Business trip to Delhi

Had a quick business trip to Delhi, but this time felt more choked in the Delhi air than ever before. If you did not know better, just from smelling the air, you would conclude that everything was on fire. I stayed at the Crowne Plaza which smelled of paint and veneer. I fell sick with a sore throat within 12 hours.

After that, I went to visit my parents in Surat and then my inlaws in Mumbai. Those were the highlights of the trip. Especially attending Ahaan's first birthday party was a blast.

P.S. Met Arshad Warsi on the Bom-Paris leg. Felt coy about taking a selfie, for which I got an earful from my wife. Selfie or it didn't happen!

Thanksgiving in LA, Palm Springs

Day 1 and 2
Adi and I have been to Universal Studios Hollywood on a dad-son trip, but Surabhi had not ever been. Adi loved Harry Potter and so did Surabhi. Adi is still scared of roller coasters but this was the trip where Surabhi overcame her fear. We both loved Flight of the Hippogriff. Surabhi got scared in the Studio tour, especially King Kong 3D. We all loved Water World. I think kids will be happy to go again to Universal Studios or Disneyland any time!

Day 3
We went up the aerial tramway to Mt. San Jacinto. It was cold and crowded. There was a huge line, but we got our tickets from a lady who decided not to go, at a 20% premium :). That saved us a couple of hours, but it was my first time in the US buying tickets in "black". The hike at the top of hte mountain was cold but beautiful

Day 4
The last day, we went to Joshua Tree National Park. The Cholla Cactus Garden and the Hidden Valley hike were highlights. I have never seen Cactii so beautiful in my life.

We also met up with Raj and Priyanka in Palm Springs with their friends, which was fun!

Company Trip to Big Island

We won an incentive trip to Big Island for the very first time! It was a great setting to mingle with work folks. We stayed at the Fairmont Orchid which was really nice! It is not set on a sandy beach but has a nice cove for snorkeling. I saw many fish, an eel and a couple of turtles in that setting.

For our activity, we went kayaking from a small cove to Captain Cook Monument and it did not disappoint. We not only saw dolphins literally a few feet from the Kayak. We also had a wonderful time snorkeling in the area where there is a nice reef with tons of colorful fish! On the way back it started pouring heavily leading to a surreal experience where it was low visibility and finding the cove was pretty difficult. Being in a group was comforting but barely helped since we could hardly see anyone. For some time, we were questioning whether we would find the little cove we started out from. Toward the end, we saw another turtle just lying above the water. I think it was the most adventurous snorkeling trip in my life.

We went out to get chocolate from the original Donkey Balls store where we picked a few chocolates. Overall, a memorable trip!

Las Vegas with friends

Thats it!

Offsite to Tahoe

We stayed in a really nice place - the resort at Squaw Creek, but the air quality was bad due to fires. Tahoe is always paradise for me, but I have never gone swimming in the lake mostly because I have only visited Tahoe in late summer once and I always felt it might be too cold for me. But this time, it was really hot and the water was inviting. This time I decided to go kayaking in Lake Tahoe and took a nice dip in the absolutely dark blue lake. We had dinner at the golf course which was nice too!

Cruise to Mexico

We were a group of four families who took a Carnival cruise to Mexico. It was a blast!! The ship had a water park which was the highlight. The food, beautiful sunsets, mini-golf and shows all added to the experience. We also a dozens of dolphins playing next to the front of the ship as we cruised into the sunset. The port of Ensenada was fun to get out to, but there wasn't much to do, except get a glimpse of Mexico.

Italy

This was our first family trip to Europe and we covered Rome, Florence, Pisa, Venice, Lake Garda and Verona!

Rome was beautiful with so much history that I was amazed at how well they have sustained these structures for so long, each with its rich history. We did the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palantine Hill, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain and each had its own beauty. We ate the best gelato near Trevi fountain. I have never had Kumquat gelato and it was really awesome! We also went to Vatican City museum and Sistine Chapel. St Peter's basilica is the best church I have seen from inside!

Florence is probably the most beautiful city with its beautiful sunsets and all the art. We did Michelangelo Square, where Surabhi fell trying to climb the statue and slit her chin. That night we went to the hospital and got it glued back. That would be the only tense few hours on the trip. We did Uffizi with a guide and it was awesome. I also hiked to Boboli gardens and of course the beautiful Ponte Vecchio.

We did a one day trip to Pisa and it was really beautiful. Climbing to the top, we felt the tilt. Before that we had Pizza watching the Soccer WC in Italy!

Next stop was Venice. We probably walked the entire city in 2 days, going to various touristy and non-touristy areas (well, almost all of Venice is touristy, so...). Highlights were a nice gondola ride, an amazing restaurant that made ketchup from scratch for our kids and an amazing Polenta meal on the canal!

Next stop was off the beaten path to Lake Garda which is a tourist spot but more frequented by locals. Its a beautiful alpine lake where we had dinners on the lake. It was just beautiful. We took the cable car to Monte Baldo which had unbelievable vistas. There were Alpacas on the top which made my day.

Finally, we came to Verona, the home of the real characters that inspired Shakespeare to write Romeo and Juliet. We saw the first century arena which still houses concerts. It was really surreal to see something operational that is from the 1st century!

We never rented a car, but used trains all over Italy. I loved the trains! They were fast, clean and fun!

Emergency trip to India

Grandma passed away, so visited India for a week. She was the last of my grandparents, and while she was really ailing, we will always miss her! It was good to see the extended family after a long time.

Spring Break in Arizona

Almost a decade ago, we had visited Grand Canyon's west rim, when the skywalk had not been created. But we have never seen the more touristy and beautiful South Rim. This Spring Break, we took a trip to Arizona and stayed at the El Tovar on the South Rim. We loved the place with Elk grazing outside the hotel in the morning and deer on the trails. We did a good bit of the Rim to River trail and the views were breathtaking. We then had the finest lunch at the Bright Angel Lodge, especially their Tortilla Soup is the best I have had.

Then we headed over to Page to see lower antelope canyon. We were in sandstorm and had to cover our entire faces which made the experience very interesting, especially the drive to the canyon. In the canyon, the scenes were unreal. I just could not believe what I was seeing. The sun's rays coming down the canyon and the beautiful shades of brown are something I have never seen. Then we went to Horseshoe Bend to battle another sand storm. We also saw the Glen Canyon dam and checked out Antelope Canyon by boat. The driver was nice to allow the kids to drive the boat with around 25 folks on board!

Final stop was Sedona. It was way more beautiful than I had imagined. We stayed at the Poco Diablo Resort which I would totally recommend. We hiked on top of Cathedral rock, saw the most beautiful Church up there and had great food!

All in all, a great trip!

Business Trip to India

I had gone to India on a business trip, spending 4 days in Jaipur and one day in Delhi. We went to a bunch of areas in Jaipur. Hawa Mahal and especially Amer fort were pretty good! We had the best food, period! We stayed at ITC Rajputana and went to both LMB for their massive thali with dal bati choorma as well as Rawat for their Pyaaz Kachori.

New Year's in Big Island

The last time I was in Big Island was in 2010 and we covered Kona and south of Big Island in that trip. This time, we decided to do the rest of Big Island. Last time, we had covered Kona and the south of big island. So this time we decided to spend three days in Hilo and 3 days in Waikoloa. Hilo was all about the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. On 30th December we visited during the day and saw all the points, including the Thurston lava tube the Jaggar Museum Overlook and the sulfur vents. It was just amazing, but this was just the beginning. On 31st December, Aditya and I took a helicopter tour to see the lava in the caldera. We saw burning lava which was great.

But what took the cake was the second trip to the National Park at night. Adi and Anu serendipitously met a friend who said that we must see the glow of the volcano at night. I was really tired that night, and we decided to skip it. But having slept early, I woke up at 4 am and woke up my wife to ask if she was up for going. She readily agreed. The kids grumbled when we woke them up, but the next few hours were the best on the island. It was a full moon day. We reached the Jaggar Museum overlook just in time for the full moon to set. The glow from the Halemaumau crater was a sight to behold. We saw the sun rise and came back to check-out of the hotel. 

We drove to Hapuna Beach where we would spend the next 3 days. On 1st of Jan, we saw the moon set, sun rise over the Halemaumau crater and sun set at Hapuna Beach.

Every day for the next 3 days, we would hit balls at the golf range, followed by two visits to the beach and evening in the hot tub. Hapuna beach is great for Boogie Boarding. Adi and I literally bruised our stomachs boogie boarding. Finally, Virgin America was overbooked so they gave us $1600 to fly to OAK instead of SFO, setting us up for the next trip!