Hello all! In September I went on a family vacation to Alaska by taking a roundtrip cruise from Vancouver. I'll have to say that although I enjoyed my trip, I realized that cruises are definitely not my preferred style of traveling. It was relaxing and I did enjoy the hot tub, pool, and bars on board but I think I would still prefer traveling over land where you have more freedom to dictate your schedule and where you want to go. That being said, Alaska was a great place to see nature although I am sad I never got to see a wild bear. I did see dolphins, seals, bald eagles, and dear though. Our cruise went to Southeast Alaska - Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, and Glacier Bay. My favorite out of all four was hands down Glacier Bay. As you can see from the photos the view in the bay was spectacular and the highlight of the trip. I would love to go back to Alaska one day to see the Northern Lights as they are on my bucket list. I would recommend going to Alaska earlier in the summer than I did because the seasonal September rain did limit our sight-seeing in some places. If you're interested in the history of the Gold Rush, glaciers, wildlife, or Native American culture then Alaska should for sure be added to your list of places to travel. 
Hello everyone! After a year of traveling around Europe, India, and the Pacific Northwest I am back home for at least a few months. If there is one thing I learned while traveling it is that I am absolutely terrible at traveling and simultaneously keeping up with my blog. Oops.
The last month I was in India my friend from college came to visit me and we traveled to North India. Since this was her first trip to India I took her on one of the main tourist routes - the Golden Triangle of Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur. I also showed her around Hyderabad which is the city where my family lives. If you wish to travel around India as a foreigner and are concerned about safety I would highly recommend traveling with a tour group. If you're tour group does not provide guides at each sight-seeing place I would definitely suggest getting one because they are very knowledgeable and can help you actually understand what you seeing in the most time-efficient way. For example, when we went to the Red Fort in Delhi we never would have know that gardens used to have scented water flowing through them or that the holes in the wall were for candles that used to have water fall in front of them to create a soft flickering effect. Guides can really help you envision how these places used to look hundreds of years ago when they were in use. From Delhi we then went to Jaipur and Agra. Out of all three places I would have to say my favorite is Jaipur. Amber Fort in Jaipur is absolutely beautiful and provides you with amazing views of the local area. In Jaipur I would also recommend going to City Palace because you will be able to see a more modern functional palace since it is where the current Jaipur royal family lives. We lucked out with the weather in Jaipur but Delhi and Agra were scorching hot. Overall we had a great trip around the Golden Triangle of North India and my friend even became a mini-celebrity with so many people wanting to talk to her and take pictures with her!I know I was in India months ago so I'm sorry for the super delayed blog post! I keep losing my motivation and getting writers block but I'm definitely making it one of my New Years resolutions to blog more consistently while I travel.
If there is one thing I like most about Indian culture, it is the closeness of family. In English they may be referred to as my cousins and aunt but in Indian culture they are truly my brother (anna), sister (cheli), and little mother (pinni). Last weekend my anna, cheli, pinni, and I went on a family road trip to Hampi, Karnataka. Usually for me, family road trips consist of just my parents and I driving on large highways, sometimes getting lost but always having google maps save the day. This road trip in India was an slightly different experience.
For me the highlight of the trip was undoubtedly when we crossed the Tunghabadra river, rented scootys, and drove with stunning rock formations on one side and endless green fields on the other while the sun was shining and cool wind was blowing across our faces. If you plan on visiting Hampi renting a scooter and riding through the fields and mountains is an absolute must.
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| Traditional Rajasthani Thali |
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| Resort |
This road trip with my anna, chelli, and pinni had all the usual components of a family road trip with sibling bickering, lots of laughter, and getting a little lost on the way. One thing that I did not expect were the extremely terrible road conditions. Honestly some of those roads were just one giant pot hole after another. If you want to try to understand the experience, imagine riding an old wooden roller coaster and not being belted into your seat. Yeah..not such a pleasant ride. We were worried because we were traveling through rural and remote areas and we didn't know if we would even be able to get help for the car if anything happened. Also did I mention that Google Maps doesn't really work in India? My anna who was driving was a trooper though and we managed to make it to our resort with the car and ourselves safe and sound.
We spent two days sightseeing in Hampi visiting many ancient temples and ruins of ancient palaces. Hampi a village that lies amongst the ruins of the capital of the ancient Vidhyanagara Empire. In the Medieval days the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire was likely the second largest city in the world and was described to be very beautiful with glittering diamond and gold bazaars stretching across the city. The capital was mostly destroyed by the Deccan Sultanates in 1565 but you can still see some beautiful architecture standing amongst the ruins. The places we visited were the Krishna Temple, Vitalla Temple, Virupaksha Temple, the statue of Narasimha, Lotus Mahal, Queen's Bath, Elephant Stables, and Tunghabadra Dam.
For me the highlight of the trip was undoubtedly when we crossed the Tunghabadra river, rented scootys, and drove with stunning rock formations on one side and endless green fields on the other while the sun was shining and cool wind was blowing across our faces. If you plan on visiting Hampi renting a scooter and riding through the fields and mountains is an absolute must.
The adventure continued on our way back home Sunday evening. We were about 30 Km away from Hampi when we suddenly got a flat tire. We weren't sure what to do because on one side of the road was mountains and the other side was fields and there was no town in sight. Luckily someone stopped their car and was kind enough to help us. He took us to his in-laws village and let us stay in their home until they found tools to change the tire since all the mechanic shops were closed. Although I have been to India many times this was my first time in a real village and it was fascinating to see the way people lived there. Their house was a small two room hut and they had two buffalos and calf in their yard. Despite the rugged exterior of the hut they had a Samsung television and ceiling fan. One of my favorite quotes came to mind: "Adversity is like a strong wind. I don't mean just that it holds us back from places we might otherwise go. It also tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that afterward we see ourselves as we really are, and not merely as we might like to be." Despite their limited resources, they were eager to offer us food and shelter along with all the help they were giving us with our car.They were truly some of the most kind hearted and generous people I ever met and thanks to their help we were able to head back on the road and go home to Hyderabad.
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Although road trips can be fun, I would definitely recommend taking the train to Hospet and then using local transportation in Hampi instead of driving because the roads in Karnataka are not easy to drive on and it will make your journey a lot smoother. If you are someone who is interested in archeology or ancient history I would definitely suggest Hampi as a place to see in India. I would highly recommend getting a guide because the way around the ruins can be very confusing and having a local help you around will save you a lot of time.
Hello everyone!
So...I know I wasn't very good at keeping up with my blog when I studied abroad but I am going to give it a second try! Travel is very much a part of my life and one of my biggest passions so I thought why just stop blogging after my study abroad trip? Currently I'm in India and I want to blog my experience here to share it with you all. I hope that my writing may help others who wish to travel to India or work/ intern abroad. I enjoy blogging because it enables me to understand myself by forcing me to shape my thoughts into concrete words on a page. I always imagined that if thoughts were tangible, mine would look like headphone cords when you pull them out of your bag all tangled up like they somehow went through a tornado in your pocket. Seriously, my mind is a mystery to myself most of the time. Traveling doesn't help either because your senses get overwhelmed by all the novelty. I like blogging while traveling because it helps me calm my thoughts down and do some introspection. I hope you all enjoy reading about my wanderings and I'll talk to you in my first post about my adventures in India!
~ Avani
So...I know I wasn't very good at keeping up with my blog when I studied abroad but I am going to give it a second try! Travel is very much a part of my life and one of my biggest passions so I thought why just stop blogging after my study abroad trip? Currently I'm in India and I want to blog my experience here to share it with you all. I hope that my writing may help others who wish to travel to India or work/ intern abroad. I enjoy blogging because it enables me to understand myself by forcing me to shape my thoughts into concrete words on a page. I always imagined that if thoughts were tangible, mine would look like headphone cords when you pull them out of your bag all tangled up like they somehow went through a tornado in your pocket. Seriously, my mind is a mystery to myself most of the time. Traveling doesn't help either because your senses get overwhelmed by all the novelty. I like blogging while traveling because it helps me calm my thoughts down and do some introspection. I hope you all enjoy reading about my wanderings and I'll talk to you in my first post about my adventures in India!
~ Avani
