Off to explore a new destination...

Its been a few weeks since I got back from my last trip, which was with my girl friends. We headed to Gujarat- wandering around in Baroda... It is already time for my next trip. I know what you are thinking- this girl has wheels on her feet.  I wish! I do love to travel and dont get to do it as often as I would enjoy, and so when the opportunity strikes, I make a beeline for it. 

This trip just fell into place within a few weeks. It wasn't really on my plan for this year, but then when the red carpet is being laid out, it is but to put on them glittery sneakers and waltz on them, right? That is exactly what am doing. After the initial emotional high wore out, I began to plan the trip, figure out where all I wanna go, what I wanna do, who I wanna meet.. 

What is different about this trip? 

For one, it is the longest holiday I have ever taken, most of them were either weekend or max 5-6days.. I am gonna miss Floppy, and hope he behaves without troubling family too much... 

Trust me when I tell you this trip involved lot more hours of planning and research than any of my earlier ones have. Maybe because it is a big country, and one I haven't been to before. I could go here, do this, or maybe go there and do that, but then what about the other one.. hahaha.. Ya ya that is how puzzled I was. 

I have had to pack more than I have ever packed in my life. More clothes, more this and that.. and then there is the deal about carrying stuff for people... 

Spending more than I ever have on a trip, it did pinch initially. But then, what the heck- I deserve this holiday and am gonna indulge in it... 

Finally, things are in place. No fixed itinerary, just a general plan in the head with a few items from my bucket list waiting to be ticked off. 

While I do know people all over, I am being selective about who I spend time with, or which area I am visiting.. :-) [lucky folks, right?..lol]

The few who know of the trip have been quite excited and helpful [as always], some are my pillars while others have shared inputs and tips. And then there are a few who are on the fence, they are happy but not sure if they want to share it with me. Oh well, no sweat... 

So, I fly in a few hours and shall be in that country till mid May.. Yabadabadoooeeee... Shall keep updating this space as I go along... 

The archways at Lakshmi Vilas palace, Baroda

On a hot sunny day, all you want is to stay indoors/relax in an air conditioned space and sip on something cool. Right? Well, what did we do? Just the opposite. We were up and out at 8.45am, done with breakfast and on the way to Lakshmi Vilas Palace in Baroda. The car was packed with water bottles, sunscreen lotion, scarves and we had borrowed few umbrellas from the resort as well [just in case it got too much]

One friend in the gang had been to the Palace not so long ago with her in laws and told us it was one that we needed to savour and take our time. She was sweet enough to give us insights, stories about the place which helped us immensely, especially since in many places we were so taken in by the architecture, furniture, etc that we missed out on the audio guide and were lazy to go back & forth on the device. 

Like many other historical places I have been to, here too the architecture was truly marvellous. True to what a friend commented, this palace was beyond words. Infact legend has it this Palace is bigger and better than the Buckingham palace in London. Not been there, so I shall not comment on it, but shall take his word for it. 

Even though there were times I felt like I was walking in circles, it was a place worth a few hours [ even though there are technically only 11 rooms], lets not forget the sprawling gardens and the beautiful ornate exterior walls. Oh and the show stopper were the beautiful archways and windows, tall and beautiful. 

As we walked down the steps towards the first section of the palace, I could hear a large group enter the office area and ask for their headsets.. We rushed out before they landed upon us...