My travel diary entry - Cairo, Egypt Day 1

My parents and I were on a tour of the Holy Lands and we had two days in Cairo. It was quite peaceful at that time so while the threat advisory that was issued to us, scared us a bit… not knowing what to expect really, at the end of our trip, we were glad to have taken that plunge and seen this beautiful city. Before leaving for Cairo, we were advised the following –

1.  Wear clothes that are modest and not exposing any of your shoulders, chest, back, thighs and knees
2.  Avoid public displays of affection e.g. while taking photographs, because people are very conservative
3. Do not express any opinions that may be considered blasphemous or against Islam
4. While entering any place of worship, please remove your footwear
5.  Always greet others with a smile and ‘As Salaamu Aleykum’ (literally means Peace Upon you)
6. Even if an Egyptian speaks loudly, do not be alarmed; they are not shouting generally and if they are then you would definitely know.

We flew into Cairo International Airport and landed at Terminal 1. Our group of about 80 people waited for about an hour and half before our visa was stamped on our passports. We stepped out to find our buses waiting for us outside the terminal. We also found passengers haggling with cab drivers. But our guide told us about the free shuttle buses. Tip: A free shuttle bus runs between the two terminals 1 and 3 (Terminal 3 had opened only the previous year and Terminal 2 was/is closed for renovations) and the bus station every 30 minutes, 24 hours a day. 

As we drove to our hotel in Midan Tahrir, the very centre of this beautiful city, we passed the Ramses station which is Cairo’ main railway station for long-distance trains in and out of Cairo and its adjoining areas. The traffic and crowds were maddening but when you are from a city like Mumbai, you tend to turn a blind eye to it.

Midan Tahrir is a bustling public square and home to the Egyptian Museum, American University of Cairo, several government offices and cannot be missed are Hilton and Intercontinental hotels. Tip: Be very careful on the streets because traffic rules are not followed much.

After some rest at our hotel, we set out to explore the city of Cairo starting with the Garden City, well-planned and designed by architect Lamba. This is to the south of Midan Tahrir and is a high-security area. The Vatican owns quite a sizeable chunk of property in Garden City and several embassies are housed here; one of the most historical one is the British Embassy. That is the site where Lord Mountbatten, Viceroy of India met Prince Philip to discuss the betrothal to then Princess Elizabeth and also from where the British asked then King Farouk to appoint a pro-British cabinet or abdicate.

Tips:

1. You can walk around in Garden City and admire its architecture, with its beautiful palaces and villas. Be sure to stroll around the Qasr e-Nil Bridge in the evening and admire the lion statues and see lots of couples spend time with each other in a very conservative manner.
2. You can sail around the Nile in an original Egyptian ship / feclluca available in front of The Four Seasons Hotel.

We then proceeded to Gezira (which means ‘island’ in Arabic). There are many centres of Art here but the star attraction is the Cairo tower; a 600+ ft tall concrete building designed by Egyptian architect Naoum Shebib based on the iconic symbol of ancient Egypt – the pharaonic lotus plant. Cairo Tower gives a good view of the city and the surrounding Giza pyramids.

We saw the Opera House which is the symbol of Egypt’s culture where performances are on every night. We also passed by various sports clubs.

The best was saved for last – the Nile Maxim Dinner Cruise. Tip: Do not miss a cruise down the Nile especially at night.

We admired the scenic views of downtown Cairo while listening to a live band and enjoying a sumptuous dinner. We were entertained by a variety of cultural shows. First a gorgeous belly dancer showed us her moves and made it look so easy that I who love dance form of any kind went up to try it much to the dismay of my parents. Unfortunately, belly dancing is not my cup of tea. This was followed by an Oriental dance which again I tried with moderate success but more dismay of my parents. Then some Egyptian folklore with the stories of Re, Nut, Isis, Osiris, Seth and Horus had us all in raptures.

Tip: While it is not an obligation to provide tips / gratuities for good service; since wages are low, most customers drop tips at the Reception so that it is divided fairly among all the staff.

We bought a lot of Egyptian memorabilia from the souvenir shop and took a lot of pictures. In short, we had a wonderful time. We looked forward to day 2 at the Giza pyramids, Old Cairo and Islamic Cairo and in anticipation fell asleep within the hour of reaching our hotel.

Try a challenge to check whether your strength backs you up!

Some days before, I was challenged by my 10-year old nephew. I was affronted by his audacity to challenge me on one of my key strengths.

It all started with us nagging him about his preparations for the IPM exams. I am very ambitious by nature and much of it has spilled over this little boy since his birth.

Well, it seemed simple enough – 15 mathematics questions in 45 minutes. Which, I thought should be a piece of cake. Basically, because Maths happens to be one of my favourite subjects.

Last Monday, I was shocked to see his marks. “What? 10/15 is just not even scratching the surface. You have to get full marks”.

He was already upset at his score because Maths happens to be his strength and favourite subject too. So he countered, “Would you always get full marks in your Maths exams?”

I pondered over my answer. Of course I have lost marks due to silly mistakes sometimes but that does not mean he should also make mistakes, right?

So, here I was… could not lie and could not tell the truth either because I feared he would be content with 75% when I knew he was capable of 100%.

He is a smart boy, so he could make out that I was in a dilemma. He decided to make it a little more exciting... for him. He said “Why don’t you teach me the easy way to do these questions so that I can finish within 45 minutes after school today?”

It was not much of a choice really and frankly I was outraged that this little 10-year boy had put me into this dilemma.

I decided to ‘prepare’ by solving all the questions starting from the year 2008 (15 questions in 45 minutes for each year). You may want to try this at home just for the kicks.

It took me till 2012 to get all the questions right within the appointed time of 45 minutes. An overconfident me then lost marks due to my silliness in years 2013 and 2014.

By the time my nephew came back from school, he saw my ‘prepared’ face and did not press the challenge. During my preps however, I had learnt one important lesson – ‘Even your strength wanes without practice and overconfidence just about nails it to the ground’.

Today, I feel it is good to have people in your life even 10-year olds, to challenge you on your strengths so that you keep continue to practice to maintain that standard of perfection. I also think I should take up challenges periodically to check whether my strengths are going to back me up.

Eat what you like and walk to the heavens!

I do admit that I am obsessive about my weight and my goal is to be healthy at 51 kg. I also tend to get irritable and moody when I feel that I have put on an ounce of weight and /or my clothes don’t look good on me.

Till some years ago, I used to try various diets that I read was the magical cure to weight problems. I have even gone a day only on watermelons and another on about 15 hours of fasting in an effort to arrive at that magic weight. Humbug!

Also came along the obsessive exercising on the treadmill and cycle at the gym early in the morning

Did I lose weight after all this dieting and exercise?

Nope! Not an ounce.

In fact, I started getting migraines and heartburn. My bones ached and what was worse was that I started putting on weight. My Dad took me to different doctors – neurologists, gastroenterologists, orthopaedics alike, who performed tests to the extent that I was ready to say that I was completely cured in an effort to get out of these.

Then I met two magicians (at least they have felt like that to me) –

My Dad’ gastroenterologist who told me to stop dieting. He explained that our brain was intelligent enough to piece together our dieting pattern and store food appropriately and hence the weight that I was putting on.

My orthopaedic doctor recommended by my neighbour who told me to stop torturing my body with excessive exercise routines. He told me to start walking whenever I could.

I stopped dieting and ate what I liked… obviously in moderation and ensured that I had the right amount of vitamins, iron and calcium from the food I ate. That gave me an impetus to cook more dishes with ingredients that I liked; well what I did not like, I substituted with something that I did.

I also started walking to places like the train station (25 minutes), my friends’ houses (at least 30 minutes), shopping at the local market (20 minutes) in Mumbai. When travelling abroad, I would take maximum walking tours. It made me observe more of the surroundings including the people, the natural beauty, and the aroma of the food. Which in turn helped me to clear my mind, fill it with positive thoughts and enchanting ideas for my recipes.

And, I also achieved what I can be at peace with. No, I have not arrived at my magic weight but I am healthy and I am enjoying the journey to my ‘weight goal’ so I am a happier person and hence at peace with myself.

Peace and happiness… that is everything, no? 

My travel diary entry - Scotland Day 4

Ever since I started reading Harry Potter books, I had been fascinated by Hogwarts. That is the main reason I signed up for this tour - Holy Island, Bamburgh & Alnwick Castle.

Our first stop was Holy Island located in the Firth of Clyde off the west coast of central Scotland, inside Lamlash Bay on the larger island of Arran. We crossed over from the mainland by the causeway into the island village of Lindisfarne. The Lindisfarne Castle dating back to the 16^th century, loomed high and I was fascinated by its precarious position in the North Sea. Our guide said that due to this location, the castle had to withstand attacks not only from the English and the Scots but also from the Vikings and hence it was frequently fortified.

I wandered through the Priory where I was mesmerised by the Lindisfarne Gospels, an illuminated manuscript gospel book in the unique style of Hiberno-Saxon or Insular art, combining Mediterranean, Anglo-Saxon and Celtic elements produced around the year 700 in a monastery off the coast of Northumberland at Lindisfarne and which is now on display in the British Library in London. The Lindisfarne Gospels are presumed to be the work of a monk named Eadfrith, Bishop of Lindisfarne in honour of God and Saint Cuthbert - Northern England’s most popular Saint.

The art is what differentiates it from the Bible I have at home – pages made of vellum, text written by pens cut from either quills or reeds in a dense, dark brown often almost black ink, huge range of colors derived from animal, vegetable and mineral sources and obtained locally or imported from the Mediterranean, and in rare instances such as lapis lazuli from the Himalayas. Lavish jewelry was added in the binding later in the 8^th century. In the 10^th century, the oldest known English translation of the Gospels was made - a word-for-word gloss inserted between the lines of the Latin text by Aldred Provost of Chester-le-Street.

We sipped some ‘Mead’ brewed by the monks on the island and listened to their pilgrimage up to this monastery as has been the tradition since ages – walking from the mainland, waiting for the tide and crossing the causeway all the way up to the monastery.

This was a day of castles and the next castle was Bamburgh Castle. This castle was home to a fort built by native Britons till it was captured by Ida an Anglo Saxon ruler. The Vikings destroyed it and in its place built a new castle which was captured by the English to subsequently become an important outpost. Its ownership has been held by the Earl of Northumbria, the Forster family of Northumberland and currently by the Armstrong family.

We continued south to the town of Alnwick which is home to the Alnwick Castle which has been home to the Percy family for over 700 years and is so beautiful that it is called the ‘Windsor of the North’.  The fans of the Harry Potter series would have seen this castle in the films ‘The Philosopher’ Stone’ and ‘The Chamber of Secrets’ and those who love Robin Hood could not have missed it either in the two films made. I also read that Shekhar Kapur’s Elizabeth also features this castle.

There are two parks - one which straddles the River Aln that flows past the north side of the Castle and the other is Hulne Park and there is also a deep ravine to the south and east, separating the castle from the town.

The adjoining Alnwick Gardens initiated by the Duchess of Northumberland are a sight to behold. Initially it had a formal garden and a cascading fountain then a tree house complex which is the largest in the world was added. The Poison Garden and the pavilion with the visitor center were then added and still there are many additions pending as per the original design by the Wirtz brothers of Belgium.

On our return to Edinburgh, we traveled north to cross the River Tweed that flows over the border of England and Scotland. Tip: If you feel like salmon fishing and you do not possess the required license, you can still fish here on River Tweed because this is the only river in England where an Environment Agency rod licence is not required for angling.

We arrived at the historic border town of Coldstream. It is symbolic since it lies in one of the ways when both Scottish and English armies crossed the border during the centuries of conflict with England. It also rivalled Gretna Green in the number of runaway marriages in the 18^th and 19^th centuries; I must say that this was news to me because most of the runaway marriages in the romantic novels I have read almost always featured Gretna Green.

We went to the Flodden Fields which is the site of one of Scotland’s worst military disasters costing the lives of many lives including King James IV and his son. Tip: If you are in Coldstream in August unlike me who visited in June, then do not miss the Civic Week held to honour the dead in this historic battle of 1513.

When I returned that evening to Edinburgh, I realised that even a month may prove less to do justice to this beautiful place. At least, I covered some of each – castles, lochs, and glens which gave me a feel of what beauty lies here in Scotland. It also gave me quite a lot of ideas to plan my next trip to Scotland.

My travel diary entry - Scotland Day 3

I woke up after a good night’ sleep where I dreamt of me in a Scottish castle… no doubt I had been inspired much by the story of Mary, Queen of Scots.

I was excited about today’ tour – Loch Ness, Glencoe and the Highlands. The tour started at 8:00 a.m. and I did not want to be late and left behind so I reached the departure point and checked in by 7:30 a.m. Tip: Always reach the departure point at least ½ hour before the tour departure; otherwise in a tour like this where the duration is more than 10 hours, you can be sure they are very impatient to get on their way and will mostly not wait for you.

I had skipped breakfast but I was still good because I had taken care to buy some bread and biscuits the day before at the local supermarket. I ate before I got on the bus and because I checked in before the appointed time, I was able to get a really good window seat two seats behind the driver.

Tips:

1. When you are on long tours like these, ensure that you are carrying light refreshments and enough water.
2. Do not eat on the tour bus; you will not be allowed to anyway.
3. Carry some bags for the putting your waste away till you find a dustbin.

We left Edinburgh and traveled north towards Stirling Castle, one of the largest and most important castles dating back to early 12^th century with its strategic position atop Castle Hill and surrounded by steep cliffs. We heard our guide talk about the wars of Scottish Independence from the English kings starting with successful takeover by Robert the Bruce to the last unsuccessful bid by Bonnie Prince Charlie.

We reached Kilmahog which is a small village with few houses, woollen mills and a local pub. This small package however comes with big history however; this little village has remains of ‘ramparts’ built by Romans in the first century, church and burial site dating to the 17^th century and Samson’ Putting Stone from the putting match between giants where Samson was declared winner as legend has it. We finally saw some Highland cattle that we had heard so much about.

We traveled through Rob Roy Country which includes Balquhidder, Lochearnhead, St. Fillans and Strathyre and is famous of the clans MacGregor and Campbell. We heard the history of Rob Roy MacGregor who is like the Scottish Robin Hood; his role in the Jacobite Rising to his blood feud with Duke James for seizing his house and lands to enjoying the protection of Campbell clan at Glen Shira. Tip: There are walking tours in this great country side even self-guided ones which come highly recommended. The Rob Roy Way meanders across the Southern Highlands of Scotland from Drymen to Pitlochry through many places where the outlaw and his clansmen were active. Although the trail passes through some of the finest highland scenery in Scotland, it avoids the summits, keeping mainly to the glens, following old tracks beside rivers and lochs and over a few passes which provide wonderful views of the surrounding mountains.

When we thought that the scenery could not get any more beautiful, along came Rannoch Moor, a boggy moorland now but an icefield during the last Ice Age, known of its exquisite wildlife. It overlooks the Black Mount which stands tall between Glen Coe and Glen Orchy.

Glen Coe is the remains of ancient supervolcano that erupted millions of years ago and formed into a U-shaped glacier during the last Ice Age. Glencoe village is the main settlement in Glen Coe and is the site of massacre of Scotsmen of Clan MacDonald by the forces of King William. Since it has a spectacular scenery to boast of, it is very popular with trekkers and rock and ice climbers. It has also made its presence felt in Harry Potter films as the home of the sweetest giant Hagrid and even in the James Bond film Skyfall.

We then continued via Loch Linnhe, one of Scotland’ longest sea lochs into the town of Fort William which is a major tourist centre with Glen Coe to the south, Aonach Mòr to the north and Glenfinnan to the west, on the Road to the Isles. It is the start/end of both the West Highland Way (Milngavie-Fort William) and the Great Glen Way (a walk/cycle way Fort William-Inverness). Trekking and climbing due to its proximity to Ben Nevis (Britain’ highest mountain) and many other Munro mountains and biking on the downhill mountain bike track make it very popular.

Tip: If you are an avid trekker or biker then these routes are not to be missed because nature has been very lavish at portraying its best here.

We admired the Calendonian Canal on our journey onward; this 60-mile long canal designed by Telford with 29 locks, four aqueducts and 10 bridges runs from northeast to southwest and what is amazing is that only about one-third of its length is man-made, the rest are formed by Loch Dochfour, Loch Ness, Loch Oich, and Loch Lochy.

We arrived at Fort Augustus which is at the southwest end of Loch Ness which is the second largest freshwater loch after Loch Lomond but at more than 750 feet depth, it has more volume than Loch Lomond. It is most famous for the sightings of monster which has been nicknamed ‘Nessie’. We took the Jacobite cruise around Loch Ness… at one time, I thought I saw Nessie, but alas it was just the angle of the sun. Alas! I lost my chance to become famous courtesy Nessie. The Urquhart Castle lies on the western shore of Loch Ness and the ruins date back to the 13^th to 16^th centuries and played a very strategic role in the Scottish wars of Independence.

On our return to Edinburgh, we passed through Inverness – the Capital of the Highlands (the name means – ‘Mouth’ of Loch Ness). We heard about the historical battle sites - the Battle of Blàr nam Fèinne against Norway which took place on The Aird in the 11^th century and the Battle of Culloden which took place on Culloden Moor in the 18^th century. When Mary, Queen of Scots was denied entrance to Inverness Castle, her loyal allies – Clan Munro and Clan Fraser laid siege to the castle and won it for her after which the governor was asked to be executed by her for his misdemeanour. This Queen is really everywhere and truly symbolic of Scottish fierceness.

We traveled through the Grampian Mountains, one of the three major mountain ranges in Scotland which extends southwest to northeast between the Highland Boundary Fault and Gleann Mòr (the Great Glen), occupying almost half of the land-area of Scotland and including the Cairngorms and the Lochaber hills and includes many of the high mountains in the British Isles, including the two highest ones - Ben Nevis and Ben Macdui.

We crossed the woodlands of Perthshire and the Forest of Atholl renowned for its scenic beauty, extreme sports and Blair Castle, the seat of the Duke of Atholl – head of the Murray clan. Tip: If you love to soak in the scenery, visit a castle at leisure and then engage in some exhilarating bungee jumping then the Forest of Atholl has enough castles, parks and extreme sports to keep you busy through the day.

Our final stop for the day before reaching Edinburgh was Pitlochry, a largely Victorian town developed after Queen Victoria visited it in 1842 and the arrival of railways in 1863. We found a lot of dedicated hillwalkers here due to its proximity to mountains like Ben Vrackie and Schiehallion.

This was by far one of the best 13 hours of a single day that I had spent in a long time.

My travel diary entry - Scotland Day 2

I had a fitful night’ sleep. Mostly because of the surroundings being new to me and the fact that I was sharing a room with 11 other girls any of whom could end up not at all what I anticipated before I went off to sleep… I had vague dreams of the girls ganging up on me and ragging me or something. But the girls were nothing like those horrid dreams… they were sweet and soooo enthusiastic and very noisy… not that I minded their girlish giggles and talks… it just reminded me of college.

Since I was up by 5:30 a.m., I faced no problem with the bathroom; the scene was quite different about an hour and half later because everyone wanted to be off exploring. I remember this one girl who kept on giving up her turn to use the bathroom for those 40 winks. She got up only when her friends left the room without her but she optimised her morning routine in such a way that she was out of the room in under 10 minutes…. Wowww!!! I don’t know how people do that.  Tip: If you are staying in a hostel and you have a trip early in the morning and your morning routine is not elaborate but not so very simple either, try to get ready much before because at the n^th moment it is bound to be chaotic.

I had the typical Scottish breakfast including their famous porridge even though I am not a fan but when in Scotland, do as the Scots do… so.

I was all set for my tour of St. Andrews and the Fishing Villages of Fife. Tip: Book any of the local tours after reading what the visitors had to say about the trip especially about the tour guide who in some cases of small travel groups also doubles up as the driver. Please ensure that you know exactly where the departure point is and the time of departure from there; otherwise they may very well leave you behind.  If the guides are local Scotsmen who are proud of their heritage and are willing to share the history of the beautiful places on the tour map, like my tour guide for e.g., then believe me when I say, it is going to be quite an eventful ride.

We left Edinburgh and crossed the iconic Forth Bridge which is a cantilever railway bridge over the Firth of Forth designed by two English engineers Fowler and Baker. The traditional rivalry of the Englishmen and Scots were evident even now in the guide’ voice when he spat out that this UNESCO heritage site was designed by Englishmen. From 1890 to 1917, it was the longest single cantilever bridge span in the world till the Quebec Bridge in Canada opened; since then it has continued to remain at second spot.

We continued to Aberdour which our guide claimed to be a photostop. We soon found out why… because here was this seaside town which had two beautiful beaches (one of them - The Silver Sands is one of finest beaches in Scotland with its sands gleaming like silver and the view… OMG so beautiful since it overlooks the Firth of Forth towards Edinburgh & The Lothians), a harbour (the other beach Aberdour Black Sands is nearby and is stark in contrast to the Silver Sands beach), castle (built by the Douglas family in 13^th century and includes a gallery, painted ceiling, garden, and a church on its grounds), golf course and a choice of traditional pubs and shops.

Aberdour was just the beginning. As we drove into the East Neuk of Fife to the town of Anstruther, I realised that the beauty of these fishing villages was something that should not be missed and I was happy I had booked this tour. Now, Anstruther is a fishing village and home to the Scottish Fisheries Museum but apparently now people throng this village for some real quality fish supper from the Anstruther Fish Bar which won a number of awards including UK Fish and Chips Shop of the year (I am a vegetarian, so I missed this stop). Tip: If you are not travelling as part of a tour group like this, you should stop at Cellardyke, the adjoining harbourside village east of Anstruther and also take a boat trip to the Isle of May for some seal watching. I plan to take these stops the next time around…

We continued towards St. Andrews while listening to some Scottish songs (our guide made us sing some lines too and that was fun) and we crossed the beautiful villages of Pittenweem, Crail and St. Monan’s all the while listening to the tales of noble and fierce Scottish warriors.

We had a three-hour lunch stop at St. Andrews where we were going off on our own so in preparation, our guide told us all there was to know about St. Andrews. I remember most of it since I had written it down but one thing that I remember very well without writing it down was that ‘Prince William and Kate met while studying at St. Andrews University’ which BTW is the oldest university in Scotland (maybe it was because our guide was touting it as the love story of this decade or maybe I am an incurable romantic).

So, besides that romantic love story brewing here at St. Andrews, it is famous also because it is known as the ‘Home of Golf’. Our guide proudly told us about golf being played here since early 15^th century and The Royal and Ancient Golf Club that was founded in 1754 and the famous links which has been the venue for the British Open Championships since ages.

I started my walk at the Medieval Centre which is essentially just cobble-stoned paths and alleys through to the Castle and the old ruined Cathedral. The relics of St. Andrew, apostle of Jesus were stored here after being brought to Scotland by St. Regulus; a church dedicated to this saint is adjacent to the ruined Cathedral. Tip: If you are up to it / missed your gym workout and have enough time, climb the spiral staircase to get the finest view this side of Scotland.

The Lade Braes is a popular public footpath which follows the route of an old mill lade whose function was to transport water from the Kinness Burn to the mill in the grounds of St Andrews Cathedral Priory and may have been built in early 12^th century. The walk is about 1.5 miles (2.5 km) long and runs from Little Carron on Hepburn Gardens to Lade Braes Lane at Madras College.

St. Andrews University with its ivy-clad buildings, quadrangles and gardens dominate this place and you cannot miss this beautiful place.

The West Sands beach is just breathtakingly beautiful and rightly thus, it was snagged to be part of the movie ‘Chariots of Fire’ and also 2012 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony in the torch relay.

In short, lot of photo opportunities in this town and for a history buff like me, it was a goldmine.

We left St. Andrews and on our way back to Edinburgh, we traveled across Lomond Hills. Tip: If you love walking, and you are not travelling as part of a tour group like this, then the hiking trails in these hills should not be missed.

Our guide sang yet other Scottish songs and told us the history of Robert the Bruce and Mary, Queen of Scots. That set the scene for Loch Leven and its ruined castle where Mary, Queen of Scots was imprisoned for a year after surrendering to her noblemen who opposed her marriage to the Earl of Bothwell and she was forced to abdicate as Queen in favour of her infact son James. Her heroic escape a year later to the Lothians with the help of her gaoler is legendary in these parts.

We then made our final stop at South Queensferry where our guide told us about the traditional Ferry Fair dating back to the 12^th century, the Burry Man (man covered with Burrs) whose processing is taken out during this fair, and the more recent Loony Dook where people bathe in the cold waters of the Firth of Forth on New Year’ Day to possibly cure the hangover.

I was tired that night but my mind raced with all the history I had heard and the beauty I had witnessed.

My travel diary entry - Scotland Day 1

The Queen’ Diamond Jubilee was around the corner. 4 days to explore and I chose wisely to tour Scotland. It was the perfect time of the year because it was neither too cold nor warm… t’was just perfect. I guess nobody shared my excitement over the choice of location. Or maybe it was because when I travelled, I almost never rested and holidays for some are for chilling out and relaxing.

But I was adamant; I was going to go even if I had to do it alone. Since I was going to be alone anyway, I thought I should try some of the things that I cannot do in the company of my friends –

1. Stay in a hostel just to get a feel of how it is like to share your room (which includes the bathroom) with 11 other women (though most of them turned out to be like teens… definitely less than 20 years old)
2. Get a jam-packed schedule where I could see almost all the Scottish attractions in the 4 days that I had (I still managed to miss quite a bit of experiences that I would have loved… next time maybe)

When my family and friends heard, they thought I had gone crazy. Did I have doubts till that n^th moment? Oh absolutely!!!

I still sat in that National Express bus bound for Scotland; the time was around 11 p.m. on a Friday evening. Tip: It is good to have the gumption to brave your travel alone but ensure that you have planned taking into consideration your safety and if you are a foreigner like me, ensure that your identification papers (passport, visa, driver’ license) are with you at all times.

I reached Edinburgh in the wee hours of morning and was pleased to know that the hostel was ready to keep my baggage till check-in (which I could do late in the evening only courtesy my packed schedule). I could not have much of the Scottish breakfast specialties but I heard fellow tourists rave about the kipper, sausages and black pudding. I did try the porridge and some fluffy eggs with buttered toast and yes the fried mushrooms which sadly did not leave much space for the baked beans.  

I did not want to miss any of the myriad attractions on The Royal Mile which starts from Edinburgh castle right through to The Palace of Holyrood House, so I started right away around 9:00 a.m.

Tips:

1. Check for combo tickets online for these attractions and you could save a lot of money not to mention that these are fast track tickets so the time you would spend standing in long queues could be used for enjoying the beauty of the attraction.
2. If you are not much into walking, then it would be better to buy up Lothian Buses Day Pass or take a combo pass which includes attractions and the travel on Hop On & Off buses.
3. Most of the attractions especially the galleries and museums have free admission.

The walking tour started at the Edinburgh Castle where I beat the long queues and spent my time listening to the amazing history of the castle - from the constant sieges by the Scottish and English armies, to the perilous lives of Mary Queen of Scots and Bonnie Prince Charlie. I loved the view of Arthur’ Seat in the form of what is believed to be a lion couchant. I would have not wanted to miss The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Regimental Museum to experience the pride and ferocity of the Scots.  St. Margaret’ Chapel is a testimony to goodness because even Robert the Bruce destroyed all Scottish buildings, he not only left the chapel alone but proceeded to get it repaired; such was his deathbed wish.

The National Gallery beckoned to me but I knew I could not do justice to it so to my regret, I had to skip this. Tip: If you have at least half a day in Edinburgh then do make it a point to visit; admission is free.

The Scots love their Scotch and the Scotch Whisky Heritage Centre provides insights to what the Scots call magical craft of fine whisky making. Tip: Book the tickets online

The Parliament Square with the equestrian statue of Charles II, Supreme Courts and Edinburgh Mercat Cross looks formidable; St. Giles Cathedral looks quaint and softer in comparison.

As you walk towards The Palace of Holyrood House, you see Scots in kilts and shops selling cashmere. Of course, the aroma of Scottish food makes the walk longer because, sometimes you have to stop and sample some of these goodies at the local pubs.

We passed by John Knox’ House which is the seat of one of the most turbulent times in Scottish history with the outbreak of the civil war and abdication of Mary, Queen of Scots. The Scottish Parliament Building which opened in 2004, has a very unique structure but the Spaniard who designed it, Enric Miralles was not alive to see his completed work. Sad, because this building went on to win awards for its quality and craft; a fact that I, a lay person to architecture would endorse.

Finally we reached the end of the Royal Mile and there stood the iconic Palace of Holyroodhouse where the Queen spends one week of summer. The tour of the palace and the garden including the Queen’s Gallery had me quite overwhelmed. I did not feel like leaving this beautiful and picturesque place. I walked around for ages to soak in the feel of the place.

Unfortunately, my leg ached so much that I used Lothian Buses for my return journey to my hostel. That night, there was an exchange of tips from the best places to eat, the cheap places to buy good authentic Scottish stuff to the easiest walking routes. It was an eclectic mix of races and religions all looking towards a common goal – How to make most of your time in Scotland without burning a hole in your pocket.

Listening to them, I felt I just missed reaching my goal because I had missed one of must-see attractions - The Royal Yacht Britannia. But there was simply no time. Notes that I learnt from my roommates: Do not miss this attraction and also if you are upto it, do a Ghost tour; apparently it is a very learning experience and guided by locals who are well-versed with the history. 

As I was about to fall asleep, I realised that in my excitement on meeting these girls and talking so much, I had forgotten to set the alarm. I needed to be ready for Day 2 where I would be touring St. Andrews and the Villages of Fife.

Purpose...

One of my best friends asked me "What is the purpose of your blog?"

Good question! What should prompt me to create a blog and then dig into my own life to fill up content periodically?

The answer is simple really and my purpose is three-fold -

1.     I want to write; this is really a practice field for me to get better at my writing with the feedback that I get.

2.    I renewed my passions for writing, cooking and travelling; I am still trying to renew my other passions. This would not have been possible if I had not been motivated by my family and close circle of friends. Similarly, I want to be able to motivate people who have talents that have become latent because of the distractions of everyday life.

3.   Now, I would not advise anyone to jump up and start renewing their passion; that would be disastrous. Plan it in such a way that you enjoy the journey and do not have to leave it midway because of circumstances that could have been mitigated had it been planned better.

Even with my planning and perfecting, I do have ‘blooper’ moments and misses which I want to share so that it helps everyone to plan better.

Happy Reenuing!

On the subject of blooper moments, let me share one that happened lately-

It was a hectic weekend as usual. Three of my friends were coming to dinner and another friend who could not make it, suggested a good menu – peas pulav, daal tadka & egg bhurji.

Now, these are things that I can do beautifully and quite fast even with my eyes closed or so it has been from experience. Thus there I was on a very warm Saturday evening around 6:30 p.m. attempting to make all of the above within an hour so that I could be ready before the pre-decided time which was 8 p.m.

All was well, the music channel on TV was switched on (this helps me cook better, I feel). There was also a slew of Whatsapp messages for the different groups that I am part of and then Facebook notifications which I had to just open, check and comment. Since the menu was something that was quite amateurish for me, I felt that I could do both quite easily. Distracted that I was with exciting news on Whatsapp (it was sort of raining excitement in everyone’ life which they wanted to share so what better place other than Whatsapp / Facebook), I did not put that drop of oil in the daal that stops it from spilling over from the pressure cooker.

I was standing right next to the pressure cooker when the whistle rang and there was a big spray of yellow colored steam on my cheek and my arm.

But did that stop me from texting? No no no! I simply wiped my stinging arm and face but soon I figured that I could not do the same with the daal all over my cooking platform; that required a little bit of cleaning so that the stain would not remain.

With my iPhone in one hand, still texting mind you, I decided to clean up my mess. Only to be distracted some more by that spate of Whatsapp messages. I wondered what is with people on the weekend… always texting, never mind that I am also one of those. Anyway, the cleaning bowl with soap water landed on my dress and that prompted a longer-than-usual-bath which had my friends standing outside my house for a good 5-10 minutes.

As was not at all expected when I started out, dinner was an unmitigated disaster! I ranted about it on… can you believe this? …. Whatsapp.

Note to Self: Arrogance can be quite a fall, especially with distractions like Whatsapp, Facebook and the like. So, while creating your masterpieces no matter how much you are the master of those, avoid distractions.

Rediscover the 'farmer' in you!

Retired life can be a bane. If all you do is sit and read newspapers and watch news on TV and restrict physical activity to merely going to church on Sundays, local market once every alternate week and few social functions.

This was my Dad’ life till some months ago.

My super slim Dad had put on weight, his sugar readings were giving us panic attacks and he had become very lethargic.

Till he discovered the ‘farmer’ in him.

We bought grow-bags and seeds for different vegetables – eggplant / brinjal, lady’ finger / okra, beans, bitter gourd, pumpkins, tomatoes, chillies. 

We already had banana, mango, jackfruit, guava, custard apple growing around the house (just like typical houses in Kerala) which we added other fruits like pineapple, lemons.

The spices like pepper, nutmeg has to be picked, cleaned and dried and the flowers had to trimmed and grafted. 

Add 5 cats to this mix and you have no time left on your schedule.

But the results are for all to see. He is back to being slim & elegant, his blood sugar is normal and he is so energetic and fit and positively glowing with health.

Even if our retired parents are living in flats and they have ‘farming’ in them, I feel we must encourage them to cultivate and nurture. Pets can also be very engaging but any other hobby would also do; anything that can stop them from getting more addicted to that ‘idiot-box’ or developing the usual old-age diseases – diabetes, high cholesterol, BP. It is possible.

My elixir # 1

Till about two days ago, I had a spotless face. A big change from when I had the acne even when I had crossed 30 (talk about teenage problems crossing over to when you are even over the hill; SIGH!)

In this day and age, every third ad on TV is for various creams which are supposed to get rid of spots, make you fair and glowing, younger-looking and whatever else you fancy. Did I try all of those and get lucky? Nooooooo!

So what is my elixir? Clean and pure water. That’s right!

3-4 lts. of water to drink,

Makes those spots go sink, sink, sink,

Its magic I think,

That my cheeks are so pink, pink, pink.

Use water to do those washes,

And reduce those blackheads to ashes,

Ah, those guys are making flirty passes,

How I have become a hit with the masses!

So don’t forget to have your water,

To make your skin glowing and better!

What happened in the last two days is that I forgot to drink water. So, my body is reacting with those wretched spots. Hence my first priority today has been to get my 3-4 lts. of water.

Not without my shoes!

“You claim to be living a simple life, yet you have more than 4 dozen footwear, so many of black and most of which you cannot wear here because you don’t want to risk your neck in a fall. Look at these, why would you want to hang on to them?” Dad was in his element as usual because for him, overspending on shoes is clearly a no-no. Spending lot of time and effort looking for the perfect footwear every day – sacrilege! 

No matter how much I tell him that a woman must accessorize her dress with that right footwear to get that ‘look’. Now that could be stilettoes or pumps or platforms or wedges or mules or that fine pair of boots; these are what I normally prefer.

But depending on the occasion or the setting, I must also have my trainers, flats and even flip-flops.

Then there is the color-coordination with that right amount of hue.

So you can imagine how much we labor for getting that right look. I feel sometimes after looking into my footwear cabinet that even 4 dozen is less especially when I get an outfit for which none of the ones I own has that ‘IT’ factor.  SIGH!

While travelling & living in the 5 continents, every gap I found in my suitcase, I would fill with footwear. Now that I am based in India, I stopped frequenting malls so that I would not be tempted to hoard and thus live my life simply. What can I say, temptation even lurks online in the form of not-to-miss deals on footwear @ Amazon, Snapdeal and Flipkart. How much can one resist? I gave up a long time ago and indulge whenever I cannot move from that page without clicking “Buy”.

Am I committing one of the seven deadly sins – Greed? I am confused because my ‘greed’ is incurring cost only to me; whereas the shoemakers and retailers are getting their share of the revenues. Besides I am happy and they are happy; a win-win situation cannot be sinful, don’t you agree? 

I found my groove...

I want to be healthy and slim. The moment, these words are out, the two cents that I hear mostly are ‘Are you eating right?’, and ‘Which gym have you joined?’

What is right to eat? I try to cut my calories as much as I can but heck even that cup of tea that I cannot do without early in the morning is 50 calories (sometimes, just adding what I eat into ‘My Fitness Pal’ app is causing me palpitations; how healthy is that?)

And what can I say about gym! Earlier, I would restart gym the moment I felt that ‘OMG, I look so fat’ moment. But the problem was that I lost interest within a few days even though I had not lost an ounce of that fat. Multiple gyms and trainers (some of them were quite the eye-candy) later, I realised that the problem was ME.

I am not a gym-person. Give me shoes and ask me to walk or dance and I will do so without any complaint or discomfort. I found my 'groove' and if the calories I burnt as per my Fitbit are anything to go by, I am already walking / dancing my way to health & slim.

Have you found your 'groove' yet?

God Bless America

The 4^th July weekend was upon us; it was the first time for a curious bunch of us IT professionals who had made it to US that year (2003). We spent an entire day and half to come up with the perfect spot. After much haggling / negotiating and voting, Virginia Beach here we came.

Since it was a last-minute thing, obviously we were quite ill-prepared. Because, we had no hotel booking, parking was going to be a nightmare and worse there would be no time or place to rest after that grueling 5+ hour drive from Harrisburg to Virginia Beach and wait, we had to return the same day / night. Oh boy!

However the enthusiasm of ten starry-eyed 20+ year olds more than made up for it. We packed ourselves into two cars and set out playing Antakshari across cars. How? Via walkie-talkie! Cool or what??

Yes, we had all the problems and then some, but I think I can safely vouch for that entire bunch of guys and gals; we had FUN – pure and unadulterated.

We saw the fireworks. In America, you mostly get to see colourful fireworks on the 4^th July; a very big change for me since I was used to fireworks almost every other day in Mumbai - (A) I stay opposite to  a marriage hall (B) we burst crackers whenever we are happy not just during our festivals like when we win at cricket…

If you are at home in US with no plan for 4^th July, my humble suggestion – pick a place, any place. Go there and have fun. It does not take much; you just need some enthusiasm like we did. 

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

Fashion Blooper Entry # 1

A few days after returning from UK where I had lived for about two years, I had gone to the mall here in suburban Mumbai. I found that the men, women & even children were dressed as if they were going to some casual party. Now, whether it suited them or whether they were actually comfortable wearing their respective garments, was quite another matter. In my faded jeans and just-about-ok T-shirt, I looked completely out of place.

I decided that I needed to adapt and be very quick about it. In a few days, I was invited for the screening of a Malayalam movie at a mall by my childhood buddies. I took this as an opportunity to show everyone how well I had adapted.

I was waiting near the car for my friends who were running late as usual; they just made it with absolutely no minute to spare. But all of us made time to exchange comments. Starting with them saying “You know that we are going for a screening of a Malayalam movie not the premiere, right?” I was quick to retort “Yes, but people ‘dress up’ at the mall”. I had no time to change anyway so I had to listen to some ‘Oh Oh’s throughout the 30-minute ride to the mall.

Now come on, I am ‘dressed-up’, I look good (they agreed on that at least) with my color-coordinated accessories and best of all, I am comfortable in them.

However, I got what they meant when I reached the mall. Yes, this was a different mall with a different audience, as I realised after many stares and even muffled laughter.

Note to self: Do a bit of research on the place and the audience before you decide on your ensemble. When in doubt ask around for what everyone else is gonna wear.