trip in first wek of January 2011 by paying the necessary booking amount .We were in constant touch with Thomas Cook fellows but they did not seem to be in a hurry to collect rest of the money . This was unlike Cox & Kings where one has to pay the full tour cost within 20 days of booking the trip !!
Then came the popular uprising and revolution in Egypt and no visa were being issued. We told them to keep the option open till the last moment .With time the wheels of planning also turned and one by one we got our visa..When even in late April Egypt visa were not being processed we had to drop that from our plans :(
So finally without Egypt , the tour dates ex Mumbai. worked out to 08 May 2011 to 27 May 2011,
All the formalities with Thomas Cook like  handing over the tickets , foreign exchange etc etc were completed by 03May 2011. We felt  that it was too late for our comfort and had some tension . but to them it was all well within time :).
That is how time found us catching Jetlite flight at Nagpur for Mumbai on 08 May 2011.

Our Europe tour had finally started.

Our Europe Trip .

It has been a long long time since I have visited my blog , leave alone wring a new post . But today I am motivated to take up blog writing . I will tell you how this motivation has come about. 
I have been making maps of our road trips since may be 2005 or so. When we did a trip to US Of A I had mapped that as well.The effort was very well appreciated by my self . So now that when we did Europe trip I did so once again . Only this time I did much more with the map than what I had done in mapping the States trip . This time I tried to name the name and locate  every building ,every statue , every painting, every place and every scenery we had photographed. 
This was, as knowledgeable will acknowledge, not easy. I googled for places , searched the google images of each locality where photo was likely to have been taken . Did the same with panoramio.The search took me to lots of blogs , photo galleries , photo collections  by various individuals.This search for information  was an amazing and fascinating and educative  journey. May be as good as our Europe Trip :-) .  It was amazing to see the dedication , enthusiasm, time and effort spent by some of them on their past time , Hobby or whatever name one would want to call their efforts. Some had collection of as many as 25,000 plus photographs they had put on the web. Some had made them free for public , some had made then conditionally public and some had copy righted every image of theirs.
 I did get the required information from various  galleries, collections etc . On names from some , on locations from some on both these from very very few . Blogs with embedded photos by various individuals also did help  .I freely acknowledge their help and contribution .
It was then that I decided to start writing about our trip in the blog. Even while mapping , I had felt that lack of space did hamper what one wanted to say . The map had only sufficient space for dry facts and figures. What it had to offer was totally insufficient to express the feelings and emotions and that, the blog was the place for it. So that was another reason to start this effort . Let us hope I have sufficient tenacity to take it to the logical conclusion.
 Before ending here is the link to what it is all about :
 "Avsmarniya Europe and Scotland"

Map of Our Europe Tour.

We had gone on Europe Trip from 08May 2011 TO 27 May 2011.
As has been our habit I did the mapping of this trip,with a slight difference .
This time We tried to put title tag and map location on every photo . This of course was a very cumbersome and time consuming process .  We did succeed in doing this in about 80% to 90% photos .    It was comparatively easier wherever street views were available.However it was a bit difficult where panoramio blue dots were available . It was almost impossible where neither street view nor panoramio blue dots were not available and so there are still few photos without the tags !!!!
So click HERE and take the Europe Trip .