I knew I’d be back there someday but never thought it would be this soon. And this trip would be somewhat different to. For starters, I no longer had an over ambitious ‘experience all modes of transit in one day’ agenda and more importantly, I would be in the city for a lot longer than 12 hours! Two nights and two full days in this case. So without further ado, I present to you the second installment!

Staying with the Great Ganesha in ‘The Mission‘, and only a few blocks away from Castro, meant that I would get to see a lot of the Mission-Castro District by night and day. From an ethnic and cultural standpoint, two of the most diverse and exciting neighbourhoods in San Francisco – Castro with its thriving gay community and Mission, steeped in a rich Latin American heritage.

Continue reading “SFO v2.0” →

I was ten years to late, to experience, what many have described as ‘thrilling’ – a landing at Kai Tak Airport. Instead I would have to make do with Chek Lap Kok which, apart from boasting several other engineering landmarks, is also known to have the second largest terminal building in the world. It was enough to stun me for sure and I shudder to think what the largest would be like!

Welcome to Hong Kong! My trip would involve a time difference of 12 hours, the longest non-stop flights I have ever undertaken and the added benefit of a little over 4 days to see it all.

Continue reading “Islands, Escalators and Soaring Lights” →

Getting a free ride to the West Coast and back was good enough to begin with but an aerial tour of Yosemite National Park in all its winter glory was completely unexpected. A welcome bonus for sure and the best possible way to start a whirlwind visit to the city of San Francisco!

The 7 am flight out of JFK meant a painfully early start for me but the last hour or so out the window made it all worth while. The National Park followed by the very affluent Silicon Valley stretching from San Jose to SF – palatial houses, golf courses and private air strips – we could see them all!

Continue reading “SF.Oh!” →

I travel back in time a bit, to a different year, and just to warm things up, a different season. And just as well, cause Chicago is a perfectly avoidable city during the winter months! In summer, however, it’s a very different story.

Having already attended the ‘Indian’ version of Utsav’s wedding early in ’07, it was only befitting that I attended the ‘American’ one. Besides, Chicago had long been on my list and this was the perfect opportunity.

A cheap air fare ($139 return all incl) meant a very early start for me as my flight was out of Islip Macarthur Airport in Long Island – essentially the boondocks! That also meant that I would miss out on the much storied Chicago O’Hare! Instead, I had to make do with Chicago Midway and to this day I am unable to discern why it is named so.

Continue reading “Notes from Chicago” →

Spring break and it was time for a get away. I was west coast bound this time and all set to fly out on Friday the 16^th. The snowstorm had other plans for me however so after a failed attempt to leave on Friday, I was rescheduled to leave on Monday the 19^th instead. This meant a slightly curtailed itinerary and a missed weekend in LALA land. What worked in my favour though was the chance to meet a friend who I would have missed on my earlier itinerary (courtesy of him being away to China at the time) and a quicker connection on both legs of my journey. The first such connection was made at Salt Lake City in Utah after an early morning departure from NY’s snow covered Kennedy airport. Unknown to me, a few hours later, the A380 would touch down there on its maiden commercial flight.

Continue reading “Pacific Bytes” →