Category: Travel

  • Auckland

    New Zealand’s scenic magnificence is legendary and any trip to the left side is risky so long as Trump is around, ergo… We were only the second disaster to hit Auckland in a span of two days. We arrived a day after the cyclone Vaianu. Thankfully, barring the minor inconvenience of small shower spells, we were largely unaffected.

    Stay in Auckland

    We have aged. We know that because we now choose a Radisson/Accor/Marriott over any cutesy boutiques. Radisson in New Zealand is new. This was Red and we had perks, that helped. We had a decent view of the city, and we could comfortably watch it from that sofa. So, nice enough.

    Radisson Red, Auckland
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  • Kannur

    Kannur was only a vague plan for some other time, until Theyyam became a bucket list item for D. Then we got hold of a schedule and a guide and landed in Kannur. Well, actually our Kannur flight got canceled, and we landed in Calicut, but that was a minor inconvenience. Passing by many places we only knew by name was a nice experience too.

    Where to stay in Kannur

    We had originally booked a place called Anansa Boutique Hotel but they canceled us a couple of months before the trip. Ah well. That got us to Sunfun. Our room was on the top floor, and only just ok, but the rooms on the first floor looked a lot better.

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  • Szentendre

    The original plan for a day trip from Budapest was Eger, but thankfully D did her research and replaced that with Szentendre. The little town is a melting pot of several different cultures, almost like a mini version of Budapest itself, and that makes it quite perfect for almost every taste – churches, museums, cobblestone streets, varied cuisines, galleries, picturesque Danube river views and so on.

    How to get to Szentendre

    And all you need to do is take a < 1 hour train ride, on that cutesy HEV thing below from Batthyány tér, which happened to be a short walk from our hotel. No changing trains, but you essentially get two tickets for it – one for the city limits which you validate by punching it in the machine inside the train, and the other for the ticket checker (yes, this person exists) for the portion outside the city limits. The ticket machine at the road level makes all this a breeze.

    Batthyány tér train to Szentendre
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  • Budapest

    We had heard many good things about Budapest from friends who had been there, and it didn’t disappoint at all. We flew from Warsaw to Budapest, the flight time was like going from Bangalore to Kerala!

    Where to stay in Budapest

    Buda side for a laid-back ambience, and Pest side for more vibrance. We preferred the former, and thus back in the arms of the Radisson Group in Park Plaza. A bit of checkin time snootiness and a membership flex later, we were in our Danube-facing room.

    Park Plaza Budapest

    …which we chose over the Castle View on the other side of the hotel

    Buda Castle
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  • Warsaw

    Warsaw happened only because the second reason to visit Poland was most easily accessible from here. Well, Gdansk more so, but we didn’t fancy a seaside town in winter and the logistics were easier. Wroclaw to Warsaw is a 4 hr + journey by train.

    Where to stay in Warsaw

    For a change, we stayed at an Accor hotel. The best thing about the Mercure Warszawa Centrum is that it is located very near to the central railway station, and a mall, which turned out to be very useful, because the sole of D’s winter shoe departed!

    Mercure Warszawa Centrum Warsaw
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