31 Dec 2017

Recap of year 2017

by | posted in: Recap | 10
In general, the year went well with respect to travel. In fact, my writing speed could not match with the travel. Some places that I travelled did not appear in my blog. Basically, the travel can be split into following categories.
  • Abroad trips
  • Birding trips
  • Western ghats
  • Temples, hills and forts

 

Abroad trips
The focus suddenly shifted from India to abroad. The reason being that I had covered most of the Indian states (except few North Eastern states) I wished. This resulted in seeing five new countries this year.
Spain
Official trip for Mobile World Congress brought me to the city of Barcelona in Spain during February end. A trivial matter but I had a nice conversation with a Pakistani driver while he was dropping me to airport. Quite surprised to hear some nice words about India which I do not hear in India!!
Watching football match of FC Barcelona was unforgettable experience.
At Barcelona stadium
New Zealand
My biggest trip so far went extremely well. With complete family, it was a trip to remember for a long time. Though I had driven rental cars earlier in US and Europe, it was first time I was trying out with family. It was also the first time we tried to self cook and eat while traveling. Both went very well and hopefully I will be able to plan bigger ones in the coming year!! Amount of planning that went for this trip was enormous but it was fully worth the effort. What a beautiful country!!
Milford Sound
Immediately after coming back from New Zealand, I had to take the flight to Netherlands for an official trip!! I just had time to take some sleep and repack before flying.
Czech Republic
During an official trip to Netherlands in April, I managed to squeeze a weekend trip to Prague. A beautiful city in Central Europe, I could not put a lot about it in my blog.
Prague castle

Mauritius
It was hard to resist sitting idle during Dasara holidays and I planned a trip to Mauritius with my family. Another great trip with self drive. I put a lot about that trip in my blog but still missed few of them!!
Mauritius
Sri Lanka
A customary year end family trip took us to the neighboring Sri Lanka. It was a combination of religion, culture, hills and beaches. Yet to write the experience but expect it to cover most of my posts in the beginning of next year. This trip was preceded with an official visit to Netherlands and again I had less than a day to pick up the flight to Sri Lanka.
A view in Sri Lanka
Also, I went to Netherlands in April, July and December for office work. I managed to visit some places like Texel, Zaanse Schans and Muiderslot. Another Official travel was to Boston in Unites states.
Texel
Birding trips
The month of Jan and Feb was busy with birding trips to Valley school, Tal Chhappar and Jorbeer in Rajasthan and Thattekad in Kerala. This was with my friend Sankara. Later as official travel and other trips took priority, birding took a back seat.
Western ghats and coastal 
Submerged bridge
A trip to submerged bridge during summer with Subbu and Girish completed long pending action we had.
Submerged bridge

Waterfalls
Visited a few waterfalls in Western ghat region (about 6 in number) of Karnataka.
MM falls
Kas Plateau
In September, Sankara and I visited Das plateau for flowers. Also combined several waterfalls and forts during this trip. Unfortunately, I could not write anything about this trip in my blog.
Kambala
In December, it was an amazing experience with Subbu and Girish to see Kambala.
Kambala
Temples, hills and forts
Hoysala temples
During Ganesha Chaturthi, we visited few Hoysala temples of Arakere and Tandaga while driving to my native place.
Tandaga temple
Fort and hills near Bengaluru
With Wido, I trekked to the fort hill of Madakasira in January and Ratnagiri in October. With Subbu and Krishna, I visited Handi Gundi near Ramanagara. A visit to Avani in September within Sankara.
Ratnagiri fort
Bengaluru
In the month of August, I managed to cover to cover the Someshwara temple and Tipu Sultan Summer palace in Bengaluru!!
Summer Palace
Flop shows
  • Due to my bad health, I had to cancel the Himalayan trek in the last minute. Since it was canceled for second consecutive year, I must say that it frustrated me a lot.
  • While trekking to a waterfall in Uttara Kannada, I and my cousin got down into a very steep and slippery valley. The waterfall was “almost” in sight but we could not climb down the final 20 feet of slope. We could have somehow gone down but we were sure that we will not be able to climb up!! With heavy heart, we aborted our trek and climbed back the valley!!

10 Responses

  4. aravindgj
    | Reply

    Shrinidhi,
    Thanks for your comment.
    Sure!! You can contact me for information. No problem.

    Veidehi,
    Thanks for your comment and wishes.

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