Category Archives: travel

The Kitchen at the Golden Temple

Posted on April 10, 2011 | 5 Comments

When we went to the Golden Temple back in November, I also shot a video for Smithsonian Magazine. It’s finally up on the website. Check it out here.

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Posted in history, landmarks, photography, travel

My Crazy, Hectic Schedule for the Next Two Weeks

Posted on November 1, 2010 | 3 Comments

After having been in India for almost four months, I’m finally going to see something outside of Mumbai. My first mini-trip is for work to Hyderabad. How much I’ll actually see is unknown, but I’m super excited for the weather. Temperatures hover around 70; a much-welcomed break from the 90s in Mumbai.

I get back at midnight on Wednesday night, and Arnab and I are leaving for our Diwali vacation less than 24 hours later. We’ll hit Delhi, Agra, Amritsar and Calcutta. At the end, I’ll head back to Delhi to cover a conference for work.

It’s going to be an exhausting couple of weeks, but I’m excited. Needless to say, I probably won’t be blogging much, but expect some great stories and photos when I return.

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Posted in holiday, travel, work

Welcome Home

Posted on September 13, 2010 | 1 Comment

I returned from my trip to Delhi late Thursday night. Unfortunately, the only things I saw in the city were the Lodi Gardens (from the window of my taxi), the India Habitat Center (where the conference was), our adorable B&B and Kahn Market. I’ll be returning in November, so I wasn’t too worried about seeing much this trip.

Of course, that won’t stop me from making some sweeping generalizations about New Delhi. From what I saw, it seemed to be quieter, greener, hotter and more open. It was way less crowded, which surprisingly, I didn’t like. My next trip will be a lot more fun—sightseeing, eating and no conference attending.

I was actually looking forward to getting back to Bombay. You know that feeling you get when you return to a new home for the first time. When I returned to college after that first trip back home. When I came back to Malaga after a short trip. When I returned to Washington, D.C., after visiting my parents.

For a place that still feels so foreign sometimes, it really felt like home when I got back. I gave the taxi driver directions to my apartment—he was shocked when I told him to stop with no hotel in sight—and walked home from the bank in the dark and felt completely safe.

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Posted in travel, work

I Need Some Advice: Customs and New Delhi

Posted on September 3, 2010 | 10 Comments

Readers in India (or those who’ve been in India): I need some advice on a few things. Any tips, advice or personal experiences would be much appreciated!

The India Gate in Delhi

I’m headed to a conference for work next week (alone) in New Delhi. Having never been, I’m looking for some advice. I’ve heard the taxis and rickshaws can be awful, so any tricks or tips would be great.

The conference is near Lodi Road, and I don’t plan on traveling too far away from that area. I won’t have a lot of non-conference time, and I plan on going on a real tip to Delhi later this year.

On to, the next issue—not nearly as fun. My mother mailed me a package from the U.S. almost five weeks ago. The United States Postal Service website says the package arrived in India at the beginning of August. (India does me a lot of good, USPS, thanks. It’s not like India is a big country or anything.)

Since my mother mailed the package to Arnab’s cousin’s address—someone is always home—she received a letter saying I need to bring some documents in order to retrieve my package. Something about invoices, certificates of origin and importer’s permits. Help. Please. (I’m almost positive getting my stuff will involve some “greasing palms,” so advice in that area would be helpful, too.) The package contains an old Apple computer, a camera charger cord, some AA batteries and a pair of bedsheets.

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Posted in travel

Reminders of Insecurity

Posted on August 17, 2010 | 3 Comments

Arnab’s dad stayed at a very nice hotel last week when he was here. The rickshaws Arnab and I took to meet him for dinner aren’t even allowed past the gate.We would get out on the street and be the only people walking up to the hotel—everyone else was shuttled to the front door by taxi cabs and hired drivers.

Before cars can pass the gate, they need to pass a security check. There is a man who stands outside the gate 24/7 and looks under each and every car that wants entry. He uses what looks like a shovel with a mirror on top. He’s checking for car bombs, of course. Even at five-star hotels, they don’t mess around with security here.

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Posted in photography, small inconveniences, travel

I Have Arrived

Posted on July 9, 2010 | 6 Comments

Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai.

Arnab told me I’d be able to smell the humidity as soon as I got off the plane in Mumbai. After an 8.5-hour flight that stretched to 10.5 hours and an arrival time pushed to 1 a.m. from 11 p.m., I was so happy to be off the plane that almost any smell would have been fine by me.

But I did detect a distinct smell. I don’t know if it was the humidity, but it definitely let me know I had arrived.

Customs was easy, my luggage came out quickly and undamaged, and I managed to manuever my three bags through the X-ray machines. As I headed over to the exit, a man in a white uniform asked me to open my bags.

I grabbed my medium size suitcase and heaved it up onto the platform. As he rummaged through my DVDs, reading the titles aloud, he asked:

“Are you going to Goa?”

I’ve seen enough Bollywood movies to know what he was insinuating with that question. In one of the movies, a girl refers to an affair as her “vacation in Goa.” It’s a gorgeous vacation spot notorious for heavy drinking, partying and promiscuity. India’s version of Ibiza in Spain. At least, this is what my limited knowledge has led me to believe. I told him, “No, I’m staying in Mumbai.”

After looking through my DVD collection, he approved of Juno, and asking how many of the 1,000 places listed in my “1,000 Places to Visit Before You Die” book I had been to, he let me go.

By the time I met Arnab and got into a taxi to go to his cousin’s place, it was just after 2 a.m., and the streets of Mumbai were deserted, something I’ll probably never see again. Stores were closed, cars were parked and only a few dogs roamed the sidewalks. It was an interesting first look at the usually hectic metropolis I plan on calling home for the next two years.

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Posted in moving to Mumbai, travel

Leaving Today

Posted on July 7, 2010 | 1 Comment

I had planned on writing a post about packing. What do you need when you move to a foreign country for two years? I would have written that post if I had an answer to that question. My flight leaves in five hours, and I’m still packing, still deciding what I’ll need.

I packed a closet-full of clothes, a few pairs of shoes, some books, some movies and what seems like an entire pharmacy of lotions and medicines. I didn’t make a list. I didn’t even think it through that much. I always forget at least one thing when I take a trip. I wonder what I’ll forget this time.

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Posted in travel

Compressed In Economy

Posted on July 6, 2010 | 4 Comments

A few weeks ago, I went to the doctor for the first time in years for a regular checkup. I just wanted to make sure my body wasn’t going to fall apart as soon as I got to India. My family’s doctor had some interesting suggestions for avoiding blood clots on long flights.

The first, and medically proven, tip was to wear compression socks. These socks help keep blood flowing evenly through the legs, preventing clots and swelling. I probably wouldn’t have looked into them had my mother not been working at a vein clinic. A huge part of her day is putting these socks on patients. She brought a pair home, and while they make me look a little silly, I’m going to try them out.

My doctor also suggested taking a baby aspirin a few days before I leave and a few days after I arrive. He said that while this isn’t a proven method, it’s something he always does when he flies home to Syria. Worth a shot, I think.

Luckily, I fly from Chicago to London, eight hours, and London to Mumbai, nine hours, so I don’t have any extremely long flights. Since I bought my ticket a mere two weeks in advance, I’m stuck in a middle seat, so I’ll have to disturb someone every time I want to get up.

Anyone have any other tips for long flights?

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Posted in health, travel