Vibsville

The first decision to make when you plan a trip to the exotic islands of Seychelles is which island to stay on. Mahe is the most inhabited island and also your port of entry. A direct flight of about 4.5 hours from bombay gets you into Mahe. Post landing, in about 30 minutes to an hour you can be at your hotel. Mahe has the maximum number of hotel options to pick from and has restaurants and shops to explore unlike the other more remote islands. The Four Seasons is a top pick in the luxury segment.  If you want minimal travel, and enjoy some hustle and bustle on holidays this might be the right island for you. However, most people choose the Seychelles to “get away from it all.” Therefore, i suggest picking another island to base yourself on and enjoy the remoteness and serenity that will welcome you. The second most inhabited island is Praslin. A 15 minutes flight connects you from Mahe or you can take a 50 minute ferry ride. The ferry jetty is about 15 minutes drive fr...

The most important thing to determine when planning a trip to Hawaii is which islands to visit and thereafter how many days to spend on them. My picks were Centered around meeting my college friend who lives in Oahu so that was definitely going to Be my base. She recommended adding on Maui to my trip so that was it - decision made. However, once there I was regaled with tales from other tourists on how amazing Kuai is and how doing a lava tour on the Big Island is the "best thing we've ever done!". So as you can tell, there is no easy answer to this.   From my experience, Oahu (home to the famous Waikiki beach) is great if you have friends there or if you want a fill blown tourist experience with shopping, best in class restaurants and a little bit of city/island. If you want to get away from the crowds, do NOT go to Oahu - it's tourist paradise and you will get crowds at every tourist spot you visit.   Another important thing to note is that you have to fly i...

When u start planning your trip to Bhutan, the first issue you will confront is flight bookings. The Druk Air (monopoly for flights in Bhutan) has a terrible website, making it difficult to understand options. Web check in still remains a distant possibility. When flying into Bhutan it is suggested you get a window seat on the LHS and the opposite on the return, since you traverse Mount Everest on your flight and can spot it on a clear day. Flights are sporadic and if connecting from bombay you have to fly the day before to Calcutta or Delhi adding on more travel time. Daily flights to bombay are launched around mid-May so do check on the dates with your agent before you plan your travel. While May is still considered "high season, perhaps since the monsoons will hit in June/ July and August, the best months to visit if you want to see the flowers in full bloom are March and April. These months also bring the cultural festivals to Thimphu and Paro, making advance bookings a m...

This trip came about since my close childhood friend, also a history buff, wanted to get a taste of ancient India on her express trip from America. We knew little to nothing about Hampi; the prospect of discovery excited us. I began my research through the usual websurfing and found http://hampi.in/ , a pretty useful resource to get aquainted with the basics. Special shout out to Ambika Vishwanathan and Karen Rodriguez for their insights as well! I will keep the length of this post short. The more obvious things about Hampi can be found online quite easily. I will focus my piece on the ‘not so obvious’ things to do/see and general tips for someone traveling from Bombay to Hampi. How should one get to Hampi? Three prime options in order of preference: 1)    Fly to Bangalore and take the Hampi Express to Hospet. Bangalore is a large hub airport and has several flights connecting easily to the city. More importantly, the train leaves Bangalore daily at 10 pm and...

“Masla toh ji Sarkar ka hain, logon mein to sirf pyaar hain”, summarized our Immigration officer at the Pakistani border as we inhaled our last few breaths of Pakistani air before taking the dozen odd steps to cross over back to Amritsar. We had the privilege of spending five days in Pakistan thanks to Nutshell Conferences and its CEO, Azfar Bhai who invited a delegation from the Harvard Business School Club of India to visit Pakistan – when I received the initial invite, I RSVPd instantly and instinctively – without bothering to check my calendar – both professional and personal commitments seemed to fade into insignificance when compared to the opportunity to visit this enigmatic nation (Big thank you to the HBS Clubs of India and Pakistan!). We took the Spice Jet flight to Amritsar from Bombay (the only direct flight) and spent the day there visiting family and family friends, attending the border ceremony (a 2 hour evening drama with soldiers, Bollywood music and lots of f...