Thanksgiving cruise with friends

This was our second cruise but this time it was during Thanksgiving. We took the cruise from SFO to Ensenada and it was really relaxing at sea with a very active port day! We were three families so the kids had a blast, and older ones literally checked in and out of the room at will :). We saw some great shows, one of which was pretty high production quality musical called "The Secret Silk". We played cards, ping pong or hung out in the swimming pools and jacuzzi. And of course, we had the entire range of casual to fancy meals. On port day, we did horseback riding on the beach, reminding me of childhood days in Mumbai and had the best tacos in downtown Ensenada. 

Day trip to Strasbourg

In Sep 2022, during a work trip to Zurich, I added a day in Strasbourg, France. Its a sleepy little picturesque town with views right out of fairy tales. I had never crossed countries on train, so that was a first too!

Canada with Parents and Sister

 I had not seen my parents since before covid and met up with them and my sister in Canada. We took three trips. The first one was to Kingston with just my parents. We went to Fort Henry which preserves the 19th century military life with uniforms and all. They also have demonstrations on how the old tanks worked which was super interesting. We took a ferry to Wolfe Island with our car and drove around, visiting a beach which had waves from the lake. It was really beautiful.

The second trip was to Niagara Falls, which is one of my favorite things from Toronto. This time we did ziplining with a view of the falls and of course spent a bunch of time at the horseshoe falls just staring at the immensity of the water falling down.

The third trip was to Banff, Jasper and Lake Louise. I had been to Banff and Lake Louise 11 years back, and Lake Louise and Lake Moraine are my favorite lakes in the world. I retraced my paths of yore, doing the hike to the Tea House and having a snack at the tea house where we were lucky to find a place overlooking the beautiful lake and mountains. Lake Moraine was as beautiful as ever with its unique azure blue water. We were really lucky to have a sunny day there. We spent a bunch of time in Banff doing the Gondola ride as well as the Bow falls. We did the Columbia Icefield adventure, walking on the glacier and filling up glacial water to drink. In my adventures, I slipped with my leg in the icy cold water which made it even more of an adventure. But the best of the trip was for last, and that was Jasper. I had never been there and we saw deer and bears with some regularity. The boat trip on Lake Maligne is probably the best boat trip of my life with unreal views and a tour of Spirit Island. Even the pyramid lake in the Jasper area is awesome. 

I had not remembered spending such quality time with Sister and Parents since I left from India, so this was a super special trip!

Work and play in the French Riviera

The Cannes Lions is an annual conference for creativity and as the creative PM for Youtube, work took me to Cannes! I stayed a couple of towns away in a place named Juan les Pins to save my company money :), but it also allowed me to experience the non-touristy local beach life. In the mornings, I would go to a local beach with elderly locals who were really kind. There was a lot of fish with great snorkeling at the local beaches. The rest of the day was spent at the Google area which was walking distance from the famous red carpet. All big companies threw parties at night, and one worth mentioning was on a Yacht by Accenture. On the last day, I took a train to Grasse to visit the historic parfumerie where we learned how perfume was made. The city of Grasse is also beautiful with its cobbled streets and pink umbrellas. All in all, a great trip!

Father Daughter Trip to Disneyland

 I did a father son trip with Adi when he was roughly the same age to visit Universal Studios and LA. This time, I decided to do the same with a similar itinerary but replaced Universal Studios with Disneyland. We stayed at my cousin's place who I met after nearly 2 decades and that was really good!!  We spent 2 days at the disney parks and absolutely loved our time there. Surabhi got scared after the Incredicoaster goes upside down but absolutely loved Guardians of the Galaxy, and of course Soaring was one of our favorites! Then we spent a couple of days in Hollywood. We went to the Getty Center and enjoying all the art there and had a really nice dinner with beautiful views. We also went to the Griffith Observatory and planetarium which was a lot of fun! All in all a great trip! 

Skiing in the Swiss Alps

As part of our work trip to Zurich, I was at an offsite at Kleine Scheidegg in the Swiss Alps. I have never sledged in my life so this was the first time (more on that later). I stayed at the Bellevue Des Alpes that was built in 1840 and they had preserved the rooms and service to match the days of yore. It was quite an experience to be served by really pleasant staff following the ways of old world hospitality. The big adventure thing I did was of course skiing with the view of towering alps, but sledging in the night with just headlights to show the way. And the work part was great too - very productive :).