What you need to know about Tour Agencies

Okay, I wanted to write two separate posts on my recent Euro trip experience. One would be about the places I saw over there, and my experiences, and the second would be about the Pros and Cons of choosing a Tour Operator (Since I went with one).

So in my first post, I shall be telling you about the advantages and disadvantages of booking a Group Tour through a Travel agency.
The popular travel agencies in India include SOTC-Kuoni, Thomas Cook, Cox & Kings, etc, which are all associated with the respective international brands. You can get customized packages, or you can go along with the Fixed itineraries which they provide. Usually booking in advance, can get you certain amounts of discount. The popular packages include Europe, US, China, etc.

The reasons for me opting for a tour operator were the convenience factor, especially considering the fact that I had never gone out of India before. The tour operator will do all the dirty work, ie the formalities involved for you to step out. This includes, processing of VISA, booking the flight tickets, the hotels, and the internal travel. All you have to do, is to provide your documents, passport, and do your luggage packing. They will take care of the rest(Once you pay of course). Hence, it is much more easy, especially if you are going out for the first time.

However, once you are aware of the entire process, you can definitely plan all of this on your own. It is not that difficult, and many of my friends do it. Do remember that booking in advance, can help you save lot of money. Nevertheless, that is not something I have done yet, hence am not the right person to advice for the same.

The above were the major Pros of going with a tour operator. You will also be assigned a Tour Manager, who will be there with you throughout the course of the journey. He will guide you with all the locations, and will also manage your time for the same. Ideally, he is supposed to have decent knowledge about the locations as well.

Nevertheless, in spite of all the above advantages, and convenience in booking the tour, there were lot of things which I did not like. However, I should mention that I had anticipated some of the same in advance, before I did the booking.

1. You may or may not like the other people in the group. But you will be stuck with them throughout. Obviously, Indians are known to cause huge amount of ruckus and chaos wherever they go, so if you put 50 strangers together, there is bound to be friction and differences arising, and you may not like that. However, there is still the possibility of you making a few new friends.

2. Check the package for the food options. Most Indian tour operators give you Indian food, and take you only to Indian restaurants, for Group tours. You may or may not like the option. In case you want to try the local cuisine, you will have to shell out extra money from your pocket, and you may not even have the time to go to a local restaurant.

3. Your entire time and duration, ie itinerary is fixed. You cannot just go wherever you like, or stay at a particular duration for how long you like. You have to move depending on what the Tour Manager tells you. And you will have to move with the rest of the group, whether you like it or not. This definitely turns out to be a dampener, as there are many locations which are just touch and go. So you can hardly say that you even saw the place properly.

4. In our package, the entire travel was done by Coach (bus), and needless to say we travelled long distances, which becomes tiring and uncomfortable. There were days, where we were travelling 9 to 10 hours continuously in the bus. The journey can be made much more easier, by travelling in train(Europe has some of the best train services), however most Tour Operators will only look at reducing their cost, and will opt for buses. Personally, I hate long bus journeys, and this was certainly the most irritating part of the trip for me.

5. Most of the hotels which are booked are budget hotels(of course depending on your package), located at the outskirts of the city. The rooms will be small and uncomfortable. Of course, it might be staying just one night, but if the day has been tiring, you would prefer to sleep properly at night. In one hotel, the air conditioner was not working, and they refused to even acknowledge it.

6. You miss out on the opportunity to interact with the local people or with travellers from different countries. This is something which you can only do if you are travelling on your own. You just wont get enough time to do this in a Group Tour.

So overall, though the places visited were good, but the cons outweighed the pros. Next time, I definitely will not be travelling with any tour operator. The best thing is to make a small group of 3-4 people and plan on your own. Fix your budget, decide which locations you want to go to, and make your plans. Its good to spend at least 2-3 days in one Country, in order to take your time and explore. Otherwise you will be in a rush just travelling from one destination to another.

This is me, signing off, soon to be back with my experiences in another post.

Some more complaints!!

The art of procrastination. It feels like there is a certain phase that most of us go through at one point or the other. You can call it by the term mid life crisis or something else. What is life meant to be anyways? Study, get a job, earn money, buy a house, car, blah blah, and continue working till you die? Is that it?

Sure, you might become a Corporate Czar one day, or a CEO, or a successful entrepreneur. What about it? Yes, you earned a lot of money, and fame to go with it. But what after that? Is that all there is to life? Pursuing materialistic goals with no ends to greed or desire?

It is past midnight now, and yet I don’t feel like going to sleep. I feel as if each day gone, is a day wasted. What am I really learning? Am I actually doing anything of any real importance, or is it just all superfluous? As is everything else. What happened to my dreams and ambitions? Is it all going down the vortex of a dark, black hole?

Why is it that I find it so difficult to connect with others? I try to seek blessings in solitude but all that does is leave a bitter taste in the mouth later on. Office work is already a routine, monotonous hum of complaints and mundane tasks. Travel is limited and offers short term pleasure. Am I just seeking to run away from it all?

Or is there really some higher purpose out there?

Mutterings

Some random mutterings:

1. I had a freak accident while coming back home in an auto. The autowallah dashed a car, riding at full speed. Fortunately for me, I escaped with only minor bruises. Was really very lucky I guess.

2. Till date I have not been able to figure out why some (Note: Educated) Indian parents still cannot digest the fact that their son or daughter can chose his/her own life partner. Quite a few of them still insist that their wards should only get married to a person of their choice (Note- Same caste, religion, region, blah blah). While this might seem okay in an arranged marriage, I have witnessed real life instances of a person having a boyfriend/girlfriend, and being forced to get married to another person against his/her will. Something which you might feel only happened in movies so far. Come on parents, learn to be a bit more broad minded. It will only serve you well in future. Do not think that you are the best judge for your child in every circumstance.

3. Finally catching up a bit on my Japanese. Need to clear N5 this year. Have started practicing Kanji as well. As they say- Nihongo wa Omoshiroi desu ne (Japanese is interesting).

4. If you want to get inspired, you can watch movies such as Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist, or the Samurai X live Action movie trilogy. They are really well made movies, with lot of effort gone into them. I love one scene in Street Fighter, where Akuma/Gouki trains in the Dark Hado path.

5. Job has become kind of repetitive and dull by now. I guess I need to focus more on where I am heading. They rightly say that most people are not satisfied with their corporate lives. It’s more like a struggle for existence.

6. Need to plan my first foreign trip. Hopefully Europe. Fingers crossed.

7. Finished reading Quiet. By Susan Cain. An excellent book on the power of introverts. A must read for anyone. Reading 4-5 other books currently.

8. Want to take up one sport this year. Inkling towards tennis or squash. But need to find the right venue.

9. Need to re-join the gym and lose some weight. Have really caught up on some inches on the mid-riff.

10. Want to buy a Bokken. No idea where I can get it in India though.

A New Year, as always

Yes, another year has passed, and I feel as if I am doing with the “Writer’ stage of my life. True, I have written numerous articles, have always been proud to have a CV point stating that I am an blogger, have mentioned that in numerous interviews as well, but I feel there comes a time when one should know when to move on.

The truth is that far few people are reading my posts than was the case earlier. Also, without a doubt the quality of my articles has deteriorated over time. Maybe its just that I do not get the feel or passion to write any more. I have moved on to other things, music, and drama[watching] for once.

2014 was a year of mixed feelings. I had my share of ups and downs, heartbreaks and joy givings, just like anybody else. Am not being overly optimistic and shall try not to be pessimistic either. Time just flies.

Yesterday I saw Naseeruddin Shah perform live in the NCPA theatre, donning the role of the legend, Einstein himself. And really, what a performance it was. Left me mesmerized to the core.

In life, there are so many things one wishes to achieve, but so little time to do them all. And I am sad to say that I have belonged more to the “Thinker’ than the ‘Doer’ category. But now, is the time for change. Now is the time to do something meaningful, and escape the clutches of negativity.

Books will be read, games will be played, hearts will be broken, songs will be sung. And yet the sun steadily rises and sets upon all our glooms and sorrows.
Now is the time to take initiatives and make the most of ones life.
Cheers to that. Adios.

Intolerance Dignified

So maybe, while I was watching Rang Rasiya, the thought came up to me- Why is it that so many people are intolerant about a host of various issues? Nudity, kissing in public, making diagrams of Goddesses, sex, religion, expressing opinion in public, writing something apolitical on social media, and the like.

Are we really such big hypocrites? Or, in todays India, we are witnessing a clash of the rigid patriarchal system, with the liberalism school of thought. In any case, there will always be a sect of people who will oppose anything which is against their ideals, and resort to all sort of vandalism for it.

Honestly speaking, a little bit of individualism can go a long way to promote our well being. Live and let live.

Of Samurai, Swords and More

Of late, I have been thinking of a topic to write upon. So let me combine some of my interests into this blog post: anime, swordfighting, ninjas/samurais.
I admit, I have been fascinated by samurais and ninjas ever since I was a child. I think that was the beginning of my passion for anything Japanese. It started off with watching the martial arts movies, and also the fictional accounts of Ninjas and Samurais. [Just for the record, do watch the classic masterpiece Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa if you haven’t already]. Of course, video games like Ninja Gaiden and Double Dragon added to the spirit.

So in this post, I shall be listing down some of the famous fictional swordsmen who have actually inspired me a lot.

1) Roronoa Zoro:

Arguably, one of the most loved anime characters in the entire history of anime, and also one of the most popular swordsman, Zoro is a class in himself. Originally a bounty hunter, he became a pirate under Luffy, with the sole aim of becoming the strongest swordsman in the world. Zoro has an incredible level of stamina, and is able to withstand the strongest of attacks, even though it might leave him in an exasperated state. Without having any special powers, Zoro relies on training the old fashioned way, using three swords to cut anything he wishes too. Zoro indeed stands for a ‘Never say Die’ Attitude.

2) Himura Kenshin:

Also called the Hito-kiri no Battosai, or Samurai X, Kenshin is said to be one of the best swordsmen of his generation. Labelled as the most feared manslayer during the times of war, Kenshin later adopts a more peaceful approach, and promises never to kill again. Of course in the anime, he seems to have several superhuman moves, using the Hiten Mitsurugi style of swordfighting. Kenshin is indeed the legendary samurai.
A similar character is Jin, from Samurai Champloo. Am not mentioning his name separately, but he too is a good swordsfighter.

3) Kuchiki Byakuya:

Although, technically speaking, he is not really a swordsman, but definitely depicts a samurai of the older Japanese times. I have written about him earlier, so will not repeat it again.

4) Raiden, from the Metal Gear Series:

Raiden is a very popular video gaming character, who is half human and half cyborg, fighting against the forces of evil, in the immensely popular Metal Gear Series. In fact, he is the major character in 2 of the games. Though his real swordfighting skills are involved in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.

5) Ryu Hayabusa from the Ninja Gaiden Series:

Ryu is the typical epitome of the Mystical Japanese Ninjas. The series combines swordfighting with magic, and other supernatural elements, but Ryu is arguably one of the best Ninjutsu users of his times.


Of course, there are other famous characters too, but am limiting to these five as of now. Keep tuned to more stuff in future.

A Little Pinch of Salt..

Okay, I know I haven’t blogged for a really long time now, and my blogging is reduced to a mere post a month. Maybe I just don’t like blogging nowadays. Cant think of a better reason. I know compared to the views and hits I used to get earlier, just a handful of people actually bother to read my blog posts as of now.

And maybe I don’t really have any concrete stuff to write either. Office life is going on as usual, with its shares of ups and downs. Still have to learn a few things, especially the art of prioritizing and managing time.

The good part is that, I am learning to keep myself involved. I have finally(partly thanks to Subodh for this) joined a gym, and will hopefully maintain the consistency to become fit. I have also joined Japanese classes, and my passion to learn Japanese will hopefully now help me learn this beautiful yet complex language.

Next stop is to start a particular sport. I hope this planned change in my life will bring in further benefits. Both professionally and personally. But I can finally say that I am indeed living life. Depression and frustration stay away.

Reading continues as usual. Occasional video gaming and tv watching too[which is time waste]. Sometimes, try my hand at cooking some basic stuff. Made anda bhurji for the first time, and liked it. I think now I do need to socialize a bit more. Maybe I will do the one thing i really hate, and go to some club, just once. Havent been to one for a long time.