Skiing in Serre Chevalier
Come December and the climate gets colder and one thing that comes to my mind is the sight of fresh white powder sprinkled all over the majestic alps, and am sure the very sight of it makes my feet sway around and eager to put on the skis and slide down the lovely slopes.
I felt it much better to book the Ski trip as a package, you get to forget the headaches of airport transfers, buying lift passes for the ski slopes, searching for good Chalets or hotels to stay and renting the ski equipments, so lot less hassle to bother. We booked with the RocketSki.com group, they had pretty good and very efficient on my last Ski trip.
I booked the trip in September and got some very good deals for this trip. – http://www.rocketski.com
Trip Group
This time the group size was four – Myself, Praveen, Sarvanan, Sanjay.
Weather
Definitely its gonna be cold, but we had blue skies and lovely sun the whole of the week and snow showers in the night on X’mas day 25th to Saturday 27th, the perfect conditions for skiing.
what to eat
There are a lot of mountain restaurants on the Piste that serve some good food and lots of hot chocolate 
Travel and useful tips
Take some good ski clothing, i would recommend for some good quality ones to withstand the cold and all other bits and pieces for the ski trip.
One piece of technology that was very useful for us was the Walkie Talkie, we purchased the Cobra MT975 license free PMR446 range ones, these had a range of 12Kms and did a very good job, as myself and Sarvanan had skied before, we hit some higher slopes and still were able to be in contact with the other two for lunch time, the range of these sets were pretty good and we were still in contact from the top of the mountain peak at 2700m to the ski Piste bottom where the other 2 were learning skiing.
Travel Information.
The nearest airports to Serre Chevalier is Grenoble, Lyon or Turin with a transfer time of approx 2 hours, there are lots of Piste maps available all over the place which you can use while skiing to find your best route to ski down and to find new Pistes.
Ski fotos
Snowy way in Nordic Norway
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The trip had an amazing start right from the way we landed in Oslo airport, Ryanair was supposed to land in Torp airport, but due to heavy snow and low visibility, we had to land in Oslo city airport. After much difficult and the plane literally flying like a crow with its wings shaking up and down in the torrential wind and snow, the wheels touched the white tar on the runaway created by the intense snowing. Everybody clapped to have had a successful touch down.
includes the train from Oslo to Myrdal, From Myrdal you need to take the Flam railway to Flam, this is one of the picturesque route with lots of waterfalls, valleys, gorges and beautiful mountains and houses all along the way, this train even stops along the way for capturing some beautiful sceneries.
This day in Bergen was another eventful and exercising day trekking up mount Bergen. We started at 11 in the morning and as we started the ascend we were greeted by the Snow fall, as we went higher up, the snowing became very intense and the path was completely covered in snow, we played, danced, jumped in the snow to our hearts content and reached the peak.Need some Adrenalin….Go to South Wales
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Trip to South Wales
It all started like this, one of our guys in our Gang, dearly called “Bevuda”, is returning back to Infosys base and he wanted a Car trip before he goes back, so we initially planned for Cornwall, but it was a bit longer drive and after much back and forth for the places, we decided on South Wales, we have already done North Wales.This trip we wanted it to be an Adrenalin filled adventure trip, so here is what we did in south wales.
A brief up of our start……This time its 7 people and got a Vauxhall Zafira from the rental agency, even though we wanted a Toyota Previa, after much hesitation, all of them squeezed into the car by 10:00Pm and we set sail to catch M4 from our home in London Fields. The South Wales Trip GangGang – Kannan, Praveen, Srinath, Shashanka, Pratheep, Prakash, Chendhil
It was approx 250 miles drive, so we chose to drive at our own pace, spent a lot of time in the services, as we did not want to reach the Hostel very early. So we reached the Hostel by 6:30Am, the views of the Sea were wonderful, took some wonderful snaps, myself and Srinath started exploring the rocks and caves around there.
 Preparations and Things to take.
How to reach South WalesJust follow on M4 till the end, you end up into south Wales.
Adventure Activities in South Wales.Once your into the place, check for the tourist information centre and get a copy of the attractions map and decide on the places
This is one of the best adventure activities we did in S’Wales. Its basically a 4 wheeled all terrain bike and you need to drive up and down the mountains, through deep crates, down the valley and through thick mud and slush, wow, you would definitely feel you are just thrown out of the bike many a times.Its pure fun and I would recommend it to anybody who has a lil bit of daring to try these stuff. Check this site for more information on Quad biking, its better to call those guys and book the slots in advance.
 Other Adventures :There are a lot more adventure activities, just be sure to pick up the leaflets in the hostel or in any attraction site and that will provide you the details of many more attractions like Go-Karting, Paint balling, Shooting, Archery, and many many more.  Other Places around :Another place worth mentioning is the Aberdulais falls and the Trek in the Valley of Neath, during the Trek you will pass through a lot of small and large water falls and the scenery is really breathtaking.
Going around in South Wales.Always have the OS map with you and navigate the roads and driving is a pleasure here.
Travel Information.YMCA Hostel - 15£ per night with Breakfast.
Car Rental - 28£ per day for an Automatic D class car.
The total trip cost us approx 150£ per head.
2 full days in South wales will be an ideal plan, but a weekend trip is also as exciting.
Check out the fotos section to find out more on the enchanting beauty and the adventurous fun that we had in South Wales.
South Wales Foto Galleria |
Extravaganza di Natale in Italia
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The first day of our Italy trip was to get to Rome, check in the hostel, drop all the baggages and then start roaming, went exactly planned.
including one where he distributes bread to the poor.
If you ever plan for an Italy trip during X’mas plan for the midnight X’mas mass as well, for attending the mass you need an invite/ticket, the tickets are not sent by mail or there is no online booking for the mass, you need to send a mail to the Visitors office of the Vatican city and they will confirm your participation by return mail, once you have got the invite mail, you can collect the tickets/invite for the mass from the office a day before the mass before 12 noon, mail address and the address of the Bishops office given below.
from the nearby mountain Vesuvius, the remains of this town are now excavated and preserved as an archaeological site. Its worth a visit to this ancient town and its beauty and planning is still visible through the rubble filled streets and broken houses and temples that surround it.
Naples is also called Piazza di Garibaldi, once you get down the train, walk towards the exit, do not get out of Naples station, before the exit, take a left and you will find the sign boards “CIRCUMVESUVIAN TRAIN”, follow the sign boards and you will get to the circumvesuvian trains ticket office as shown on the image in the right.
hometown of the Ferrari factory and the Scuderia Ferrari is located about 20 kms south of Modena, the famous old city in the Italian Emilia Romagna region (170 kms southeast from Milan). Maranello – Italy’s secret capital – is so important for the region that the small town is signposted right from the exit “Modena Nord” of the A1 motorway from Milan to Bologna.
mentioned motorway exit. Unfortunately, it is normally not possible to visit the factory. Guided tours are sometimes arranged for dealers and their customers; maybe your local authorized Ferrari dealer is willing to provide you with an opportunity to join him on his next visit even if you are not a Ferrari owner – just give it a trial.
the automotive exposits on this site; but since the exhibits are changed from time to time, the Galleria is always worth a visit – even if one has already been there once. The Galleria is open daily except on Mondays between 9.30 h and 12.30 h and from 15.00 h to 18.00 h.
station, we saw the streets of Venice with water and water taxis and water buses plying on the excellent charm of the city.Lakes..Lakes…Lakes….Lakes all around!!
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Trip to Lake District
Its a long drafted plan, but we were not able to make it a couple of times, some thing or the other came in the way and the plan was dropped in the nascent stages itself, even now it was on the verge of getting dropped until I got a call one weekday afternoon from the YMCA lakeside Hostel reception.
 On a weekend we were actively searching for Hostels in lake district and to our dismay, all of them were booked for the weekend, and the lake side hostel did not have a availability check online, so we decided to mail them regarding the status, it was after 2 days we got a call from the Hostel, they said we have rooms for you guys, we were 10 people in all and the next word i said was am booking it for 10 people.At last so joyous, I have made the booking for 10 people and we are all set to go, immediately we booked 2 cars as well from Enterprise, I guess it is one of the good Car rentals around……
Now all set and done…. Read on below to know more details……..
A brief up of our start……We travelled by 2 cars, it is better to go by car if you want to explore as many places and save your precious time.
We all assembled in my house in 41Vangaurd in Hackney, our plan was to start by 9, but Srinath and group not yet in the scene, mobiles not reachable, where the hell did they go???
At last by 9:30 we caught them on phone, due to some signal problem in the underground, they had some delays, poor fellas, cant complain, they have to travel a long distance from sunbery, which in Zone 6, and takes an hour and a half to reach our house.
In the mean time we went to Tesco and picked up croissants, biscuits and fruits for the trip, all r there and the whistle ready to blow, we started of our journey to the LD at 10:30PM Friday and the two cars zoomed out of the 41 Vanguard house.
Arif and myself were the drivers for the Vauxhall Corsa grey class C and Prakash and Babu for their Red Nissan….
Speed limit on the motor way is 70mph, but cant help, we were at 90 to 100mph, who dares to go slow in such excellent roads…
The Lakes Trip GangNissan – Prakash, Babu, Anirban, Srinath, chendhil.
Corsa – Arif, Kannan, Rajiv, Kumar, Pruthvi.
We reached the lakes by early morning 4:30 and took some snaps of the early morning scenaries and reached the YMCA, but the reception opens only at 8:00AM, so had a good sleep in the car and the reception guy turned in at 8:45 and we all checked in to our bunker house, had a shower and started on our journey to explore the Lakes.
Preparations and Things to take.
How to reach Lake DistrictLake district is very near from the M6 motorway, some 30 miles from Blackpool, wherever you are from inside London, try to reach M6 motorway and you can zooom your way to Lake district, below is the route details.
Also check Google maps for the route or better if you have Microsoft route map software.
Route from M6 to Lake district.
Once you are into A590 then check your local map to the place you want to go, you are into lake district now.
Places of Interest in Lake District.Once your into the place, check for the tourist information centre and get a copy of the attractions map and decide on the places
 Lake Windermere :One of the biggest lakes in the Lake District area and you have boat trips and walks around the Lake.
Hardknott & Wrynrose Pass :This is one of the places where you need a car to go, the roads are very narrow, preferably have a
 small car to navigate the steep roads and narrow bends, the drive along this stretch will be very exciting and a test on your driving skills, this is an amazing and awesome place to visit, the roads take you to the top of the Hills where you can get some breathtaking views of the place and you can get a couple of good fotos.Park your car in the available side spaces and climb the hills, allow some 6 to 7 hours for the entire trip from the start and back to the start place, but believe me you got to visit this Pass, its worth the time.
The route to the Pass is full of streams and creeks and rivers flowing across.
Other Places around :There are a couple of other places as well, you can go to Kendal, Ambleside, Coinston, but wherever you go is full of Lakes and natural beauty all round.
Going around in Lake District.Always have the OS map with you and navigate the roads and driving is a pleasure here.
Travel Information.YMCA Hostel - 15£ per night with Breakfast.
Car Rental - 28£ per day for an Automatic D class car.
The total trip costed us 95£ per head.
2 full days in Lake district will be an ideal plan, but a weekend trip is also as exciting.
Check out the fotos section to find out more on the enchanting beauty of The Lakes in the Lake District.
Lake District Foto Galleria |
London to Paris by Eurostar…
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1/2 hour trip you end up wasting 2 hours, so now the Eurostar comes in Handy, there is no irritating Q’s, the total immigration process takes only 1/2 hour and everything is finished in Waterloo itself, just walk out of the train in France……..
Reach Eiffel by 3 or 4 in the evening, based on the season the Q might be very long to wait for 1 to 2 hours before you could get a glimpse of the lady at the Billet Counter (Billet is Ticket in French).
the exciting and thrilling rides, then the Disney land park is the one for you, you have a lot of themed rides, for example, the Space Mountain, takes you through a mind boggling loop of stars, planets, the sun and the moon……a very memorable one, each ride is unique in its own way…..
itself.
How to Reach Leeds Castle
There are trains every half hour from London Victoria station, check out the site http://www.nationalrail.co.uk for details of the train and the fare.Our Trip to the Castle.
Finally it was the time for the show, secured a decent place to view the fireworks, also i purchased a Tripod for photographing the fireworks, so set it all and all were ready.Travel Information.
Leeds Castle Foto Galleria
Wonderful Wildlife - Longleat
Trip Details
This was a plan made for the week before this one, but fortunately we happened to glimpse at the unfortunate weather conditions in longleat and postponed our trip to 17-Sep-2005.The weather was amazingly good, it was a sunny cold morning, absolutely a London kinda morning,
We, a gang of 4 woke up at 4:30 in the morning and set sail for the 6:00 Am service towards londonbridge to waterloo.
Read on below to know more details……..
How to Reach the Jungle…….There are trains every hour from London Waterloo station and every 20 mins from london paddington, as longleat is more towards the Eastern side of UK, trains from waterloo take less time than trains from paddington, better take the trains from waterloo and the fares are also cheaper.
check out the site http://www.nationalrail.co.uk for details of the train and the fare.
Get the train through Salisbury, the journey is approx 1.45 minutes to reach Salisbury.
The trains here are really fast………
Once you reach Salisbury, stay in the same platform and take the next train through Warminster, you will reach warminster in 30 minutes.
Warminster is a small town and you wouldnt find the hustle bustle of London buses, we waited for some 5 minutes and decide to take a taxi to Longleat, there are a lot of taxis in the station and the charge is approx 10£ to Longleat for 4 people. You will reach Longleat in 15 minutes and you are there in this wonderful greenery……
On the entrance you have the ticket place, better to take a Passport ticket which allows you entry into all the attractions in Longleat and you lose 27£ if you were to take separately for all attractions.
Places of Interest in longleat.Safari Park: All attractions open at 11AM and the best thing to do is to finish the safari park, you need pay a surcharge of 4£ for using the safari bus, you can take your car if you have it.The safari bus starts at 10 or 11 depending on the season, the first safari, the rush might be a bit less, the safari takes 2Hrs inside the park and is really a wonderful trip to see the animals, none of the animals are caged and they freely roam around, we are the people inside cages (i mean cars and buses).
The bus takes you to all attractions and is sure one to be enjoyed and photographed.
Longleat House:The next attraction is the longleat house, the house is 465 years old and is good with art work and the items used by the princess and his families.
Bird Show:There are 4 shows per day and plan your time for the show, this also is the one to be enjoyed for sure, you can see the parrots performing a lot of fun stuff…….a fun time altogether…..after all that’s why we all come here…..to forget the routine software work we do everyday……..
 Safari Boat:If you want to see some seals, birds and some sea lions, you can take this one……its surely a feast for people who love photography and nature…..(I’m one of those……)….
This takes some 15 minutes…….
Other attractions are very small and you can enjoy them fast….
 Motion Simulator:This is one attraction I would recommend to all, its a nice experience, so better see it for yourself rather than me opening the thrill of it….
Finish all the attractions and then get into the Hedge Maze, make sure you finish all before 5, the last entry is somewhere around 5, and don’t think its easy…..takes a lot of time and there are so much and so many ways to get lost inside the maze…..
The experience was awesome, we guys all went in the same direction at first, and then decided to part and find the way to the centre…….Alas…..we dint find the way, we all met at the same point after 10 minutes circling around…….
Going around in Longleat.All places are very near and you don’t need anything special to get around the place.
It was evening time and we started our way back home, the trip was amazing and this is a place to visit for sure.
Travel Information.London Waterloo to Salisbury- 1.45 Hours (12£ Return by Group saving option).
Salisbury to Warminster - 30Mins by Train. (get a direct ticket from waterloo itself).
If you are planning for a single day trip, start early to cover all places.
Longleat Foto Galleria |
| Destination | : | Isle of Wight | |
| Travel Date | : | August 27, 2005 | |
| Distance | : | Approx 1.30 hrs by Train from waterloo. | |
| Route | : | Waterloo station -> Portsmouth -> Ryde (by ferry). | |
| you can reach Ryde by ferry or by hovercraft. | |||
| In and Around | Needles, Alumbay, Sanddown beach. | ||
| Sight Seeing | : | Try to get hold of the travel brochures for all places of interest in the Isle of Wight. | |
| Team | : | 10 colleagues and a Train. | |
| Type of Travel | : | Short Weekend Break. | |
| Stay | : | Start early and can return same day on an English summer. | |
| Average Xpenditure | : | 70£ per head | |
| Favourable Time | : | February to April | |
| Best Time | : | May to September (Peak Season) | |
| Accommodation | |||
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the holiday, my room mate Mahesh, gave a bright idea of visiting the Isle of Wight, an island south of london.
place, dont worry all are free.
| Destination | : | OOty also called Udagamandalam. |
| Travel Date | : | January 14-16, 2005. |
| Distance | : | Approx 296 Kms from Bangalore. |
| Route | : | Bangalore -> Mysore(135Kms) -> Bandipur(80Kms) -> Ooty(80Kms). |
| (40Kms extra if u want to avoid the 36 wonderful hairpin bends). | ||
| In and Around | Conoor(20Kms) | |
| Ooty Sight Seeing | : | Doddabetta, Parsons valley Dam, Botanical garden, Boat club, Valley View, Glenmorgan, pykara lake and falls, golf club, 4th mile shooting spot. |
| Team | : | 9 Guys and 5 Bikes. |
| Type of Travel | : | Long Week-end Break. |
| Stay | : | Started early and 2nights stay in ooty. |
| Average Xpenditure | : | Rs.1500 Per Head (including petrol, food, accommodation). |
| Favorable Time | : | November to March (second season) |
| Best Time | : | April to July (Peak Season) |
| Accommodation |
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| We found these two places good to stay and rates are also pretty decent. | ||
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Hotel Glanton Manor Charring Cross, Coonoor Road, Ooty – 643001. Phone – (0423) 2441941,2447372 |
Hotel City Palace North Lake Road, Near children park, Ooty – 643001. Phone – (0423) 2449410, 2451507 |
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| More Information on hotels list and room rates – IncredibleIndia | ||
| Trip Details
It is really a long weekend, its called “Pongal” in Tamilnadu and “sankaranthi” in Karnataka. Our plans started taking up shape as we neared the D-day. Our actual plan was to start at 5:00Am, myself and ameen khan were on the dot, picked up rajesh (on his pulsar) from indranagar, went to koramangala and picked up 2 more guys mayank and gaurav. From mysore we headed straight to Ooty road via Masinagudi, bandipur mudumalai. The major Fun part of the steep ascend in the nilgiri hills was about to start, we encountered the first hairpin bend, the winding ride sent a chill through the spine, we stopped at every hairpin joint to capture the beauty of nature, also we cant count the number of tea’s that we had on the way, we haven’t had so much in our life time, wherever we find a tea shop, the engines would come to a halt, it seemed as if the engines started doin this automatically.
The places were exciting and am falling short of words to describe the scenic beauty. In totality the trip was an exciting one with 9 guys and 5 bikes roaring the roads. Ooty Foto Galleria
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We a group of 9 guys started of in 5 bikes, mine is a black victor, a CBZ, pulsar, yam135, and a black fiero started from bangalore on 14-Jan-2005, Friday.
Reached ooty at 5:00pm, rode up to our hotel in charring cross (Hotel Glanton Manor), we booked the rooms a week in advance, and we had a warm welcome from the hotel with 1 big room for 6 people and a another small room for 3 people.
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