New years at New york(Dec 2004)

We arrived at Newark airport on 31st Dec Morning. Sadh and Shobha came to pick us up. We then went to pick up Kdia. Then we went to Sadh's house. It was great fun. We played games, chatted a lot... Then in the evening we went for a new years party...:) DJ was Magic mike...:) It was fun... We never saw these many indians together at one place in US....:):)

Next day we went to Kau's place. Kau is Swati's best friend. Swati met her after 2 years. Last time they met was in Kau's marriage and that too it was running visit.:) We had a great time. We saw Munna bhai MBBS it is such a funny movie. Kau and Meenanath had made very good food. :)
[Swati]
Kau is my best friend from college ,our friendship is almost10 years old now!!!she is one person who can share my thoughts and understand me and always stood by me come whatever may!! am lucky to have a friend like her. Meena nath and kau are a fantastic couple together,they complement each other very well:):)we had a great time with them , hope we could stay near and meet ever so often. Meeting them is a rejuvinating affair.

Surprise Visit to India...(Nov 2004)

We got our GC around 2nd week of Nov 2004. Same day we decided to go to India and surprise everyone at home... We did not inform anybody at home. Just took a flight to India and reached Mumbai airport. We booked a private taxi and arrived at Swati's house in CBD around 5:30 am. I went in alone and knocked the door. Everyone was surprised.. I told them I had some official work so came alone to India... After 2 minutes Swati entered. No one could believe it.. Swati's Dad was just sitting and staring at her for 10 minutes. He just could not believe it...:):)

From there we went to my house at Panvel... There the reaction was exactly opposite. Mom opened the door and just said.... Good you came. Come in.... That is it...:):) We enjoyed a lot in India did lot of shopping and eat like mad.. We came back in 1 week. So the time was too short....:(

Chimney Rock and Blue Ridge pkwy (Oct 2004)

On 28th Oct 2004 evening we went to Charlotte as we had an appointment for our GC. We stayed at Rajesh and Vandana's place that evening. Next day morning we went for the appointment and from there we drove to Chimney Rock. Chimney Rock is a small place in between the mountains. We had reserved a log cabin in the mountains. It was called Water fall cabin. It was very well located between the mountains and fall colors gave it a perfect look.

Then we visited the Chimney Rock national park. Where we climbed to the top of the montain to see Chimney which is at 2280ft above sea level. The visibility normaly is upto 75 miles but due to fog we could hardly see our own hands.:) Next day we drove to blue ridge parkway but that was also closed due to a hurricane damage so finally we returned on Saturday itself... But overall was a short and sweet road trip...

Biltmore Estate (May 2004)

I had to leave in 1 week for India on a project. So we decided to take a weekend off at Biltmore estate... It is a nice beautifull estate near Asheville. It is the countries largest home. It has more than 4 acres under 1 roof.. It also has beautifull garden around the estate and there is a great winery too. We visited the winery and also bought 2 bottles of wine. One red and another white. We never drink wine but...:):)

Las Vegas and Grand Canyon(May 2004)

For my birthday which is on 7th May we decided to go to my favourite vacation spot, which is Las Vegas. I just love the city. This time we decided to also visit Grand Canyon. We reached Las vegas and were going around travel agents to get tickets to Grand Canyon and HP called. He kept talking to me about general the surrounding and guess whatt...... He and Mansi actually gave us a surprise and arrived in vegas and also tracked us down on the strip...:) So sweet of them.. That moment made our trip the best ever.

We took a flight to Grand Canyon. The flight was a very small one and Swati was really uncomfortable in the smal plane. We have lunch at a small indian place and return in the flight back to vegas. We enjoyed there for another day or so and returned back... Did I tell u we travelled in first class that too on a free ticket...:) I don't think till date I have paid for any of my vacation travel. It has always been free tickets....:):)

Road Trip... Cary-DC-NY-Atlantic City-Norfolk-Cary Contd...(Nov 2003)

After going to various places in NY like statue of liberty and all we left in our Mustang for Atlantic city. We checked in our hotel and went to various casino for some gambling. As I had mentioned I like gambling..:):) Next day morning we started from Atlantic city and drove to Cape May where we took a ferry to Delaware. From there we took Chesapeake Bay Bridge tunnel. .





This was the best drive I have ever taken in my life. This is One thing you should never miss in you life..:) Next we stayed over night at Norfolk and returned back to Cary next day morning that was sunday... This was a great trip.

Road Trip... Cary-DC-NY-Atlantic City-Norfolk-Cary Contd...(Nov 2003)

We left Washinton DC and drove to New York city... Financial capital of the world. Just by looking at the builiding in the city you start feeling dizzy..:):) Great place. We stayed at another Holiday inn just opposite to Macy's. We went to Time's Square in the evening.. oh man.. So many people there... It reminded us of Mumbai... NY is a great place... We enjoyed a lot there... We also did some shoping and took at walk on the boardwalk... Next day morning we also visited the site of twin towers. It is so sad... Twin towers were like gems of the world.... sad..:(

Road Trip... Cary-DC-NY-Atlantic City-Norfolk-Cary(Nov 2003)

This was our first road trip. Both me and Swati love driving. We planned for a road trip for thanks giving weekend. We started from our home on evening of 26th Nov 2003 that was a wednesday. First stop was Sonali's house in Richmond for dinner. We had dinner and immediately left for Washinton DC. We stayed at a Holiday Inn which was walking distance from the white house. Next day we got up early and went to various site/places in DC. We took some photographs in front of the White house.

Next we went to see the Smithsonian Mueseum. It is the only meuseum I liked watching...:) There are quite a few interesting things to look at. It is more scientific stuff which I like watching rather than art and architecture..:) But Swati is different... She was so happy to see so many beautiful buildings... We also met Gagan, Vivek and Ritu. Then drove down from Phily to meet us. That was so nice of them. We enjoyed for a while together.


That day that is thrusday afternoon we started our journey towards New York.... Wait for that part...

A Day at Kings Dominion...(Aug 2003)

After Orlando trip Swati was really excited about going to more adventure parks. One weekend we along with Shri and Kavita went to Kings dominion. It was great fun. Best part was we did Xtreme SkyFlyer. It had sensations of hang gliding and sky diving. Cool Stuff can never forget that. Its like a free fall from the sky... Scary stuff...

Fun at Universal Orlando...(July 2003)

One thing that is common between me and Swati is we both love roller coasters and universal orlando was perfect vacation spot for us. We planned to go to Universal for the July 4th weekend in 2003. We planned to stay there for almost 4 days. We bought 5 day pass for the price of 1.5 days and stayed just outside of Universal studios at Holiday inn. Universal studios is a great place... Some of the better rides are Spiderman and Hulk. U can see how much swati is exited about Hulk..:):).. Another good stuff is to look at the Universal studios especially Shrek, Terminator were good shows there...

First Trip to Las Vegas(June 2003)

Las Vegas is the most beautiful place I have ever seen. Amazing place. Just amazing. It is unbelievable that man could make such a place in middle of a desert. Huge hotel casinos, good restaurants, amazing shows, just great stuff. Name it and u will find it in Las Vegas. I love casinos. Not much for the gambling angle of it but more for fun part of it.

We went to Las vegas on Friday evening and returned on Sunday evening. Just 2 days. That was too less. But this was not the last trip. :):)

Weekend Getaway to Outerbanks...(May 2003)

It was labor day weekend in 2003 and first chance to go an real vacation for us. We chose Outerbanks. It is just 4 hours from Raleigh were we live. Outerbanks is an amazing place. Set of around 7 Islands in the Atlantic. We only visited Kitty hawk, Kill devils hills and Nags head. The drive to Outerbanks is also very beautifull. I had quite a bit of rewards points with Holiday Inn hotels so the stay was free for us.:):) Outerbanks has beautiful beaches. Kitty hawk was the place where Wright brothers took there first flight. Cool stuff.. We also tried some water sports... We both just love doing stuff like that... Hey see the photo of "road to heaven"..:) Amazing drive..

Business cum Pleasure trip to Chicago...(Apr 2003)

I was a consultant so I had to travel a lot for my job. Because of lot of travel before marriage I had a free companion pass on southwest. When I had some work at IBS and Wacker for a week. We decided that Swati will also join me. We both first flew to Chicago from there we drove to Rockford then to Milwaukee and from there we returned to Chicago. We spend some time in Chicago. We met our only relative in US. Swati's Uncle Santaji. He is a nice guy.

Swati really loved Chicago and Milwaukee mainly because of the tall buildings. She likes buildings and Raleigh does not have that many. So Chicago was a pleasant change for Swati...:):) Swati is an Architect and was happy posing with other great architects of chicago on top of Sears towers..:):)

Visiting Sonali and Adil...(Apr 2003)

After returning to US the first thing we did was went to meet Sonali and Adil. Sonali is a very close friend like a sister to me. We have know each other for almost 9 years now. Sonali and Adil are a perfect couple. Made for each other..:) Swati and Sonali really got along well. That was really cool.

Sonali and Adil use to stay in Richmond, Va. We drove to Richmond which was around 3 hours drive. This is first long drive for Swati. She enjoys driving. Wait to read about our road trips.

Back home to USA...(Mar 2003)

After marriage and staying in India for almost 3-4 months we came to US. It was first time for Swati. I had been here for almost 2 years now. Coming back home was such a great thing. Home is finally home. Here are some clips of our home sweet home. Now we have sold it and are planning to buy a new one. Swati was home for first year or so because of visa restrictions so she spend most of the time in our lawn and decorating our home...:)

Extended Honeymoon to NL, Belgium and Paris...(Mar 2003)

We were still in India after marriage this is around Feb/March 2003 and I had a meeting scheduled in Netherlands with Cordys team. So both me and Swati went for our extended honeymoon. It was great fun. Actually we stayed for whole week at the Vanenburg Castle. Swati sketched the castle and we gifted it to Theodoor. U can compare urself...:) Isn't she good....:):) We also met Pamy and PDT.




One of the days I had a meeting in Brussels so we stayed there for a day at Sheraton. Amazing hotel with beautiful view. Also there was a carnival going on that day so we got to see that too. Brussels has an old world charm to it.

I think I will add seperate blog for Paris. We went there over the weekend.




Paris Photos...
Belgium Photos...

Back to Roots(Jan 2003)

After marriage I wanted to visit my village(Hivare) with Swati. I wanted to show her our property there which ofcourse is not much just couple of acres but ...:) Anyway more important thing was to meet some of the relatives who could not attend the wedding. Also we had to visit our kul devta(main temple). This was a weekend trip and we both enjoyed it. We stayed overnight at Sangli and next day took a bus back to Mumbai.


1. Ganpati Temple at Sangli 2. Beautiful evening 3. Temple Town

Trip to Goa(Jan 2003)

After returning from honeymoon our stay in India got extended so one weekend we went to Goa. We actually took a sleeper bus. I wish I had a photograph of it. Anyway. Goa is a beautiful place with great beaches and wonderful people. We stayed at Cidade de Goa it is a five star beach resort. We enjoyed lot of adventure sports like parasailing, banana boat, jet sking.... It was an amazing experience.



In the Evening we had dinner at the hotel. It was beautiful atmostphere. Lot of people and best part was there was a live ghazal singer. The guy was singing really good. Especially Adnan sami's ghazals. I also send him some requests..:):) We also went for some shopping in the local market and picked up some stuff for our house. Swati bought some gifts and all...:)

Honeymoon at Backwaters (Dec 2002)

We got married on 19th Dec 2002. Immediately on 20th we left for our honeymoon too Backwaters in Kerala, South India. It is a beautiful place. We left from Mumbai landed in Cochin where we stayed for 1 night next day morning we left for Kumarakom. We landed at the Taj Resort. First night we stayed in a house boat. First we had long boat ride visited some local attractions and spend the night at centre of a lake. It was so peacefull out there...:)

Next day we stayed at Taj Resort itself. We took a nice motor boat ride and spend some time together. At night I arranged for a dinner for 2 on an island. Taj has a small man made island at center of there mini lake. But it was a big fiasco. Swati had the appetizer which were squid and I am no clue what happened to her she literally fainted. I had to pick her up and take her to the room..:(:(


Next day we left from Kumarkom and drove to Kovalam. In kovalam we stayed at Kovalam beach resort. It is a beautiful property on beach front with a whole private beact. We enjoyed a lot, played in water a bit had a nice walk on the beach and all.. Was a great time...

Next day we left for Mumbai. Back Home... ACtually we wanted to come back to US around 6th of Jan so had to hurry back home but due to some office work I had to stay longer in India so we took the oppurtunity to see some more of India....:):):) More in next blog....:)

Introduction

This blog is for Swati and Sudhir. We love traveling. We have travelled to lot of places in the world and we would love to go to all the places in the world. :). We got married in december 2002. Since then we have been to soooo many places. We will try to blog some information about those trips and also start keeping blog of all the newer places we visit. You will also find some cool photos here...:):)

This photo is from Jungfrau region in Switzerland. It is top of Europe....:)

Some places we have been to include South India(Kerala), Goa, Netherlands, Paris, Belgium, Las vegas, Outer banks in NC, Orlando Florida, Road trip to New york, Mountains around Asheville.... See more in blogs to come....:)