Luxor: Balloon ride over Kings Valley

๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ฌย ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ฌย ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ฌ Mansoorย told me, โ€œyou should definitely do a balloon ride in Luxorโ€. I was not sure ; $150 sounded expensive. He finally convinced me. Next morning at 4 AM a mini bus came to pick us up. They collected people from various hotels and then took us outside city. Theย ground was huge. All companies operate from here. There were probably close to 100 balloon which were getting ready to be air-borne. We went up at the break of dawn. Weather was cold and bit foggy. It was amazing to watch first rays…

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Montreux – Rochers de Naye

๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ญย ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ญย ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ญ It was a cold and windy night when we started on our journey to Switzerland. Coming out of our apartment, we could feel the chill wind rattling our bones. My hubby looked into his watch n said, โ€œItโ€™s already 3 am and we are late.โ€ So we hurried down the road to catch our night bus towards Heathrow airport. After a sleepy journey of nearly 2 hrs we reached the airport and found that check-in counters do not open before 6:00am. My hubby explained, in London, unlike in India flights do…

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Lucerne : Mount Pilatus and Mount Titlis

๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ญย ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ญย ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ญ We stayed Lucerne for two days. First day was we visited mount Titlis. We took train toย to Engelberg then walked down to the cable car.ย  Engelberg - Titlis cable car goes up to Titlis with a change at Trรผbsee. Fromย Trรผbsee the rotating gondolas "Titlis Rotor" took us to the top. The weather was not great . It was cloudy that day so view from top was not very clear.ย The glacier cave is only a snowball's throw from the mountain station. The glistening, blue ice tunnel leads deep down into the fascinating…

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The Golden Pass Express

๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ญย ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ญย ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ญ Switzerland has numerous luxury trains. One of the popular one is "The Golden Pass" , from Montreux to Lucerne . We boarded it ofย Montreux to Interlaken and stayed 1 night at Interlaken . This section train climbsย to the highest point of the entire Golden Pass line, near Saanenmรถser, at 1279 and soon after it leaves French speaking part and enter the German speaking part of Switzerland. Before Interlaken it continues its way toย ย Spiez, a town at a scenic location along Lake Thun. You can easily see the pyramid shapedย Mount Niesenย from here.…

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Niagara falls and Thousand islands

๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ This was a 2 day tour to thousand islands and Niagara falls. We left by a bus from New York very early morning. We drove to theย Thousand Islands, where we took aย Boat Tourย of the area. The Thousand Islands is an archipelago at the Canada-U.S. border from the northeast corner of Lake Ontario. They stretch for about 50 miles. The U.S. islands are in the state of New York and the Canadian islands are in Ontario. The smaller islands only have single residences. These boat tours of the unique and impressive Thousand…

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Go Ape Grizedale

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡งย ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡งย ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง Last adventure in our lake district was Go Ape in Grizedale forest. We booked our slot in advance but was running late , finally somehow manged toย hitchhike a ride to the forest. "Go Ape" is an outdoor adventure company . From their website "The origins of Go Ape lie in France. Back in 2001, Tris and Becs Mayhew were on holiday in the Auvergne with their six-month old baby and came across a French family swinging through the trees. From the looks on their faces, it was clear both the kids…

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New York

๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ I used to work as a contractor then in UBS. It was the month of September and my contract was supposed to be finished in December. I went for 8 weeks trip to New York mostly for work. Over the weekends I visited obvious places like statue of liberty. The monument itself is situated on liberty island which is accessible by regular ferry. It is possible to climb to the top but that requires a reservation of 6 months in advance. My office was on wall street . Though it was…

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Helvellyn walk, The Classic Ridges of Striding and Swirral Edge

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡งย ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡งย ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง This climb was part of our Lake district and Blackpool trip. We started early from Ambelside Youth hostel. It took only 20 mins from the hostel.ย ย This mythical mountain, standing at 950m, is one of the great mountains of the Lake District. Helvellyn offers walkers the chance to step back in time to rocky terrain and narrow glaciated edges. It is one of Englandโ€™s four 3000 ft summits and is home of the best ridge walk in Britain โ€“ Striding Edge. We began our walk in Glenridding and made our way up…

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Italy Pisa and Florence

๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡นย ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡นย ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น I left for Pisa from Naples . This was 6 hrs train journey . I walked from station to the complex which was 30 mins walk. Construction for leaning tower of Pisa began in 12 century . This was the place whereย Galileo conducted his famous experiment by dropping two spheres of different masses to demonstrate gravity. The tower started leaning because of defective foundation and soft soil on one side. Eventually in 1990 restoration work begin and it was stabilized byย  correcting tilt and further improving the foundation. Florence was 2…

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Italy – Naples and Pompeii

๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡นย ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡นย ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น Only reason I visited and stayed in Naples overnight was to arrange my visit to Pompei and Mount Vesuvius. Though there are few tourist spots within the city, I did not have any time to visit any of those places. Next day my first visit was to Mount Vesuvius. I arranged the trip from official tourism center, however the bus started late and then on the way driver stopped the bus and spent 1 hour smoking an talking over phone. Nevertheless it was a nice little hike from bus stop to…

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