City Bites - First Class Crap

This blog got featured in Mumbai DNA 'Around the Blog' on page 6, 17th Oct 2011.

After very many ages, I have had the misfortune to return travelling in Mumbai Suburban trains. For those fortunate enough to have not seen what the popularly known as local trains look like, by and large, they are nothing more than 12 massive ugly red and yellow garbage tins put together, with a few doors and windows, on rails with people infested during most hours. And this of course is the best possible treatment for India’s financial capital and highest tax paying city.

There are three routes; Western – which runs Churchgate to the Western suburb of Borivali and beyond; Central – which runs from CST to the Central suburb of Mulund and beyond; and finally harbour that runs from CST along the docks to Mankhurd and beyond. Society has always seen divides and the Suburban trains are no exception. The Western lines have now managed quite a few rather sophisticated and swanky trains, which the Central line is struggling with and the Harbour line has barely managed. 

Coming back to my misfortune; after debating whether there are more viruses/flies/mosquitoes and like in Mumbai or more people (and I think the later wins), I went ahead with a ‘First Class’ monthly pass. Now, apart from the compartment for ladies and those with special needs, the local trains have ‘First’ and ‘Second’ class. So, what do you get for a First class upgrade? State-of-the-art Shape-of-the-arse no-more-foam cushioned seats, only three people sit on a 3-foot long seat instead of 4 people, possible less infestation and a possible hint of a vague cologne amongst hundreds of perspiring bodies. Sure, you don’t want to know what goes on in the other Second class!

A view of the interiors of the First Class compartment in a Mumbai Suburban Train. For more pictures of Mumbai, click here. 

So yeah, I entered one such train on the severely step Harbour route and I am faced with a great travesty of recent times. After having paid 3.5 times the cost of a Second class season ticket, I was faced with even more sagging seats and backrests that what I ever imagined and a compartment that desperately needed to be sanitised; may be garbage trucks abroad are cleaner. 

You'll now understand why they need to be sanitised. For more pictures of India, click here.

There was a joke doing the rounds when I was a child – A foreign national touring Mumbai was caught by a ticket checker in a First class compartment with a second class ticket. The TC told him he did not have a valid ticket and hence he would need to pay a fine. The tourist replied that his ticket is valid indeed because the source and destination stations are correct. To which the TC replied, ‘That is correct, but having bought a Second class ticket, you’re in a compartment which is First class.’ The tourist jumped off and exclaimed, ‘You call this First Class?’ And yeah, the TC hung his head low, and walked off!

I wish we Mumbaikars can slap off the same statement!

Wherever I May Roam - What makes a Traveller – A Beginners' Guide, Part 2

If you are already inspired by my story on ‘how I became a traveller’ and want to jump on the bandwagon, or want to know how you could go about a Travellers route, I recommend the following 5-step approach:

1. Change in Attitude: This is right above everything else simply because of the dramatic difference there will be and you will need to make as a traveller. You would need to start feel like Christopher Columbus who’s on his mission to find India. And be content even if you reach America. Savour the thrill! Needless to say but the road won’t be an easy one so prepare to rough it out. Long walks, bag-laden shoulders, nights on transport stands, staying in budget accommodation and managing within resources. To comfort you, I am not saying that travellers do all of that always and that you’ll do the same on your first voyage, but be geared up!

Be prepared to rough it out! For more interesting photos on my travel, click here.

2. Shortlist Destinations and Check for Costs: Yes, you can get adventurous by picking your bags and taking off impromptu, but in 10 years even I’ve been able to do that just once, well almost not! So, you need to pick 2-3 destinations and set a side a random cost that you would like to manage them within. Then, you should check what local or online tour operators offer on your shortlisted hotspot in terms of total costs, travel, accommodations, meals, taxes, sightseeing, visa, insurance, entry fees, exclusions and any other entity that might be applicable. This is killing two birds in one stone. One, you get to know a whole lot about the places you are planning to visit and two, the market costs. It is important to check all fine print and inclusions and arrive at the final cost. For example, there was an ad from a leading tour operator offering Thailand for just Rs 8000 (~$ 175) ex-Mumbai. It included accommodation, transfers, sight-seeing, 2 nights each in Bangkok and Pattaya and Air fare. Works? Well, it did not have airport taxes, visa, insurance, meals, only half day sightseeing, no entry fees, which eventually will work out to ~Rs 22000 (~$500). When you compare with other operators, you’ll find similar rates. Also, you’re made to believe that Thailand is just Bangkok and Pattaya!

3. Comparing with your interests, costs and days: You’ve got your base ready! The next step would be getting information about the place you’ve shortlisted. A great place to start off with would be WikiTravel; it tells you almost everything you need to know in a very easy-to-use structure. Also, if you have access to and can shell out some money, nothing beats Lonely Planet. And just in-case you’re still stuck, you always have The Lord. These would help you associate with the destination and also help single down your areas of interests. Putting all of it together, you should then be the best judge as to how many days you would need and how much you could be spending for a given place. After all, freedom and flexibility is the essence of a traveller. Don’t forget to add your travel, accommodation and other costs as mentioned earlier. Sum up and you should see that not only are you going to be saving your hard-earned money (yes, by sacrificing on a few luxuries) but you could be doing a lot more than what you would via a tour.

By doing it yourself, you are likely to get to exotic locations that tours wont cover. For more interesting photos, click here.

4. Do Good Research - Get Reviews and Information: I learnt this the hard way and therefore though it seems trivial, always do good research on the place you intend to stay and places you want to visit. After a fun-filled but hard day you don’t want to be in a room that doesn’t have water, stinking sheets, have bed-bugs and/or pathetic service to name a few. Nor do you want to plan your itinerary, a little neck-to-neck, and realise that the place you intended to visit is shut on a particular day, needs advance booking, has long queues for tickets so an e-ticket is highly recommended and so on. And you certainly don’t want to have missed out on tourist warnings be it in the form of monkey menace or fear of thugs.

5. Planning and Booking in Advance: This certainly is not a must do and is not always possible; but it always helps in extracting that extra bit on your travel. For long travels, a 3-month advance planning always helps you get reservations and better deals for train, air, bus and accommodation. You’ll easily find budget airlines and accommodation almost everywhere today and these fill up quick. There is no dearth of Web sites that’ll help find these but I do recommend cross checking with the official sites as well. For example, Air Asia offers excellent airfares on their Web site but you’ll probably not see them on a Travelocity. If you’re travelling abroad, you could need that advance planning to get visa and permits. Even for a short local travel, I do suggest a 45-day advance booking especially if it is a long weekend or holiday season.

Sure, there is a lot more to the adventure and I’ll fill that in with my next post. For now, if your travel instinct has come alive, the weekend is right round the corner.

Get going to a travel destination nearby. For more photos on my travel, click here.

Wherever I May Roam - A Traveller's Delight: Samsung Galaxy Tab 750

For the past few years, technology has been fuelling up my pockets while travel has been fuelling up by passion. And like the old saying goes, don’t mix business and pleasure, I tend not to mix pleasure and business. Which means, I try stay away from gadgets (except my camera), social media and of course, work e-mails.

However, a recent trip forced me to change my perception on living a tech-free life during my travels. I was in Hong Kong and was against the race of time to catch the famous ‘Symphony of Lights’ show. Lost, with little directions and English speaking people, I finally approached a young girl who was engrossed in her smart phone. She spoke English and using her smart phone, told where I was, where I need to be heading and how.

I then realised how technology and travel can actually go hand-in-hand without taking away the joy of travelling. The Google Android became an easy choice and with a bit of research, I found out that Samsung were the leaders in the Android market with about 34% of the market share. I decided to review both, their Galaxy smart phone and tab range; and what ultimately struck was the Samsung Galaxy Tab 750, aka 10.1. The soon to be launched Tab should be a clear frontrunner with me on my next travel adventure.

The front and back views of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 750

I already foresee myself, sitting and chalking out my next travel plan using the Samsung Galaxy Tab 750. Its brilliantly large 10.1” WXGA TFT LCD screen offers vivid colour, brightness and fantastic sharpness along with rich graphics, which would easily allow my to do away with my bulky laptop even on a day-to-day basis. Not to forget, its sleek dimension of just over 8.5 mm of thickness and light weight of 565 gm., to go with the HSPA+ and WiFi connectivity, makes it a perfectly portable solution. Powered by the latest Android 3.1 operating system and running on a 1 GHz dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor with 1 GB RAM, the Samsung Galaxy Tab makes multitasking as easy as pie. This means that I can surf to gather information on my next travel destination, enquire for bookings, document notes and make cost estimates on a spreadsheet, effortlessly, all at the same time. Yes, the performance-packed Samsung Galaxy Tab 750 also comes with the entire Office Suite, word, excel and powerpoint, to ensure these and other business needs are taken care of.

Being light weight and sleek, makes it perfectly portable

Another beauty about using the Android is the availability of thousands of applications, which are either free or extremely reasonably priced. Samsung however, has gone the extra mile by ensuring that their users are offered the very best in experience and ease-of-use. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 750 comes with a Live Panel that will allow me to customise the Tab's home screen. So today I can have my spreadsheet, travel documents, bookings, notes, guides, social networking feeds and email access, all set straight on the home screen for easy, quick and single touch access. What’s more is that I can copy-paste with ease and also make use of the ‘Split View’ feature. In addition, the Live Panel, as the word indicates, is packed with real-time updates, which means that you’re always seeing the latest email or social networking post that came through to you. What works for me are the Mini Apps that come along; I get to know what the weather is like, what the time would be at my next destination along with the all time favourites like memo, calendar, calculator and many more. And tomorrow, while I am on the move, I can once again redo my home screen with these apps to suit my needs. In addition, I can 'go green' by having all my documents digitally available on my Samsung Galaxy Tab 750.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 750's Live Panel and Mini Apps further enrich user experience

Finally, my bags are packed and I am ready to go. I tend to travel light, which is why I avoid the weight and space of the tons of gadgets apart from the additional responsibility of looking after them. At times though, I do miss them. As a traveller, I have spent hours waiting at bare-bone bus stops, deserted railway stations and low-cost airport terminals. Very often, I don’t manage the luxury of sleep and long for some break in the cycle. With a full HD playback and support of every possible video and audio format, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 750 comes to my rescue again. The output quality of the brilliant screen size would make watching movies enjoyable along with the crystal clear surround sound speakers. What’s more is that it comes with an ambient light sensor, helping improve the battery life. How does up to 9 hours of video and 72 hours of audio battery life sound; very comforting, because I doubt if I am going to hit that limit.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 750 offers great AV experience on the go

On my actual travels, my life should simplify so much. One thing is for sure, I doubt if I ever will get lost for directions. The featured GPS and Google Maps, which are default to the Galaxy Tab 750, will take care of my navigations and directions. Not to forget, other Google apps like Places, Latitude, Navigation and more, also find home in the Galaxy Tab 750. In addition, it has an accurately handy compass for places that have no roads. I sure cannot miss out on the photo and video capabilities, things that have always been part of my travel trips. With a 3MP auto-focus camera with led-flash and 720p video recording, I am almost certain not to miss on candid moments.

One thing that I’ve always longed on my travel trips is to be able to immediately connect and share the day’s excitement and events with my near and dear. This is where the Galaxy Tab 750 takes the cake! Of course, it will allow me to connect with them using GTalk, Gmail and other social network tools, but I can do that easily with the add-on accessories like the keyboard. And because I have always wanted to blog my travel experiences when they are fresh as opposed to doing it at a later point in time, the keyboard sure comes more than handy. Being available in the 16, 32 and 64 GB variants, means that apart from the movies and audio stored, I would have sufficient storage on the move by which I can securely backup my photographs and videos as well.

Some great accessories make the Samsung Galaxy Tab 750 an ultimate buy

Its support for almost all cellular networks (850, 900, 1800, 1900), flash support during web browsing and access to the Samsung Hub, which is equipped with music, e-books, newspapers and lots more, makes the Samsung Galaxy Tab 750 the ultimate choice for me as a traveller and practically anyone as a user. If that’s not all, another big benefit coming my way is the ease of getting my leaves because I should be able to convince my boss that I’ll be able to support remotely. So in case you see my status message on GTalk as WFB (working from the beach); you’ll know that I’ve broken my promise, mixed pleasure with business and loving every bit of it.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 750 launches on the 10th of September, 2011, in India, and I cannot wait to lay my hands on it.

Tab De Perfection - The Samsung Galaxy Tab 750

Note: 
1. All images are licensed to Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and are used for representational purposes. Specifications stated are as per Samsung's current launch plan for the Galaxy Tab 750 in India and are subject to change.
2. This blog is an entry to the ‘Samsung Galaxy Tab 750’ contest on Indiblogger. For more details and technical specifications, you can check Samsung’s official microsite on the Galaxy Tab 750. Also, do watch the Live Webcast on the Official Launch of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 750 right here on 10th of September, 2011, 2 pm onwards, IST.

If you missed the Live Webcast, here's the video for the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 750.

     

Wherever I May Roam - What makes a Traveller – A Beginners' Guide, Part 1

Before we cut to the chase, I have a little story to narrate. Way back in December 2004, on my way back from Agra to Mumbai, I met a guy named Alex, then a management student from the US. He looked very simple and seemed to be savouring every bit of the journey that I seemed to hate; to add a little perspective, it was winter and we were is a typical 2nd sleeper compartment of an ordinary train that generally people would use as their last resort to travel between the two cities.

The intersting path of the Raja Ki Mandi railyway station in Agra, India. For more interesting photos on my travel, click here.

We being of the same age group easily struck a conversation. I learnt that he was originally on a project trip with his college but took a detour to see a lot more of India. We spoke for hours; he included many details that he’d discovered and learnt on his already 20-day trip to India. I must admit, I didn’t know about 40% of them myself. He also mentioned how he travelled and what all he did to pursue his greatest passion – travel!

I had always been someone who was very keen to go to new places, and yes, even go see places abroad. I was just a few years into my job and hadn’t saved enough to take trips that I would have liked nor had I ever taken the effort to discover a place on my own or with a small group of people, except the one instance in Goa.

However, what changed from that day was my perspective to see things as far as visiting new places goes. If there is intent, you can save up bit-by-bit, every month or now and then, and plan for the trip you always wanted to take. And if you really want to discover a place, do you need your world to travel with you? Do you need all the luxuries? Should you care too much on how you’re managing with a limited number of supplies? At the end, what should matter is the satisfaction you get of having visited a place, the joy and thrill of travelling and taking paths that may less comfortable, but experience the absolute bliss and soaking up the journey you’ll treasure and cherish forever.

What started off as desperate and seemingly boring journey, took an interesting twist that changed my travel perspective. For more interesting photos on my travel, click here.

I have never met Alex thereafter but we’ve remotely kept in touch via e-mails. However, the remarkable thing is that whenever he travels, he ensures that he updates his friends and people who he has met on this travels, like me, about his travel experiences; and his e-mails are always a great read.

That’s my inspirational story that may have seemed to gone a little off topic for those expecting tips or pointers on taking a Travellers route. But then, if you read this again, you may realise that an inspiration is half the battle won. I won’t forget the guy who inspired the traveller within me for his great journey’s and his love for the Indian Potato Triangles!

The chase, ‘What makes a Traveller – A Beginners' Guide’, continues here.

Wherever I May Roam - What Works Better, Traveller or Tourist?

There is little doubt that experiences as a Traveller are far greater than those as a Tourist. Simply because of the freedom, luxury of time and the opportunity to connect with the culture; for more details check an earlier post. Having said that, by no means would I say that being a Tourist is not the best way to travel or something I would never do. Ultimately, it is always the experience that counts and which is what you have forever to cherish!

Taking a Travellers path can get you to some very interesting locations that are not frequented by other people. For more such interesting photos, click here.



I have seen both worlds and have come to a conclusion that you should consider a few points before deciding which way to go, that is, if you ever want to take a Travellers’ approach. The top points for consideration, for me, would be:

• Occasion and Purpose of Travel: Congratulations, you’ve got married. No matter what, you (or at least your spouse) probably would not want to do a backpack or gruelling honeymoon. On another day, you’re drained out and desperately need a break; probably again a better idea for someone else to take the headache and set out for a more comfortable trip.
• Destination: You’re off to a location you’ve always wanted to go to but neither do you follow any of the languages spoken in that region nor do you fancy the food; more common with the Asian continent. Alternatively, you could be off to a destination that has some unrest or is notorious for having left unpleasant experiences for visitors. In these cases, again you might be better off as a Tourist.  
• Time on hand: So you’re destination is set but for some reasons you’ve had to cut it down in terms of days but the show must go on! Here again, if you haven’t made your bookings already, it might be worthwhile to get hold of a tour operator to manage it for you so that you at least cover all the ‘must see/do things’ at ease. Also, there are scenarios and cases that even while doing the trip as a Traveller, you do a portion of it as a tourist. A recent example, from my own trip, – you’re in Hong Kong and have an extra day on hand and wouldn’t mind doing Shenzhen, which is across in China. You’re you can get a take the train and get there and discover the place yourself, but it would make more sense to get hold of a local tour operator for that day – saves a lot of time and energy, and may be money as well, and the experience over a day may not be too different as a Traveller or Tourist.  
• Travel company: You’d normally only travel with people of choice but you’ll need to be considerate of the entire groups’ opinion; the Travellers style may not go down well with all. Also, the fact whether you have you parents or kids; though I’ve surely seen Travellers with little kids as well. 
• Budget/Costs: Before, making a final call, it is never a bad idea to check some early bird and/or last minute online deals, after you’ve worked out the costs. Often, you get some good discounts or companion pays 50% – in short some excellent bargains. They may not cover all you had originally chalked out, but worth weighing the options, or adding extra days apart from the Tour if possible.

At times, it is good to be on a guided tour, especially, if language can be a barrier. You can always travel like a Traveller and just opt for a one-off Local tour. For more photos, click here.

These are my recommendations, which you may want to consider the next time you plan out a trip. Moreover, it is also probably a good idea to mix and match the two, in proportions you’re most comfortable with to work out that best case scenario for yourself.

Wherever I May Roam - Traveller or Tourist?

So you like travelling? And, you’ve already been to more than a dozen countries and a hundred cities across the globe. Needless to say, you’ve posed in-front ever possible monument, shopped from the streets and stores and stayed at the nicest sounding hotels, and yes, took photos of those too!  

On the other hand, you do love travelling, but have been on a budget leash or despite the budget, you never fancied most of the decorative mentioned earlier. You’re one who sticks within a budget, would explore more, take pictures but not necessarily with you posing in it. You’d shop, but not give a damn about the stores and settle for something cultural right off the street in a bargain deal.

What we have are tourists and travellers! There must already be over 456,123 articles online on this, tips and why being one’s better than the other, so here’s the deal in five short points –

Tourist:

• Very conservative and play it safe – will generally go via a guided tour and preferably with a group
• Will want the very best of comforts so as to not make it very tiring; after all ‘I’m on a holiday’
• Literally have a schedule to follow, of the guide, and stick to that
• Will rarely know more about the place apart from what the guide would show and tell; and probably won’t bother for things outside it
• Are always forced to see/do what the guide says or the larger group of people want to do

A Tourist hot-spot - The Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. For more photos of the Petronas Towers, click here.

Traveller:

• Love the thrill element and will plan an itinerary for themselves; but along with the tourist attractions, they would end up seeing a lot more interesting places
• Will travel light and wouldn’t mind putting up in basic accommodation; after all ‘I’m here to see and explore the place and not sleep and rest’
• Have a schedule and plan in mind but are flexible and open to deviations
• Would have done some homework about the place, people and culture and would probably strike up a conversation with locals to know and learn more
• Would generally keep a spare day or two to allow the freedom and luxury to move at their own pace – so it was a waterfront with a monument beside and people spend normally spend 20-30 minutes; I loved the surroundings so much that I sat for a couple of hours at the nearby café!

En Route Manikaran - The scenic beauty and religious spots at Manikaran in Himachal Pradesh, India, is something rarely covered in a standard Tour. For more photos on Manikaran, click here.

Being only a slightly better than novice traveller myself, my personal observation is that people from the West are a lot more independent and end up being Travellers. On the other hand, people from the East don’t prefer or fancy this way of seeing places and go the old school Tourist way. I can only attribute that this trend is largely because of the fact that people from the East (and I happen to be one of them) are brought up in a conservative manner and lack that great degree of dependence. To add, we tend to play it safe and do not take unwarranted risks. Finally, communication and food forms a great barrier forcing people to take a conservative approach. The largest groups that one sees during their journeys are those that have Indians (largely due to food habits, being vegetarians) and Chinese (largely because of the language barrier).

Having said that, I’ve come across and known people from this side of the planet, whose travel journeys could impress the best from the West. Nonetheless, at the end it’s not West vs East nor is it Traveller vs Tourist. It’s the journey you embark upon and the experience you keep forever. 

Still confused what’s better – Traveller or Tourist? Read more here.