A journey to self discovery....

Dec 2016.

Before the year ends...I had a few things to share with my dear friends and family....its about myself...and this is a sincere effort....it is not about anything unpleasant..nor about bad times of my life...but these experiences are about different things or how different I am from my peers! Only because I am from the19 60s , and an average Indian woman, who is simple and ordinary like any one of us,from those times!.but had done some different stuff in life which are not extraordinary but also not common... so sharing it...or rather penning it...

Travel, I am sure every one loves it! Just going to Grand parents house or visiting cousins..exploring the wonders of the world, or touring Pilgrims..staying in jungles, or trekking the hills..every one has their own way of doing it. With family, friends, ladies, groups, colleagues, from work places...siblings, parents kids....what ever is the interest and mode of transport..basically we all travel for pleasure to have fun ..enjoy, gather new stuff,..shop  eat, merry...! Is there more to this? Is there any other way of doing ? my research and experience goes like this....................

  In the travel community, A tourist and a traveler have subtle but different objectives!  A typical tourist will carry a camera, guidebook and map at all times and wear something  very casual depending on the weather conditions. They tend to stay in their comfort zones,  and  they may speak  only one universal language. They stick to visiting places where everyone goes and also would like to be in the living comforts of home or better!

Someone who considers himself a traveler, will try to

 immerse himself in the local culture rather than

 standing out. If you're a traveler, you may try to explore

 the less-traveled areas and explore locations where 

tourism doesn't drive the economy. You would interact 

with the locals. Your goals of the trip will be to learn and

 experience new things, rather than to take a relaxing 

break from everyday life. A traveler may consider a trip 

…a journey,-- rather than a vacation.

Like the saying …. The traveler sees what he sees…. The

 tourist sees what he has come to see!

For a lone traveler, The best inspiration and travel advice

 you will ever get, with expertise in all dimensions to any

 destination is Lonely Planet. You go, with even in a 

beaten up old car, a few dollars in the pocket, and a 

sense of adventure.  Lonely planet is perhaps the best

 guide for a lonely traveler. Like the words of the 

Famous Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu who said The

 Journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step! 

All you've got to do is decide to go and the hardest part

 is over.

I may not fall under any of these categories, as I did not 

get opportunity to travel during my early years of life. In

 fact  till I got married I remember doing just 3 trips in 

my childhood,  with my parents .

1.  1.   To the holy place for my lil brothers mundan.

2.   2.  Visit to my grand parents in a small little town in andhrapradesh to another small lil town in Kerala and those long endless, days of  journeys by train!!.

3.     3.Then, A month long  family tour to North India… thanks to my maternal Uncle who was highly placed  in BHEL,so with all luxuries we had a very memorable trip .

I started the journey of marriage quite early in life,

  And the so called honey moon was to OOty.  Mysore 

& Bangalore..no fancy resorts or exotic foreign

 destinations. But those days were such, that travel 

was not  in the air! Priorities were different!  I guess

 my first travel by aircraft was with my kids! All our 

holidays were, mostly in our car,to Goa, Bangalore , 

Mumbai and Chennai, with our kids, till they left India 

for better future... It never occurred to us that there is

 a world beyond, which is  to travel as well!!

My parents moved to United states in 1984, but I was 

able to visit them only in 1990, my first ever foreign

 trip. WE did a coast to coast tour of  USA and  20 

days of Europe during that time, That was our first

 exposure to foreign lands.  Since we had permanent 

residency card of United states, we had to go to the 

US every year.  so we always made some small transit 

trips along with it. Having my entire family in USA  we 

got to see USA extensively.. I also got a chance to live

 and work in that country, during my daughter s 

graduation time.  2003-2006 was a turning point in my 

life where I gathered lot of experience which helped 

me in my personal and professional growth. So as you

 all think I am not a seasoned traveler, in fact travel 

neither was my passion nor hobby.  I went with the

 flow,if it happened.  And thankfullymy husband was 

with me during most of those travel times,  and if 

traveled alone, somebody from my  family  were there 

 to  receive me on my arrival, so there was always a 

comfort, and the trips were secure. I truly hated the

 flight journeys  and panicked  like any one, if I was 

alone.

BUT

 somewhere down the line, destiny made different plans 

f for me and  in 3 such occasions  it played a major role. I

 went to visit my son ,who was in San Francisco  in 2013. 

 since he was aware of my visit he applied for leave and 

was all excited. But due to some confusion my  return 

ticket was done with an extra week to spare,  and my son 

had no more leave, so  I was stuck in his studio apartment,

 which was a typical boy’s den with not  even a TV. I had 

no clue ,what to do or how to spend the next 7 days, nor 

my son had any solutions. In that panic state, I was even 

ready to pre pone which means like buying a new ticket. 

  At that point my husband came to my rescue and gave lot of courage by   suggesting  why not I use these days to explore the city by myself..! With in no time I was checking this website called Viator.com, which conducts  trips and tours from 1 hr to 1 week length also, and any where in the world!  I did the bookings online, and immediately I was on the move. 

1. One of the worlds most  famous parks is ,the Yosemite national park , in the state of Nevada,  3-4 hrs drive from  SF. Iconic national park offers an array of options such as hiking among redwoods & river rafting, Village  shops, restaurants, jungle lodgings for people who like to stay .the 13 hrs tour with 8 of us ended on Bay bridge.

2.     Sausalito  a small city near golden gate bridge which is almost like a boarder  bwn SF and Mexico. It is totally art based water side touristy place , normally combined with Muir woods. People do not just visit Muir Woods. They come from around the globe to pay homage to nature in this cathedral of redwoods. The trees' ages range from 400 to 800 years, their height up to 250 feet.

3.     Hop on hop off…an open-top double Decker bus. An entertaining commentary is provided by live English guides, and a recorded commentary is available in a choice of languages. You may hop-on and off at any of the Big Bus stops to visit attractions and places of interest. The ticket is valid for 2 days.

4.     the historic Victorian San Francisco homes ...  Painted ladies as they are called, and There are numerous sections of the city where you can see such houses. ... This particular row of colorful houses (also sometimescalled The Six Sisters is used in tv series of Adams family.

5.     The walker in me was satisfied as I walked across golden gate bridge.The gay city as it is called, you can see the weird things and gay flags.

The Winchester Mystery House is a mansion in San Jose,  which was once the personal residence of Sarah Winchester, the widow of gun magnate William Wirt Winchester.  AFTER her infant daughter and husband's death she inherited humongous amount of wealth, so she began building her mansion. Carpenters were hired and worked on the house day and night until it became a seven story mansion. She did not use an architect and added on to the building in a haphazard fashion, so the home contains numerous oddities such as doors and 1.     stairs that go nowhere, windows overlooking other rooms and stairs with odd-sized risers. Many accounts attribute these oddities to her belief in ghosts.     My first ever proper restaurant dinner at one of the best places of SF with its signature sour dough bread bowl n  clam chowder.

    Lombard Street in San Francisco is one of America's crookedest streets. The steep, hilly street was created with sharp curves for the safety of people. visual beauty makes this street a tourist must.

     Cable cars in SF are more popular than buses, and the history behind it can be seen in the museum . I was lucky to get a ticket to travel in the original  first tram , and the ride is what every tourist waits for.

     Alcatraz  most stunning sight see, is  the  abanded prison… “ its isolation from the outside”, by the cold, strong, hazardous currents of the waters of San Francisco Bay, Alcatraz was used to house  prisoners of war (POWs) as early as 1861. Its most touching  n best part of my sf trip.

    In San Francisco, you can walk around nude on any day of the week on any street. Even if you're arrested, you'll probably be released after a couple of hours. Unless you're in a city park or a place that serves alcohol, it simply is not illegal to be naked.

I got to see San Fransico with such leisure and 

pleasure, which would not have been possible 

otherwise. Sightseeing in the day, and being with my

son later at his apt,  was balancing  my time. Soon 

it was time to say good bye to San Francisco . It was a

 total turn around…a possible night mare turned in to 

days of good memories.

My destiny must have  thought ..,hey this is fun.Like the 

saying… A Wise man… I mean a wise woman travels to

 discover herself!! This made me put myself on a trial the

 2 time….which was  a chance and a challenge, again

 given by my husband.  Since he traveled extensively

 through Europe on work as well as pleasure, guess he 

was guilty, and also , that I never demanded to be a part

 of his ventures.. So my USA trip to visit my parents 

had taken a small detour and I landed in Germany.So

 knowing all this  My husband came with this brilliant 

Idea  and gave me a 4 day surprise transit tour in

 Germany. Thats how Romantic Rothenburg happened…

 without my husband around, I was on a romantic road

 trip.. It was a 4 day  trip from Munich to Frankfurt…! I

 landed in Munich airport early morn 6 am..I was 

informed by yatra people that I wont get a pick up but its

 very easy to get in to the airport shuttle to go to the

 center Munich where my hotel was . So I did not bother

 much, but standing in nearly empty airport in the early

 hrs, I did not know which way to go. Very little of

 English and more of German was glaring at me..and 

what else but I was about to cry. Dragging my bag I tried

 to talk to the airport assistance but the tight lipped lady 

was not of much help but was kind enough to say I need

 to use local currency to buy the train ticket which is like

 an hour frm the airport n then only I can be in Central

 Munich. God sometimes is kind to me,  n thats when I 

saw this guy full of tattoos n piercings..Struggling near 

a ticket vending machine. I ran,  and sensing he was

 grumbling with the machine in English, I some how 

managed to buy a ticket for my self, with his help. the

 train as I was told by my agency, was not connected to

 any airport shuttle, but on some other level in the 

airport and I never left this guy but followed him like a

 shadow. I  dared not to  doubt him, nor get any

negative thoughts of this foreigner, as he was the only 

one with whos help I could get out of the airport. what 

kind of a guy he could be since he had tattooo n

 piercings…! An hour long train took us to  central 

Munich and my hotel  was right in front as I was told.  

The Australian athelete the good Samaritan n I  wish I 

had clicked a picture of him to show you all..some times

 looks can be deceiving…n so were the tattoos n piercings  !

Day 2 - Munich to Hohenschwangau

I got in to a packed bus where my seat was already 

booked, n we headed south to explore Linderhof Palace

 and to enjoy its scenic alpine surroundings, before

 continuing to the spectacular Neuschwanstein Castle. 

 Bus cart or walk was the choice given to the group…n I 

opted for the scenic walk.IT was totally fairy tale 

atmosphere , and , exploring King Ludwig’s beautiful 

apartments and staterooms  of this magnificent hilltop castle, and the second time I got the  taste of racism.  So that’s how my day2 ended in Hohenschwangau, a 

beautiful beautiful fair tale township..

I was the only one  who stayed there from our group, 

and our guide saw that I checked in to the  safely of the

 Hotel Müller ( where I had time to relax, go around,  eat 

dinner, interact with lovely locals..

Day 3 - Hohenschwangau to Augsburg 

After breakfast, I was escorted by the lovely local girl to

 the bus  for the drive to Augsburg, Believe me there was

 just another person in the bus,and that’s how I met 

Claudia. An unforgettable 3 hrs journey , where we both

 were like2 long lost childhood friends.   Augsberg a

 well-known university town, where we had to go our separate ways, and so sad I felt. Truly I believe people come in to our lives , for  a reason, season or life time. From my Hotel I joined my group for a walking tour. .I saw top Augsburg attractions, including the Augsburg Cathedral and the Fuggerei, named after a 15th- and 16th-century trading family, the Fuggers, who once made Augsburg their banking empire. InterCity Hotel , and my eng speaking group made augsberg memorable. I was all excited ..day 4 ..thank God this ordeal is going to come to an end..

Day 4 - Augsburg to Rothenburg..and Right next my hotel was the bus st, where I had to wait for my pick up. I waited for 1 hr patiently but then I started panicking when no one heard about the name of my bus company, n that being a local bus st.. rothen burg to the people there is something far away which they were not sure even exists! I pressed ever ones panic buttons..local agents to my Indian mediater. My husband to God…I almost was ready to break in to tears…when I saw the brite pink bus coming…gosh!!
 Romantic Rothen burg is truly romantic.n one has to experience to believe it.  driving past Dinkelsbühl and Nördlingen -- picturesque towns full of cobbled-stone streets and medieval buildings., --  arriving in Rothenburg ob der Tauber in the early afternoon was like entering a dream land.. I was met by a taxi to be transferred to my hotel, and the person got down from the taxi to get in to the bus I got down, was none other than Claudia, world is really small, n god is great. WE screamed n hugged like long lost sisters, and she said she was sure she was gonna meet me again, so holding 

a small gift in her hand.I never thought I will ever see again in my life!

In Rothenburg they don’t believe Christmas comes only once a yr. For the local every day is Christmas..!I was so ready for the festive city..from the  Victorian style dreamy hotel to the safe alleyways to explore on my own. 

Starting from City wall which  has encircled the city since the 14th century and the Church of St Jacob, city hall, fish meal lunch, festive city square. It was all fun and dreamy…and to make it more dramatic there was excitement around to  see and be with one and only person..The tour with the night watch man. .sharp 8 , like magic , the knight  the actor who calls himself the night watchman comes with the appropriate attire and accessories , n seeing him like people scream in delight. the eng tour stars  and every one follows the  Night Watchman on his entertaining and informative rounds through the darkness. Follow him through dark alleyways and across dimly lit squares and  jus enjoy the special mood of the town at night. Listening to his stories and finding out how the people lived in the Middle Ages – a wonderful finale for my evening in Rothenburg.

 .

Day 5.. was like a new day a feeling of exam well done, holidays to follow… Rothenburg to Frankfurt  which connected me to my family.

I can say that was my best as well as the worst times.I had a couple of unplesant experiences, which made me realise how people are judged with their colour and culture!  I was strong as well as scared  to death.  I had absolutely wonderful times and equally  panicky  situations.  

  

I don’t  believe in bucket lists .  and I don’t have any wish lists when it comes to travel. I never had to   compete nor be in a race with any one ..   But I had  one child hood fantasy  …like any child my imagination had no boundaries. Taking part in Christmas plays was a yearly ritual and in the process from a baby angel  to a Gabriel angel, and from a Sheppard boy to mother Mary with a cradle in front!   Fair skin and brown  eyes being the main reason, I was  an important  part  of our school Christmas plays, year after year . Singing the carols,  dancing to the tunes, I loved the  Christmas  pageants, and lived in that era.  The fictitious places  as I grow older, i realized were for real and in the back of my mind..How I wished I could go there!.. but never knew  angels and my destiny were in sync…and I had no control over it. Some times our instincts push us to a kind of rush, …….  And makes us do the undecided. That’s how,The Best of Israel happened ,  and I got in to do it alone. My coffee drinking husband politely said its not his cup , but sure I should go. I was lucky to get the right  guidance in cox and kings and things soon started falling into place. Just about a week before my departure to Isreal, there was terror attack in a mall in Tel Aviv. My worried parents hated the thought of me going to these places when this part of the world was almost like a fire factory!   Anything  can happen anywhere but do you need to be in the hot spot was their question…but  my husband assured me that this is the safest time to travel to Israel as everyone would be  at their best alert! With this encouragement, I did my 8 day best of Israel trip all alone from India. I joined a Trafalgar group, to tour  with 14 other Americans.  In Jerusalem my hat trick tour started! Best of Israel..day 1 was all travel till I met with the rest of the group..and to my bad luck even here  I did not meet the person in charge, but by now I am use to this situations,  I first went n  changed currency , and got a local sim, and then I started pressing panic buttons and to my good luck, Trafalgars main guy from Mumbai pulled me out and put me on right track..then there was no more hiccups. I met the group and just like I was thinking  they are all foreigners I did not realize I was a foreigner to them as well!  But since I had a room to myself..I had my freedom, as well as privacy.

Our guide changed our itenary  with our permission( I heard 

they normally should not do it in groups like trafalger)  since it

 was a shabbath day and as planned it would be impossible to go

around old city of Jerusalem on such festive days.. Shabbat is

 observed on the seventh day of the week in fulfillment of the

 biblical commandment: "Six days you shall labor and do all 

your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of Adonai your

 God."In accordance with the Jewish calendar, the Sabbath

 begins on Friday evening at sunset and ends on Saturday night

 with the appearance of three stars. All Jewish days begin at

 sunset. So anyways, we headed to dead sea , passing through 

Masada---, Means Fortress in Hibrew.., and the Judean Desert

 close  to the Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth. Many in the 

group went for a mud rub and dead see float experience, but 

not me. That’s when I got to know little about others in my

 group, as I stood and clicked pictures. Except me rest all of 

them picked up loads of dead sea products to take back home..

 In Masada  a cable car ride took us to  the ancient fortress 

where the Zealots made their last stand against the Romans. 

Exploring the excavations of Herod's Palace was a goose bump

 experience.

in the Old City of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives we 

started our 3 rd day.. We visited  the tomb of King David on 

Mount Zion. See ing the  room of the Last Supper  which took 

place near Zion Gate made one real high !! Walking  through

 the Jewish Quarter to the Wailing Wall was another

 experience and hair raising site… where in I put forward 

wishes of all my friends  and my own family. They give us lot of

 time to write n put wishes across, cry over, pray or just sit 

and   see the Dome of the Rock. Following  the Stations of the

 Cross along the Via Dolorosa to the Church of the Holy

 Sepulchre  ,which is  considered the place where Jesus's tomb

 is located. Evening dinner times were close group affairs, and

 we got to know every one leisurely over wine n wow food. They

 put a board in hotel lobby to let us no, which part of the hotel is

 arranged for the Trafalgar group..first day I went late and got

 a booo..and because of that I won a friend and a second 

daughter in Rica…! From then on she mailed me every day

…"Kirti its dinner time, do u want me to knock u r door?" She

 was truly like an angel sent by god at every stage..,coming to

 my rescue. !

Day 4 being a free day …some of us opted to go to Bethlehem.

  At last  my role of mother mary n cradle in school,  was what I

 am going to see I thought n all excited n prepared for the scene. 

But nothing like that was there  in real, but figurine as we get to

 see here . If you have faith you believe this all is for real, n 

that’s what it will say! visit to the Church of the Nativity and 

Manger Square, ending with a view over the Shepherds Fields.

  Bethlehem is not within Israeli territory and the operation of 

this tour is subject to Palestinian Authority regulations. 

PASSPORTS ARE REQUIRED. The 5 miles separating both

places you can see differences may be 50 times. Poverty being the main…!

5.  Yad Vashem, a memorial commemorating the six million 

martyrs of World War II.,seeing the Shrine of the Book at the

 Israel Museum, housing the Dead Sea Scrolls, Israel's 

Parliament ,the Hebrew University, are some 

I remember.Traveling  through the Jordan Valley was most 

scenic. Holocaust History Museum,  the Children's Memorial

 and the Hall of Remembrance..,is a memorial in the historical 

Jewish homeland for Jewish victims of the Nazis.Holocaust was

 conceived during World War II, as a response to reports of the

 mass murder of Jews in Nazi-occupied countries.This is the 

 most touching  part of the tour.  After the Western Wall, Yad

 Vashem is the second-most-visited Israeli tourist site. Its 

curators charge no fee for admission and welcome

 approximately one million visitors a year. Traveling   through

 the Jordan Valley  we reached our  Kibbutz hotel- Lavi., 

Kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was 

traditionally based on agriculture . They are emigrated 

palestines  meaning Palestine refugees" originally referred to

 both Arabs and Jews. They live in a world of their own, with 

their religious beliefs disconnected from the rest of the world, 

but a pleasure for holidaying families.

6Visit the ‘chariot city' of Megiddo to see the excavations of 

Solomon's Stables. Explore the Church of the Annunciation at

 Nazareth and visit the old synagogue at Capernaum, the old 

town of Jesus. Continue to the Mount of Beatitudes where Jesus

 delivered the Sermon on the Mount. In the New Testament, the

 city is described as the childhood home of Jesus, and the phrase

 "Jesus of Nazareth" appears seventeen times. So it is a center

 of Christian pilgrimage, with many shrines commemorating

 biblical events. Nazareth is known as "the Arab capital of 

Israel"! Both catholics and Christians have lot in common and

 some being  different as well.

Both groups believe that there is only one God, who is three-in-

one ("Trinity"): Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  And both agree 

that Jesus is God the Son in human flesh. big difference is that

 evangelicals believe that it’s in the Bible that God speaks to us

 to tell us about himself and how he wants us to live.  Catholics

 believe that he also speaks through the teachings of the 

Catholic church and the Pope.  So anyways  in Nazareth you get

 to see arabs, Jews, Christians, and catholics…and all these 4

 religions consider Nazareth as their holy place.

 

7LOWER GALILEE – ACRE – HAIFA – CAESAREA—

Visiting  the ancient synagogue and artists' colony at Tzfat, one

 of Judaism's Four Holy Cities. Discovering, the fascinating 

underground Crusaders City of Acre. breath taking  views of 

the Bahai Shrine and the beautiful Persian Gardens at Haifa, 

seeing  the Roman statues, the aqueduct and the Roman 

Theatre at the ancient port city of Caesarea. That brought us to

 Tel aviv  which was like coming back to modern civilizations. 

Lot to do on our own in Telaviv, the Flea Market, New Zedek,

 the first Jewish neighbourhood, the Diaspora Museum and the 

Eretz Israel Museum, malls diamond factories, walkalong the

 beachs to bring back memories.

 I had fantastic time, and it was as I expected, more like a 

educational field trip ..intense , strenuous , but an awe and 

wonder to me. Like going back into history! I willingly did my 

home work, so I enjoyed every bit of the sightseeing and 

pleasure hunting moments.  The last day as I was standing in

  my room watching the sunrise I silently made 2 thank you 

speeches. one to my  parents..… for bringing 

me up in such a way that I could   conduct myself with  dignity

  and get the respect ,love and care of other nationals.I felt like I 

am representing my country.. I silently thanked my  supportive

 husband for all his cooperation , understanding and 

encouragement.   I must have done something good to travel

 that far , with fit body and quick mind, as I don’t know if I 

would say the same a few years later. So I thanked god for

 blessing me and make this trip happen.

Fortunate are the one who can travel with their families and

 friends and loved ones. I would not do these lone trips ever 

again especially for pleasure.I hope and pray if I travel in 

future it will be only with my own family and friends.I am  very

 contended person in my own country , state, city and home,

 and this is where my happiness  is, and I mean it.

I like to conclude with the words of Benjamin Disraeli…. Like

 all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more, that I have seen.

Travel makes one modest. You suddenly realize what a tiny

 place you occupy in this world!

 Take vacations, go as many places as you can. You can always

 make money, you cant always make memories. On an end 

note....

Travel teaches you to be  patient, tests your tolerance. Introduces to your self. I can say you can travel alone and have fun IF you are comfortable being on your own, you are OK to sleep, eat alone, If you can smile at people, if you can absorb the wonderfulness around  and be happy.  It makes you a strong person, and helps you to become independent, self sufficient and contended person.