Travel : The Trip of a Lifetime - Part I

Every Indian has a dream, to visit the Western countries at least once in his lifetime. Some dreams about it and some live it. I, for one, had the opportunity to live through it and here I describe my experience.

The Start...

My journey is incomplete without me mentioning the two places that was the beginning of all. The very first city is a place also known as “Tiger Capital of India”. For those who are still scratching their heads, they just need to think of the City lying in the dead centre of India. Still, scratching your heads?? Okay, does the fruit ‘Orange’ clicks in your head. Yes, it is none other than the Orange City ‘Nagpur’. This is the city which helped me accomplish one of my dreams. The Foreign Exchange Program was such a grab that I just could not resist. All set and done, I was ready to leave Nagpur on the 2^nd morning of the year 2013 and thus my journey begins.

Dilli or Delhi...

So, where was I headed towards? My next destination was still in India. Before I could fly off to Europe, the capital city awaited me. It took me in with both its arms spread. The cold winters of Delhi were the very first thing that hit me off with a blast. Coming from Coimbatore, a city surrounded by hills, Delhi winters were a chilly experience for me. Three fortnights in Delhi made me a kind of expert in navigating the city with ease. My work took me to places not only in Delhi but also in other parts of NCR as well thus helping me to gather a good knowledge about the city. New friends in the new city are worth mentioning and they will always be special to me as a newbie was made comfortable here. Today, even I would say that ‘Dilwalon Ki Dilli’ is a phrase that fits the city quite well.

And the Trip begins....

February 17^th was the day of the long journey. Oops, I almost forgot to mention where I was headed towards. My journey was settled in the “Phoenix City”, the city that rose from ashes again and again. My journey to Warsaw could have been much shorter, if it hadn’t been the delay in my flight which got me stuck at Moscow airport for 6 hours. My friends had always been of the opinion that I will be deported back from Warsaw making my trip a disaster. Funnily enough, it almost became true on the night I landed in Warsaw. A small stint with the police officials almost scared me to death. Finally, I reached my dorm and I had an African for a roommate. Now people stop getting any more ideas as I have already dealt a lot with such questions. *smirk*

Naturally, as my stay at Warsaw was for 4 months, I was too lazy to explore the city in the initial days. The one thing that I was really happy to see was snow. I was one of those poor souls who had never travelled to places like Shimla, Kashmir and hence I was just amazed by the snow. My classes started the next day and lots of formalities and procedures had to be done. Thanks to the people I met there, it was as smooth as silk.

The unexpected trip...

The month of March started and in a very last minute decision, Paris became my very first weekend getaway trip. ‘The City of Love’ excited me and my colleague to the fullest. As usual, after we reached a Paris, we realised our blunder. Our returning tickets were booked for Tuesday morning instead of Monday and happily enough we had one more day to explore this city. Being a regular tourist, the most famous attractions were of course visited by us. An unplanned trip resulted in a lot of blunders but it was still adventurous. An insider tip to all Indians, do not think that you can speak Hindi in a foreign city especially in Paris and get away with it. Every second person you meet there will know Hindi and will listen to your conversation. There were more than enough tourist attractions to last a lifetime in Paris including the Sacré-Cœur, Notre Dame de Paris, Musée du Louvre and ofcourse the Wonder of the World, the Eiffel Tower. Paris did turn out to be a costly affair and hence our entire budget went haywire. On this day, I made a note to self; Plan your trip even if you have a less than a day to it and you will never regret and this formed the crux of my next trip, Planning, planning and perfect planning. Also, to those people who love Cheese, do not miss the cheese fondue. I hated it though but it is a must for all cheese lovers. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, according to Tripadvisor, Paris is the best destination across the world for tourist. So, no regrets.

Our class schedules turned out to be so messy that according to my friends in India, I was always jobless and this was partially true and this led to a weeklong trip to some more countries during Easter. The Easter Trip was an achievement for us altogether. We used all possible means of transport from one city to another, the cruise being the most memorable one. The trip itinerary led us first to the city that ranks 5^th in Tripadvisor’s best destination list, Barcelona.

Easter is here...

Well renowned for its architectural marvels by Antoni Gaudi, Barcelona is a heaven for all architectures. I still do regret not going inside the Sagrada Familia Cathedral, but the trip to Barcelona was the first place where we could go out onto the streets in just t shirts. Upon further exploring the city, we realised that we we have landed in India and not somewhere else. Almost half of the crowd in the city turned out to be Indians making us wonder, are we actually in Spain? One place worth mentioning in this city is the La Rambla Street. The most famous street in Barcelona was the most amazing street ever. Exploring the city with a new found Chinese friend, taking in the beach atmosphere, walking around various monuments, we were sad to say goodbye to Barcelona after two days but were all excited for our trip to Rome via Grimaldi Lines, the cruise.

Here, I would like to end the first part of my post, and will soon update you all about my next part of the adventure where we almost had another deporting encounter when we were on our way to heaven on earth.