#IAmTheDrive: Experience at Times Women’s Drive 2018

May 5, 2018 twolightbackpacks Leave a comment

When people talk about car race, rallies or drives, the only thing that comes to my mind is F1/ Formula1, FIA ( Federation Internationale de l’Automotive), Schumacher, Raikkonen. This was only until a couple of months ago….

Now it is- Time, Distance, Speed! Vroom.

Cars, Driving and Me

I was never fascinated by cars. The status remains the same. But, I am fascinated by adventures and roads- journeys and the way you take these journeys. That is what drove me to even get a driving license (Special mention & thanks to ever persistent & supportive husband & in-laws and people who taught me to never say no to learning- parents).

Driving to any place is an adventure, even if it is the monotonous route to work. Why? Just because you experience different things every time you drive, even if it is the same route.

This is the second thing that drove me to say YES to Amruta (my childhood friend since we were 6 or something) and her sister-in-law (And now a very good friend)- Sharvari. For what?

THE TIMES WOMEN”S DRIVE 2018- From Pune to Goa.

The Times Women’s Drive (TWD) and what drives it? My third ‘Drive’

As the name suggests, TWD is a drive (not a race) for women and for the cause of women related health issues- mainly breast and cervical cancer. Started by Devika Bhojwani, a cancer survivor herself, the main aim of this drive is to raise funds for Breast Cancer patients who cannot afford the treatment (It is backed by Tata Memorial Hospital). I was aware of her work, as I have done a couple of Pinkathon runs and she is associated with it as well. It is also a cause for women which I deeply care for because of the impact it has had on women in my family as well.

All this, along with the fact that I would be driving all the way to Goa (via Ganpatipule) definitely drove me to say a BIG YES for this event!

Pre-event Preps

Pretty enthusiastic about the drive, we started planning for our social cause- Promoting Solar Energy to enhance the use of renewable resources in the world. Two weeks to go, we planned our car decorations- vinyl stickers- solar panels to be precise and slogans; as well as our dresses to go with the theme.

Understanding Time, Distance, Speed and Tulip charts was another challenge. Attending the briefing in Pune, a week prior to the drive, helped us with this. I remember solving TSD sums in the management entrance exams (CAT). The formula was still hidden somewhere in my Long Term Memory. We had to use this formula for the rally!

Tulip chart is nothing but a map, with a difference. Here is an example:

PC: http://www.justsportz.in/motor_sports.aspx

Can you follow anything?

It is not so easy? The tulips are each row. The official distance would be on our Tripmeter and the intermediate distance would be the distance to cover in between two tulips. The drawings are very specific- bumps, right turns, left turns and of course Y- forks, villages etc. Our tulip for the rally did not have speed on the side.

Living in the era depending on ‘Google Maps’, the tulip chart was definitely an exercise to the brain. We realised in the rally though, once you get used to it, you feel like a boss. Enough exercise to the brain, now when is the rally?

The Rally- Day 1: Goa to Ganpatipule: 314kms

Car405- decoration!

At 6.45am, as we entered Royal Entrada Hotel, Wakad, we saw a pool of dressed up cars waiting to get inside- just like a fashion show for cars. The first flag off was at 7am. Since our car number was 405 (105th car from Pune), our estimated flag off time was 8:45am. We reached way before our that so that we could see other cars and admire their efforts to put their social message in the right way using their creativity and play of words.

The atmosphere at the start point was very vibrant and full of colours and enthusiasm. The women drivers, navigators and the coordinators were all charged and raring to go. With the decorations and the social messages, it felt like the cars were there to tell us something.

The organisation was idyllic. We were given breakfast boxes as well as goodies for on the way, which included cashews, almonds, biscuits and chips. Apart from which we carried our road trip stash: With the preparation and the wonderful vibe, we were ready to flag off at 8.45am. 4 minutes before our flag off, we were give the Tulip chart and our Distance and Speed chart.Before we took off, we randomly checked our tulip chart and it pointed out that our route was via Tamhini ghat. As we approached the flag off moment, Sharvari’s daughter got the opportunity to flag off our car. Not a moment more, not a moment/ second less- 8:45:00 am and we were off.

I started calculating, Amruta started point out the Tulips and Sharvari, driving. For a TSD rally, everyone has a key role to play at every moment. We literally had playlists of music ready, but no time to play the songs. Pretty intense! 🙂

Our main aim was to remain well within the average speed mentioned on the time chart. My job was to calculate the time to be taken in between two points A & B; B& C and so on. The most important factors were the Time Check Points and our OdoMeter (Tripmeter).

Time Check points (TC) were randomly placed on the route and we had to stop as soon as we see a Red Clock- that looked like the one under this paragraph. We crossed several surprise Time Check points where the marshals recorded our ATA and ATD on their timesheet and our timesheet. My job was to sign their timesheet and make sure we get our car’s timesheet filled. All the marshals on the job were smiling and encouraging us throughout. This also made us feel good about our drive and our confidence to calculate and go through the journey perfectly.
Why was the tripmeter/ car odo an important factor? Because we did not know the difference/ error between the car tripmeter and the odometer from which the distances were calculated. We had to take into account all of this and keep counting our distances to go. Our tripmeter and their odo calculations went from a difference of 0kms to 5kms at the end of the day. As I said, the non-drivers too had a lot of work to do!

Within 20-25 minutes of the drive, we got the hang of calculations as well as reading the tulips and following the Speed limit. As the car paved the way through Tamhini Ghat, we got pretty comfortable with the settings- Measure the time- set the ETA, write the ATA, simultaneously pay attention to the tulips and enjoy the drive!

TSD rallys usually have a free zone where in you can take the speed in your own control, have your bio breaks, eat and fuel the car too. We noticed we had a free zone for 135 minutes and the kilometers to be covered in 135 minutes were just 82.84. Thats 2hours 15 minutes and just 83 kilometers. Also, we knew we were going to hit the NH66 and it would be a smooth ride and we need not worry about the time. We halted at Vitthal Kamat at Mahad. Many others halted too. Not more than 25 minutes for our Pav Bhaji and buttermilk to gulp down our throats and we were on our way. I got behind the wheels, at least until the free-zone was done, before I resumed my calculations. After about 30-40 off kilometers of straight free- highway, we read a board- ghat starts. I took it upto a point after which I was finding it difficult to manage the gears and the speed. Amruta took over and we were ok with our speed. It got me thinking about what ghat this could be, because there were no signs of the name of the ghat. After getting on to a substantial height, here comes a signboard- Kashedi Ghat. ‘Woah!’ went my mind. According to my knowledge, this is one of the longest ghats in Maharashtra, with a lot of SOCA (Series of Curves Ahead, your welcome!). And hence, the time given to us was that long, that we totally took for granted. At the end of the free zone, we were almost 30 minutes behind our scheduled ETA. We should have never stopped for that long!! Lesson learned well.

We got back on track. Out ETA to Ganpatipule was around 18:05. Khed- Chiplun to Ganpatipule was a smooth drive because we got our energy back after that foolish glitch in the free-zone. Reanalysing our time in our results, we were pretty accurate with our time minus the few seconds here and there. We reached Ganpatipule at 18:04, few seconds before of ETA. We were welcomed by the marshal at the end point and were guided to our Hotel Landmark through a small information sheet. The view that you are welcomed by into Ganpatipule is mesmerising. Going down a winding road from a cliff to the sea level, while the large ocean greets you with a still calmness. I cannot get over that moment we turned a winding road just to see the blue sea of Ganpatipule.

Status of the car at the end of the day: Looked just the same, except some of the decoration had come off! Also, we just had a minor technical glitch in the car- water dripping off from the air conditioner, in front of the co-passenger seat but only when the car was on sharp turns. We were yet to figure if it would affect our drive the next day.

Day 2- Ganpatipule to Goa: 315km

Our stay at Ganpatipule was pleasant. We were tired yet satisfied with our effort on day 1. For the next day, the rules were the same. We had to line up at the start point at around 8am (1/2 hour before our flag off i.e 8:45am). As we woke up at around 5.30am, Sharvari read her email and said “Girls, we are 18th for Day 1” and Amruta and I said “What?” out of joy! Now the key was to maintain the position or go ahead!

Before we flagged off, we were warned that some portion of our route were changed due to work on the main road. Basically, we were off roading for about 7 kms, which showed us 35 minutes on the Time chart we got on day 2, 4 minutes before the flag off!

The free zone for today was only for 10 km- 80 minutes. We decided to go all the way to 9kms and the take a break, for which we packed bread butter sandwich from our hotel in Ganpatipule.

We left exactly at 8:45 am and we started our jobs. We switched our roles for the day- Amruta calculated and I took over the reading of the Tulip. Even though we had an idea, we confirmed after a few kilometers that we would be taking the coastal route, all the way up to GOA!

We also realised, the water is still dripping off the airconditioner. Sharvari made a few calls and we decided to show it to the any mechanic on the way. Luckily just before Rantagiri, we saw an mechanic and fixed our problem within 5 minutes. The A/C pipe was clogged and the mechanic took 2-3mins to remove the blockage. Once this was out of the way, we were stress free and back on track. In fact we realised we speeded a bit more than the average, which got us the a TC point earlier! After which we were back on track.

The highlight of this route was the scenic beauty as well as a few surprises- bumpy roads! All the roads were village roads, which made it simple at times (as there was no traffic), but tougher where the roads were in a poor condition. The stretch up to Kunkeshwar was very picturesque and serene. The windmills that can be seen from Kunkeshwar beach are a rare and wonderful sight.

Once that was done, then we went through a 30 minute terror. Just 6 kms, but completely off-roading! Sindhudurg has decided to come up with an airport in its vicinity. Though the airport is done, the road is just not around. There are stones, rocks and nothing else on that patch. Complete credits to Amruta to drive on that patch of road!

Within 1 hour of driving from that patch of ‘road’, we entered Goa. By this time, my brain had slowed down. Calculations were on, so were the tulips but, we heaved a sigh of relief since we were approaching our end point soon.

Our original ETA until the flag down point was 7.30pm. We reached at 8.10pm thanks to all the massive flyover work that is happening in Panaji. We misread a tulip and ended up going towards Ponda. Most of the vehicles ended in that direction. At that moment we received a message from our team coordinator stating the last TC point has been cancelled. The moment we entered our flag down spot, we saw many rally cars parked and all the ladies were dancing and having a ball! We got our medals too!

At the end of the day, we were extremely exhausted. The route was tougher compared to day 1, but the end result was Goa 😉 We entered our Hotel Radisson Blu at 9:45pm, had our dinner and just went off to sleep, because the next day we had a day to spend in Goa and an evening to remember with the TWD awards night at Holiday Inn, Goa.

In closing….

Overall, we had a blast for the three days! The icing on this cake was our guest for the awards night- Ranbir Kapoor! All the winners deserved the awards and all the participants deserved to celebrate. We came 31st in Pune and we were very happy about it.

At the end of the three days, I took back a lot of memories and teachings from this drive. Team spirit, trust, allowing women to drive and take the lead, driving on tough terrains without underestimating women, courage to stay steady and move consistently and of course, maths 😛

A big shoutout

To the organisers for managing the 3 days so smoothly, no major glitches and taking care of the cars and women who went through issues in the drive- flawlessly.
To the recovery vehicle which was always around every 30 cars, to see if everyone and the car is doing well.
To the winners and all the participants who gave it all they had in the two days
To all the people involved in organising the awards night! Especially Cyrus Sahukar, the host and of course, RK to keep the night alive!
To all the women who are fighting breast cancer, stay steady 🙂

To my two co-travellers! The best I could ask for!
My Other half and 4 parents 🙂 and also to all the family members and friends who encouraged us!

It was not about going to Goa and having fun, it was about the excitement on the road, the fun of not knowing what is going to come in the next tulip (that Google maps just gives on a platter) and the adventure that each turn or hair-pin bend gives the driver as well as the co-passengers and of course, coming together in big numbers- 1500 women to be precise, from 4 different cities, to raise awareness and funds for a bigger cause- that is all what this drive was about.

Here is to all the women who drive 🙂 You are the drive of your life #IAmTheDrive

India

The Andaman Archipelago Series

October 29, 2017 twolightbackpacks Leave a comment

Over the next week, I will be highlighting our Andaman Travel Experience for 9 Days!

What can you expect from the Blog:

What to do and see
Making the most of the days
What can you do on days with unexpected weather
Where to stay and eat!
Lessons/ Take aways: What could have we done/ see better

The part series will go about in the following way:

Port Blair: Things to do, eat and where to stay
2 Nights in Havelock
Visit to Islands around Port Blair: Neil and Red Skin
What we missed and What we gained: Ross Island and Chatham Island
The other Side of Andaman: Baratang Island
Underwater World in Andaman

So see you on a journey that we loved, and on exploring the archipelago which is in our own country!

Love

Varadayini

India

Summer Road Trip To Konkan- Of Beaches, Solkadi and Mangoes!

April 28, 2017 Varadayini Leave a comment

A road trip to Konkan! Oh yes, without a blink we said yes and we set our eyes on . A couple of our friends also were going to join us from Goa. We had a good long way to go from Pune, but had done half of the route while going to Goa last year, via Chorla, so were confident of having a good drive down.

We booked a night’s stay at Fantasea and we set our google maps route from Pune to Tarkarli. Here are the route options, of course 8 hours 6 minutes was the best way to go about. That is NH-48/NH-66 route.

Pune-Tarkarli

We started our journey at 6.00 am from Pune, hit the chandani chowk exit on to Mumbai-Bangalore Highway at around 6.15am. We caught up with some of our friends who have Sunday Bike rides at Chandani Chowk and got back on route. The road until Wai phata is full of diversions due to road work. This was expected since the road has been in the same state since June 2016 ( on the last road trip to Goa).

As a co-pilot I noticed some changes on the road as well as fare increase at the toll nakas. First up, Khed-Shivapur (Toll alert) plaza which is right after Katraj ghat at 6.45am, paid Rs. 85

Since we left at 6.15, we had less traffic on the road and this was until our destination, so the drive was very comfortable and enjoyable. We stopped at right before Wai phata, before a beautiful Ghat called Khambatki Ghat. There are a couple of eateries right before the ghat, and very surprising the toilets were clean![TIP]

Another visual that caught me by surprise is the water in the rivers. Before touching Khambatki Ghat, the water in the River Nira was full and clean. We were extremely happy to see that as the situation before the rains last year was worse.

After getting off the ghat, we had our next Toll (Toll Alert) at Anewadi, before Wai phata- Rs. 60.

Soon, we crossed Limb phata (which is my grandfather’s hometown) and entered Satara. Satara has expanded, and it gives a pretty picture when you see the town from a distance- Not many high-rises, smaller bungalows/ two storied buildings and some greenery.

Toll Alert: around 12 km before Karad – Rs70.

Karad is another town that is growing rapidly. It also has an airport because of the Koyna Dam project. I dont think it is a functional airport at the moment. We also crossed Krishna river through Karad.

Toll Alert: Kini Rs.70

Its 9.45 and we halt at one of the Vitthal Kamat’s right after Kini Toll Plaza. I thought we would opt for Kolhapuri Misal, but sigh! the heat does not allow neither me, nor my other half to eat spicy food. And Kolhapuri misal would have killed us internally. So we stuck to my half-bloodline native and also his 7 year ‘home’ food- South Indian Idli and Sambhar and of course- Filter Coffee!

After that awesome breakfast and listening to some bickering parents and kids heading to Goa, we got back on track and moved towards Kolhapur. Now, we had to take the exit before Kolhapur- Shiye Phata and continue on Chauk-Karjat-Murbad Road. We crossed Panchaganga river and entered the heart of Kolhapur. One part of the heart wanted to wait and buy Kolhapuri Chappals on the Chappal Aali, one part of the heart said- ‘What about the two Kolhapuris I already have at home’ *Sigh* The Rankala Lake still has the same beauty, and so does the charm of the hustle and bustle in Kolhapur market.

Exit Kolhapur, enter SH 277. After crossing many diversions on the NH48, SH277 with diversions felt like a no road highway. There are lots of patches where in they are putting tar/concrete on the road. Have to ‘off-road’ many times until we hit the beautiful ‘Gaganbavda Ghat’

We climbed down Gaganbawda and we crossed many small villages, one of them being Vaibhavwadi- a college time camp site that will never be forgotten 🙂 At Vaibhavwadi, we were stopped at a railway crossing because the train was delayed. Yes we saw the Konkan railway run pass by us, which was quite a sight for the eyes (along with the dust).

We crossed Vaibhavwadi to get on the SH115 towards Talere where we join NH66. Here, we took a left to go towards Kankavli. Kankavli is one of the important railway stations especially if you are travelling by Konkan Railway.

We exited NH66 at Kasal, where the road direction clearly tells you to go towards Malvan- Sindhudurg Fort. As soon as we entered Malvan, we could see hotels and small shops selling Mangoes as well as the famous Malvani Cuisine. We being vegetarians, I was not too keen on having the food except the SolKadhi. Do you’ll know what Solkadhi is? Have a look:

The blending of the taste of Kokam and coconut milk in this beautiful drink is heavenly. Its even better when had with rice and for the Fish-eaters- Some good sea-food at the sea side. How cool is that? Check out some of the best eateries at Malvan: https://www.tripadvisor.in/Restaurants-g1227937-Malvan_Maharashtra.html

After crossing Malvan, we hit the Devbag road towards our Hotel. The hotel Fantasea is on Devbag beach and not on Tarkarli beach, which is a little more touristy. Devabag is a peninsula

So as we entered the strip of the land, we could see the backwaters/ karli river to our left and the beach to our right. Its the first time I saw a peninsula, though I missed going to the end of the strip of land.

We reached our destination, met our friends and looked how pleasant the view was from the resort. It was right along the beach and at a distance, we could spot the Sindhudurg fort. The beach was empty except for some fishermen and trawlers around.

Towards the evening, once the sun was down, we stepped out on the the beach and walked towards the end of the land strip. The water was pristine and calm.

Whoever said sunset is a sad sight is wrong. The sunset on the beach is the most relaxed feeling ever. Especially when you see the sun glittering in the sea, when it sets 🙂

We did have a relaxing spa time on the beach with:

Sun setting in the sea
Walking on the warm but still cold sand
Water coming and touching your feet time to time
And some crabs giving you a tingling sensation while you were walking over their homes.

We headed back to our resort for dinner. What I loved about The food at Fantasea:

They take your order and prepare only that much of food, which means no wastage.
Home cooked food with minimal oil
Local food
Tasty local food.

We had some awesome dinner and ended our day by the beach with a bon-fire 🙂

Next day we planned to do some yoga by the beach. We were in for a surprise!

Trust me, it is the most difficult yoga to perform especially if the sand is wet. You cannot stand still. You cannot even do Tadasana for 10 seconds, leave the one minute routine! If you can see, our feet are on the ground 😀

Anyway, as soon as we finished out Breakfast- Pohe and coffee, we stepped out to go and see the Sindhudurg fort. Unfortunately, we did not have time for water sports (which we were excited for because he had heard so much about it!) at Tsunami Island.

Sindhudurg Fort

To go the the fort, we had to take a ferry from Malvancha Ferry point. There is parking at this point called ‘Safe Parking’ 😉 Its a paid parking spot provided by the government (not too sure about this but it is safe)

We had to buy tickets for the ferry- return 50 Per head. They also gave us a bag to put all the waste in, and not throw it around on the fort 🙂 The boat ride was decent. They start the boat only when there are 25 people occupying it. The boat stops at the fort for an hour and we had that time to go around the fort. The fort has residents. About 15 families stay on the fort , they also have a school inside and lots of nimbu pani (Lemon water) stalls 🙂

Mango Shopping

On our way back, we knew we had to take back mangoes because we were at Malvan, Near Devgad, which means the capital of Alphonso Mangoes the creamiest of them all! We had lunch, another delicious round of local malvani food. At the end of the trip I was convinced even the vegetarian food in Konkan is a total funfair 🙂

When we contacted our hotel to recommend a place to buy mangoes, he sent his guy to help us locate the ‘house’ that sold their homegrown mangoes. In this season, it is a flourishing business in Malvan to export the boxes of mangoes even to other countries. We bought 6 dozens 😛 (Husband is a fan, I have recently become one!) and this sealed our trip. It was literally worth coming down 400Kms and going back the same distance the next day.

We said bye to the place, and promised to come back for a longer duration to enjoy the beaches, solkadi and of course, mangoes 🙂

Tips while going back on the same route:

If you’ll are heading back in the afternoon, make sure you finish Gaganbavda in the daylight because that Ghat is not meant for night driving. So, aim to hit Kolhapur before 6pm, then it is a straight drive back.
We see so many Vitthal Kamats around Karad, Satara, but never stop because there are hardly any visible boards (in the night light) to notify you.
Right after Kini, we halted at Hotel Maniknandan, huge hotel on your side of the road (towards Pune). Food- decent enough to suffice your hunger. You get everything from Roti Sabzi to Chocolates. Good toilets.

All is all, a good small road trip with most of the time on road. It can get tiring so we have promised ourselves to extend the weekend for at least two more days when we go to Konkan next time!

Until the next trip,

Switzerland

Plunging into the Swiss Alps: Literally!

January 19, 2017 twolightbackpacks Leave a comment

So after the longish day on Jungfrau, we decided to stay back at Interlaken. End of November, winter is sort of there and a Saturday. All this meant, the shops shut, a quaint ghostly town giving us the feel of Christmas was awaiting our arrival.

We stayed at a hotel called, The Carlton-Europe, literally 5 minutes away from Interlaken Ost train station. The hotel staff was warm and helpful. They also helped us understand the place around. But unfortunately, due to winter, most of the tourist attractions were closed. We walked around Interlaken and then had an early dinner at this Indian place called Shalimar. A little expensive, but it was a decent place, close to our hotel. Plus, we did not have a wholesome meal for lunch, thought of having some before we sleep.

We were going to head back to Zurich the next day, but we thought of doing the cruise on Lake Thun before heading back. Or not.

Our Adventure in the Alps

Walking down the road towards town center on a bright sunny morning in Interlaken, we saw some para-gliders coming down to the empty lawns.

‘Wow’, we thought.

“Let’s do it”, One said.

“But, Lake Thun cruise?”, said The Other

“Seriously? we can also do a cruise back home in India”, One said.

The Other thought, ‘Why not?!’

Chalo! (Let’s go) and we proceeded to one of the ‘tourist shops’- Vaglio Reisen owned by an old man 10 minutes away from our hotel.

I have never done Para-gliding and I was pretty excited. The man at the shop was informative and interested in showing us the best of Interlaken 🙂 The next available slot was at 2pm and it was just 11am. Then we thought, why not! When we were about to pay, one saw a flyer that said ‘Skydive Switzerland’

“Do you’ll have Skydive here? Is it operational today?”, One asked the shop owner.

“Yes, and the next ride to the Skydive arena is at 12noon”, said the owner.

‘Hmmm’ we both thought.

The Other didnt give it much thought before agreeing because it was a long pending ‘Dream’ from Dubai to Aamby Valley to where not, but the plan never articulated. Later

Here we are, going from Paragliding to Skydiving. Not much difference? You will know 😉

Some basic information about Skydive Switzerland.

Motivation to Skydive here: The Alps (need I explain more?)

Skydive Switzerland: Interlaken- Flugplatz Reichenbach (no relation to Sherlock), 3713 Reichenbach im Kandertal, Schweiz

Cost: 4000m (13,000ft): CHF 395.00 (little costly? but totally worth it. Because Im sure you wont specifically go to another country only to Skydive, right?)

Video and Photos:

GoPro- 120 CHF for video OR Pictures and 150 CHF for Video and Pictures

Cameraman who jumps alongside with you- CHF 180.00 – photos or video and CHF 210.00 – photos and video

So now the dive:

A mini-bus came to pick us up from the tourist office. The drive from Interlaken Ost to Reichenbach Flugplatz was beautiful. We drove alongside Lake Thun 😉

When we arrived at the base, there were many more ‘divers’ waiting to go up the plane and jump off. There was a hangar where the professional sky divers prepped themselves with the right safety equipments. After that process, they prepped the tandem sky-diver with suits and harness. We could check our diving number on a screen, and we still had 4 trips to go.

The only thing we hoped was for the weather to remain as sunny and awesome as possible!It was fun to see others going up and coming down on the parachute, but we were getting restless to go and do it ourselves!

Finally, it was our turn. We got introduced to our instructors (who we will be flying with)

Were we scared? No

Excited? Yes.

We walked towards the mini plane. Our group had two individual divers, we both with our instructors and another guy with his instructor and an external camera diver.

Everyone got in and I was the last one to get in after my instructor. Before we boarded the plane, I asked him why are we going in the end.

“Because you’ll be the first one to get out of the plane!!”

It struck me a moment later, I was jumping out first. (oops and wow, together). Got into the plane and my instructor tied my harness to his. He also had a parachute on his back. The plane took off and we were in between the beautiful Alps. What a picturesque view, was just imagining how it would be when I jump. My instructor then tells me, “See that light in front of you, once that turns red, we are ready to open the door and jump. As soon as that happens, help me slide the door up”

‘Woah ok’, I thought and then came the time when the light went red. We slid the door open and I pushed my leg outside and held the side of the door frame. At this particular moment, I had no time to think ‘This is scary’ and start feeling scary because I was already having the first freefall of my life, from a plane. I could not hear my own shout!!! That was the moment you have to experience yourself to feel. After 15 seconds, he let the parachute out and we were just swaying in the air. Seeing the clean water river flow down, along with lush green grass, my instructor tells me “Welcome to my office, hows the view?”

I just did not think anything, did not feel anything for I was viewing all things beautiful. Slowly we made our way down to the landing area and we had a smooth landing 🙂 I really had no words to talk to anyone. Just plain happiness, getting high while coming down? maybe thats what this experience was, literally 🙂

The cost maybe a little expensive, but you wont experience this anywhere in the world. So, if you’re coming to Interlaken, I would suggest continue with Jungfrau and please do this Skydiving experience. Even if you give a miss to Pilatus or Titlis, its perfectly fine. But fit this in your travel budget 🙂

Until the next post on Switzerland 🙂

Switzerland

Swiss Backpacks: Jungfrau’joch’

January 6, 2017 twolightbackpacks 2 Comments

As soon as we set our toes in Switzerland, the word ‘Jungfrau’ echoes. It is like everyone just reminds us- Visit Jungfrau!! So the first ‘to-do’ on our list was ‘Jungfrau’- literally meaning, young woman or a ‘virgin/ maiden’. Thus, our maiden Swiss trip to this fair white maiden mountain kick started our series of trips in Europe. We visited Jungfraujoch in the last weekend of November 2016.

Zurich HB-Bern-Interlaken

We started our journey from Zurich HB/ Hauptbahnof. Now, a good way to spend three days in a month travelling around Switzerland is to take a 3-day Flexi Swiss Pass which entails you to travel within Switzerland by train/bus/tram/boat for any 3 days in a month. It can also be 3 separate days in a month(with a gap in between).

TIP: If you are keeping a gap in between the days for a flexible Swiss Pass, make sure you have a phone reminder to tell you when is the expiry date, otherwise you can miss a day (sigh).

So, we bought the Swiss pass from the SBB office (any of them sell it) to see amazing 3 days of Switzerland. (Download the SBB mobile app, its of great help to see the train timetable before hand)

Coming back to our journey, we got into the train going towards Interlaken, with a train change at Bern. It is a comfortable 1hour 50minute journey from Zurich HB upto Interlaken. We enjoyed the minibar experience on the SBB train. Our morning cuppa was sorted on the train from Bern to Interlaken.

Interlaken onwards

We reached Interlaken Ost station at about 9am and immediately went to the ticket counter to ask for the Jungfraujoch tickets. Now, the travel from Interlaken to Jungfraujoch is on a mountain railway. Mountain railways in Switzerland have a higher cost and are usually not included in any of the SBB discounted ticket/ day pass etc. The cost per head is 210CHF

TIP: If you have a Swiss Pass or a Swiss Half-Fare card, there is discount for the mountain railways. With a Swiss Pass you have a 25% discount and with a half-fare card, 50% on the Interlaken-Junfraujoch route. So, it comes down to around 158CHF for a passenger with Swiss Pass; and 105 CHF for a half-fare pass holder.

This ticket you purchase is for the entire route and return, and includes all the experiences on the main mountain (not the food, or skiing adventures). The one way journey takes about 2hours 15minutes. There are two routes from Interlaken. Unfortunately, we ended up taking the same route both ways.

The route are-Interlaken Ost- Lauterbrunnen- Kleine Scheidegg- Junfraujoch

Interlaken Ost- Grindelwald- Kleine Scheidegg- Junfraujoch

Both ways we crossed Grindelwald, as the trains from the Grindelwald route were frequent at the time of our travels. The trip is a little hectic, when it comes to train change. We changed three trains here- one at Interlaken, then either Grindelwald or Lauterbrunnen and lastly at Kleine Scheidegg.

Winter onset and travel

The best part about travelling in the month of November or December is the onset of winter and thus, snow. To our surprise, there was hardly any snow on the way to Jungfrau. According to some skiers we met on our way, the snow was not much for them to enjoy skiing. Another unfortunate part about our planning was, the famous Trummelbach falls which is a little off Lauterbrunnen, was closed due to the winter.

In our minds we thought, would it have been better to come during the summers? But, as our train pulled into the Grindelwald station, we had some amazing snow peak mountain views and we did not regret our decision. Before we knew it, our next train to Kleine Scheidegg was already there.

This is the most interesting route of the journey. The train stops at a couple of places that has viewing balconies. We can see some snow covered peaks and glaciers.

TIP: They have toilet facilities at these stops.

On Top of Jungfrau

The weather did not play much of a spoil sport, as we thought it would. I have experienced snow, but this was a maiden experience of snow on a mountain, which is at a height of 4,158 mtrs. The viewing gallery had breathtaking views, sometimes haunting with the depth and the silence you can hear in the wide glaciers and valleys. There is a research centre, which is the top most point of Jungfrau.

As we went back to the main building at the Jungfrau mountain top, we could see many exhibits on differnet floors- we entered the ice cave exhibit. A cave made of, yes, ice. It has some carvings of animals and designs made of ice. For Ice Age movie fans, they have Scrat stuck inside the ice walls. We can take a picture with him 😀 (be careful of skidding on the surface, it is a slippery walk)

One direction said bollywood, but was shut for renovation. Wonder what could have been there (insert DDLJ theme song, not). It made us feel not far from home (not). As if this wasn’t enough, the also have a restaurant named Bollywood. We had coffee counters selling vegetarian sandwiches, which was great, with names of the sandwiches written in Hindi. We were very amazed to see the way Indian tourists were catered to. The flip side was, Bollywood restaurant had Buffet costing about 40 CHF per person. A little on the expensive side for food. Thanks but no thanks.

TIP: The coffee shop serves hot chocolate and special Jungfrau coffee for 8 CHF. A lot for a coffee?, but take it because you can take the Jungfrau mug home as a souvenir 😉

So, this was Jungfrau, Top of Europe. Yes, it does take more time to travel compared to spending time on the mountain, but we thought it was worth the effort. The effort to see the train, they way it is built on top of the mountain. They are an engineering marvel!

The change in the scenery as we come down to Grindelwald is such a complete transformation that we could not believe we were playing in the snow on top of this mountain, sometime back. As we descended to Interlaken, I took a moment to admire the clean trains, with clean windows and the beautiful scenery that we could see through it.

Little did we know then, the next day would also filled with surprising views and breathtaking sceneries too!

Next post: Interlaken and an adventure of a lifetime with pictures clicked in our memories 😉

Until next time!

Northern Lights

Chasing the Northern Lights: Nature’s spectacular show

December 22, 2016 twolightbackpacks Leave a comment

The first clear memory I have of the magnanimity of the Aurora Borealis is a video uploaded by one of the astronauts onboard the International Space Station. And I thought, hmm, ain’t that a view.

A reading on the Northern Lights, scientifically known as the aurora borealis, followed.

Nature, as it turns out, is quite the artist. Here’s how and why the phenomenon occurs.

Quote:

The bright dancing lights of the aurora are actually collisions between electrically charged particles from the sun that enter the earth’s atmosphere. The lights are seen above the magnetic poles of the northern and southern hemispheres. They are known as ‘Aurora borealis’ in the north and ‘Aurora australis’ in the south.

Auroral displays appear in many colours although pale green and pink are the most common. Shades of red, yellow, green, blue, and violet have been reported. The lights appear in many forms from patches or scattered clouds of light to streamers, arcs, rippling curtains or shooting rays that light up the sky with an eerie glow.

Quote:

The Northern Lights are actually the result of collisions between gaseous particles in the Earth’s atmosphere with charged particles released from the sun’s atmosphere. Variations in color are due to the type of gas particles that are colliding. The most common auroral colour, a pale yellowish-green, is produced by oxygen molecules located about 60 miles above the earth. Rare, all-red auroras are produced by high-altitude oxygen, at heights of up to 200 miles. Nitrogen produces blue or purplish-red aurora.

http://www.northernlightscentre.ca/northernlights.html

Now, for us to be able to observe the phenomenon, the following need to be perfectly aligned:

– Minimal, if not a complete lack of, light pollution
– Far, far away from the prying light from the sun: this rules out a major part of the central hemisphere, and necessitates long winters
– And of course, the occurrence of the phenomenon itself

Turns out, there are very few places on earth that afford you such a view. Make no mistake, the phenomenon occurs everywhere across the skies, around the world. But one can’t “see” it as commonly, for one or more of the reasons above.

The Nordic countries, and also northern America, are some potential areas to experience the northern lights (similarly, souther NZ and Australia for southern lights).

History says Mumbai was witness to the lights in the late 1800s. Doubt that should happen anytime soon given how vibrant it is now!

Every so often, I thought of going “chasing” these lights; for that matter, a bunch of my colleagues/class mates visited Alaska hoping to see them. Not a lot of luck for them.

As it so turned out, I was to be in Switzerland in the winter of 2016. And the best part about visiting Europe during the winter is- an easy and convenient access to go hunting for the lights!

After floating this idea with friends, we had a winner! There is a general consensus that Tromso, Norway has become quite the popular destination to view the lights.

Tromso is comfortably in the arctic circle region; around 300kms from the Arctic circle to be precise.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troms%C3%B8

https://www.tumblr.com/search/to%20minore

A friend’s friend had gone the previous year with a group: Chasing Lights. I promptly got in touch with them and signed up!

Yep, we were signed up to go chase the beautiful lights.

The company has a couple of options: a minibus (13 people) and the bigger bus (50 people). We booked ourselves for two nights on the minibus since over the bigger bus, it offered:
– Tripod stands
– Thermal suits and boots
– Dinner, and hot chocolate
– More importantly, being a minibus, easy and quick maneuverability and more reach
* on both, you get assistance on photography and a copy of photos clicked during your chase

Off we were to Tromso from Zurich. Our flight was Zurich – Frankfurt – Tromso. The last two hours of the journey are simply breathtaking as they offer a stunning view of ice-capped mountains and land, and settlements lit up along the blanket of ice and dark grey rivers. (Unfortunately, I was on the aisle seat, as is my travel preference)

Now, although this is just through observation: of the Arctic winter, Sept-Oct and March/April are considered to be the best months to view the activity as the skies are clear and Nov-Feb are generally hit-or-miss since a good amount of snowfall is expected and the skies are overcast.

We landed at Tromso amid grey skies on a tarmac freshly coated with snow and then walked to the terminal. A cab ride later, we checked into the Radisson, in the heart of Tromso; a quaint town on the Tromsoya island with gentle mountains peppered around the sea.

The “chase” typically starts at 6pm from the town and can go until 4am.

In preparation, we layered up: five layers on top, two on bottom and two pairs of socks within snow shoes.

We were last to be picked up by the troupe: a very friendly bunch of three (two guides that led the “chase”, and the driver, who they call the Stig).

Naturally, witnessing the northern lights is not a guarantee but the guides promised every ounce of determination and enthusiasm during the chase. They weren’t kidding: through the course of the chases on both nights, we hopped from one island to another, inland towards the coast, depending on where they anticipated a clear sky.

Now, here’s the thing about the lights: you can’t easily discern them unless the activity is extremely strong and you have a keen eye. You can easily mistake them for clouds. The second, the color (green/pink) isn’t as strongly seen as easily as you see them in the pictures. The pictures are so, because the camera lens are more sensitive than our eyes are in deciphering the light spectrum.

So, as the drive started, our guide had his camera lens settings in order (minimal aperture, high ISO (800-1000), low shutter speed) and pointed towards the sky.

And just as were settling in, mentally prepared for the uncertainty in viewing this phenomenon, he asked to stop and got down. And within a moment, called us out.

We had a sighting!

And a beautiful one at that!

The sight is one to behold: a beautiful wave of green across the sky! We couldn’t help ourselves jumping with joy as we admired the view.

And then just like that, clouds took over the show.

For the next two hours or so, we just looked all over the sky hoping for that clear patch. As we played hide and seek with the clouds, we soaked what was around us: snow-clad mountains, the sea around them and the occasional settlement.

We had a round of hot chocolate while around a bonfire and exchanged stories with others in the group: Polish, American, Danish and Siberian.

The skies probably felt left out and cleared up.

And what followed, ladies and gentlemen, was one of nature’s finest performances: we witnessed the aurora all over the sky, dancing around. For ten seconds or so, we saw the elusive pink lights.

A true spectacle, these aurora are.

We continued our chase for another hour or so, and then returned to our hotel by 3am.

Contentment doesn’t even begin to explain our feeling!

The next day was a completely snow-out, with day-long snow showers and sleet.

We lined up for our second chase that evening, even more excited for how the sighting would be. As we continued with our hide-and-seek with the clouds, we saw lesser activity that we had on the previous night, but with more intensity.

The guides said that after a period of strong activity, the lights (essentially, charged particles) get strewn all over the sky. So, we had the entire sky faintly lit up!

We returned that night as the snow shower was unrelenting, with stars and lights in our eyes.

Most of the activity we witnessed was around the Ringvassoya island.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringvass%C3%B8y

Our experience chasing the northern lights has been nothing short of extraordinary: an exciting rendezvous where nature put on a spectacular show! Something so beautiful that you stand still in the moment watching nature’s canvas turn up in its true splendor!

And the pictures!

Switzerland

Home is where our heart is..

November 29, 2016 twolightbackpacks 1 Comment

by The Other Half.

Weather: 7 deg C.

I am writing from an apartment in Zürich, Switzerland.

It has been a week since I ‘moved’ here to where my ‘One Half’ is. He is here on work and yes, we thought of making this into the best opportunity to travel the beautiful, vintage and unlimited, Europe.

Place and Weather.

Zürich is a beautiful place. The current weather makes is even better. England was home for a year for me, and November just reminded how dark it used to get even at 1pm. But so far, Switzerland hasn’t been that harsh. It is cold wind with sun, which makes it pretty ideal.

Food.

I have realised it takes about a week to settle down to start planning to cook something for us. Until then there was Burger King (Vegi Burger). But two meals of those and I have a motivation to cook at home! We can easily get good vegetables and fruits at Migros (reasonable) or Coop (A little pricey). An Indian food shop is pretty close to where we stay. It is called Art of Food. The owners are a friendly Indian couple. Last two grocery shopping outings, I got frozen Phulkas (wheat rotis) for about 2.90chf and even Methi Theplas for about 3.00 chf.

Talking and local food. I have not tried much. The regular Panini and breads are of course a saviour for us vegetarians. I loved the hot glühwein (Mulled wine) with the cinnamon in the air. Just gives you a reason to love Europe in Christmas! I hope to try some more in the coming days!

City Travel.

The public travel is smooth and easy. Even though the primary language here is Swiss German, there are english boards in most of the public transport places. If you are here for at least a month, you should buy the Zürich Pass, which allows you to travel on trains, buses and trams. I have got the Zurich Pass (After 9am) which allows you to travel anywhere in the city of Zurich after 9am. You will get these at any station offices that says- SBB.

250px-tgv_basel_4406_-_sbb_cff_ffs — PC: wikimedia upload

Just remember to take your passport and a couple of passport size photograph. They have a very systematic way of going about attending to a customer. Just like your Vodafone stores in India, where you can take a paper token and wait for your turn. But only a bit more efficient and quick. So, you cannot push yourself into the line/ queue. Just wait patiently for your turn and they will attend to you and your queries.

This is also the place where you can get your Swiss pass, your easy passport to travel the entire of Switzerland. I will have a separate post that talks only about the ease of public train and bus travel in Switzerland.

Language.

Do you need to know German? No. Would it be good to know basic German? Yes. Is the language just like German you learn in Germany? No, a little different. I picked up a few phrases that could be useful when greeting someone at a common place, like any shop or train station office.

Hello: Grüezi

Thank you: Merci (yes some french influence)

Bye: Tschüss/ Widerluege

Some more, maybe in my next post. Meanwhile, I am also learning basic German words on Duolingo, that helps a little bit!

Home is where our heart is, and I think our heart lies is exploring and doing fascinating things and travelling and learning more about the culture is definitely more like it.

I am looking forward to exploring this beautiful part of the world!

Until the next post, Tschüss!

Two Light Backpacks

#IAmTheDrive: Experience at Times Women’s Drive 2018

The Andaman Archipelago Series

Summer Road Trip To Konkan- Of Beaches, Solkadi and Mangoes!

Plunging into the Swiss Alps: Literally!

Swiss Backpacks: Jungfrau’joch’

Chasing the Northern Lights: Nature’s spectacular show

Home is where our heart is..

Travelling Together, Travelling lightly!