Trip to Arizona

Last weekend [july (21,22) 2007], 3 of us, Anand, Sivanesh and I planned to goto Arizona and visit the Grand Canyon. The entire plan itenary was planned by Anand. He is a professional-photographer and so has plenty of liking for the sunset and sunrise colors. All tickets were booked one month in advance, courtesy Anand’s awesome planning. I took my flight from Seattle to Phoenix on Friday [20th] evening. The luck [or the lack of it] continued for me this time too. My flight was delayed for upto 3 hours, and I ended up at Phoenix around 11:55 PM instead of 8:30 PM. I was supposed to be the first one to reach Phoenix but my friends reached there much before me and even got the rental car booked. Since they had to do it before I arrived, it meant that I was not of one of the drivers of the car [the insurance won’t apply if someone other than the people signing the contract drives the car]. We were hoping that 2 drivers could somehow pull off the 15-16 hours of pending long drive in the next 2 days.

Around 12 AM Saturday early morning or midnight, we proceeded towards Monument Valley which was a good 5 hour drive from Phoenix airport. We got hold of a GPS for rent, and it seemed to be pretty accurate that used to make me amaze everytime it did something cool J I slept along the journey and Anand and Siva managed to bring it to Monument Valley. Along the drive, after 5 AM, we started taking lots of snaps for the unknown canyons found on the roads. These small towering sandstone colored mountains shone with very interesting colors during sunrise and I am pretty sure Anand would have taken some nice snaps of these while I clicked the pictures I used to do normally. The Arizona highways had a speed limit of 75 miles[ around 120 Km/hr] and we made most use of it. The freeways were through barren desert lands. There were huge stretches of desert land on either side of the roads with the occasional sandstone colored canyon\mountains, and they were such a new sight. I had never seen a desert before and when I woke up around 5:15 AM, it was a pleasant surprise looking at it.

See pic below.

We reached Monument Valley around 6 AM. [ See picture left- monument valley in the far background with the empty freeway surrounded by barren lands].This is supposed to be a valley having interesting formations of sandstones. They had names for all every formation :) There was a 17 mile drive inside the valley on a dirt track. We went on this for around 3 hours, took a lot of snaps, looked at the formations in awe, and then started towards the city of “Page”. Page is supposed to be in between Phoenix and Grand Canyon. It was mostly a resting area and was booming with hotels and that looked to be the main business there. Page also had a some scenic spots near it.

We went to the “antelope Canyon” near Page. [see pic below]. It was a on a

tour package and the entire road [there was not any] was on sand, and after a few struggles, the mini truck made it there. Antelope canyon is like a cave where two sandstone formations almost meet, and there is a narrow tunnel like stuff through which we can walk and go. The height of the tunnel supposedly increases with each flash flood where the sand is taken away. Snaps did not come out well inside the tunnel as it was pretty dark with a few rays of sunshine coming through some of the holes.

Then we went back to Page. From there, we drove on our rental car to a point called “Horse Shoe Bend” about 10 miles from Page. This was my favorite during the trip. [See pic left]The river Colorado takes a U turn across a deep canyon and the whole thing is a pretty sight. It was breath-taking to say the least and even novice photographers could take nice pics here. We then went to one of the most scenic lakes in the area. Lake Powell was surrounded by canyons on many sides and it was a pretty sight. Unfortunately it started raining, but still the beauty of the lake remained.

After visiting the lake, we came back to the hotel RodeWay Inn, had dinner at a Indian restaurant [they are everywhere :D], and then slept off. Next morning we had plans of reaching Grand canyon by 5 AM and so we had decided to start in our car by 3 AM.

As difficult as it looked, we managed to start by 3 AM sharp. It was such a nice achievement I felt. Siva started to drive the car and things were going fine till around 4 AM. Then the unexpected twist happened. As we were going on freewat US-163 around 60 miles [speed limit was 65 miles], a dog tried to commit suicide. It jumped at the wrong time right in front of the car, and the worst thing happened. We all got really upset, and continued slowly. The car was making funny noises and we were extremely worried. After driving slowly for 30 more minutes, we pulled over the shoulder of the road, called up the emergency number 911. After 15 mins, a police cop came in and took the report. He looked at the car and told that the engine fans had broken. So the engines wont get cooled down if we keep driving.

We gave the EnterPrise rental car a ring, and they asked us to return back the car at Phoenix airport which was a good 160 miles away. We thought the car would be ok to drive and started to go in the car. But every 2 miles, the engine would get overheated, and we would stop the car over the shoulder, open the front hood, and wait for 20-30 mins, and then start again. We realized that we would not go anywhere. So we called up the car agency again and they asked us to somehow reach a place which has an address so that they can send us a new car there and take the old one through a towing vehicle. We looked at the GPS and it pointed out that after 10 miles, there was a fuel station with an address. Since it was Sunday, none of the car’s branch nearby was open. Only the Phoenix branch was open, and so the car would arrive only from Phoenix. Since it was to come on a towing truck, it meant that it would take atleast 4-5 hrs. We told them the address of the nearest fuel station and we started moving towards it. The next 10m miles took around 2 hrs. Soon it was 9 AM. When we reached the spot mentioned by the GPS, it was fully empty and there was no sign of anhy life or any place there. We called up the number shown in GPS, and they told that it was another 11 miles… phew.. things were getting worse. We took another 1.5 hrs and managed to cover the remaining 11 miles. We took so many stops on the way. Time was slowly running and we were losing a lot of valuable time.


The place we reached was called “Tuba City” and we had subs there at subway. Then after repeatedly calling the truck driver’s boss, we synced up with the truck, and then around 12:45 PM, the new car came in the truck. The truck driver [Jack] gave the new car and left. We started around 1 PM towards the Grand Canyon. The drive to the great canyon was around 1.5 hrs, and around 3 PM we reached the Grand Canyon. The canyon was really superb. So many folds, so many views, such stunning rising of the sandstone layers, and the river Colorado flowing below at such a depth… [a pic of Grand canyon.. not the best pic]

The canyon had roads around it, and we took a partial drive around it, stopped at many view points, and took snaps. Around 5 Pm, we headed back towards Phoenix as Anand had a night flight. We reached Phoenix on time without any problems [with the occasional wrong lane problems] and the GPS did not falter much after this. Siva and I had a flight only next day morning. So we stayed in a hotel nearby. While trying to go back to the hotel from airport, even the GPS could not help. We made around 5-6 rounds of the entire airport and finally decided to use our own way to come out of airport. We then reached the hotel, and went back to airport and returned the car. We took the hotel shuttle back to hotel, slept for 4 hrs, got up at 4 AM and made our way to the airport to complete a memorable trip. All our return flights were on time and this was a good way to finish the trip.
Anto had come to the airport to pick me up and we then drove home.

Trip to Norway

I had never been to Europe before. The only country i had visited other than India was the USA. I have always heard of Europe's beauty but never really went there. When i was to goto the USA for a 3rd time, i decided that i am going to stop over on the way and have a glimpse of Europe. I never like being alone or travelling alone. Luckily, my friend Parthiban [Banti] was on a 3 month tour to Germany. I talked to him and he was also interested in going to some place outside Germany. I decided to fly Lufthansa so that i could meet Banti, and we could fly together from there.

We had to choose a country from among the various nice European nations. We had to choose a Schengen country as Banti had a Schengen Visa. There were 15 Schengen countries in total, and both of us wanted to be among nature rather than the city kind. We had to choose between Austria, Norway and Iceland. One of my childhood dreams was going beyond the arctic circle. Iceland was just below arctic circle, Austria nowhere in the picture. I looked at the Norway pictures in web and found them to be quite impressive. It had also places which were above the arctic circle, and luckily these places even had airports. Both Banti and I were ok with Norway and thats how we finalized the country.

I landed in Berlin on July 4th around 11 AM. Banti and I went around Berlin around 4 PM and came back by 7 PM. We took some snaps and covered many important historical spots there.

Berlin photos at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/dparthi/WithRaghuInBerlin

We took a flight to Oslo the same night and reached Oslo around 11 PM. We had a flight at 7 Am the next day. Oslo airport was 50km from city, and we felt that it was not worth to take a hotel. So we slept at the airport itself. The security guards and cleaners were so nice in the airport. They encouraged us to spend the night there, and never mumbled any stuff. The sleep was not exactly great, but somehow we took some rest. Next day morning, we took the flight to Tromso.

Tromso is 400km above the arctic circle. The peculiar thing about this place is that in summer it has 90 continuous sunlight days without darkness, and in winter, it has 90 days continuous night. We were at a time where the sun would never set. Tromso is a beautiful town surrounded by mountains on all 4 sides. It has fantastic views from all parts of the city, and one can see snow capped mountains on all sides. The airport was very small, and that was understandable for a small city.

At Tromso, we had booked a hostel, but the hostel lady told that we could checkin only after 4 PM, so we kept our bags there and went off to trek. It was a very sunny day at Tromso, and so the locals were obviously very excited. Tromso is known for drizzling chilly summer days, but this one was special for them. We went to the city center, and had a veggie sub for lunch. To our surprise, the hotel server understood what veggie meant and so we were lucky to have that there.

Then we went off to the Tronsdalstind mountains. The trek is very long. We had to climb around 15 km to reach the top. It was very tiring but somehow we wanted to reach the top. We divulged from the marked trails in the middle, and took our own route, and sure enough it had its share of problems. But still we finally made it. The glaciers from the arctic mountains were melting and we tasted the pure water right at the source.

We then decided to take the long walk back which was again around 14 Km, and we were very tired by then. we went to the hostel around 8:30 PM, bought some food, cooked them in the hostel guest kitchen and slept off.

Pictures of Tromso:
http://picasaweb.google.com/dparthi/TromsoTrailers

Next day [July 6th] we left to catch the flight to Oslo again. The problem we had was all flights between the various cities in Norway had to pass through Oslo. So we flew back to Oslo again and reached that place around 12 Pm. We never knew that Norway was so expensive until we realized that during this day. The Norway govt was so clever that they construct most airports outside the city, and that they charge hefty sums for commuting to and fro the airport. In Oslo, the charge was around 160 NOk [1 NOK = 7 INR] for a ride to city center through express train, 120 NOK in bus, 80 in slower train. Not surprisingly, we opted for the slower train. Oslo is a typical city. It was bustling with life and the weather was again very sunny that day. The city as such had nothing special to offer. We just roamed around it with our backpacks, and we were tired around 4 Pm itself. We covered the entire city by walk and used a map for directions. We saw the Parliament, Royal palace and few other places. But really nothing was very special about Oslo.

Oslo pictures below:
http://picasaweb.google.com/dparthi/OsloOuting

That same night, we took a night train to Bergen at 11 PM. This train is supposed to be one of the most beautiful routes in the world, but we could not see much as it was night, and even though the sun comes out at 4 AM, we were asleep at that time. At 7 AM, we reached Bergen.

Bergen is considered to be the "Gateway for fjords". A fjord is something like mountains cut by sea, and so you can see sea water between various mountains and this whole thing is a very nice sight. Norway is very famous for fjords. Its because Norway has mountains throughout its region, and its west coastline is full of cuts and ridges, and so this leads to lot of fjords there.

For Visiting fjords, we had to take a tour package which started at 8:40 AM. Due to lack of time, we had to take taxi there. We stopped a taxi and asked him the rate to goto hostel. We said 150 NOk and we sent him off. That same guy came back in 5 mins, and said that he is ok for 100 NOK. we accepted the offer. That guy explained that Norway is very costly and they have special [double] rates on weekends. As if the original cost is not too high, they had this little funny thing :)

We checked in at the Bergen Montana hostel, and went off to the station again to take the tour. Again to reach the station on time, we had to call a taxi. This time the taxi driver charged us normal Bergen weekend rate, and so we ended up paying 168 NOK for the trip. Sometimes things are just too costly.

We then took the tour package. The tour comprised of a scenic train journey from Bergen to Myrdal, a mountain train from Myrdal to Flam. This mountain train is supposed to be the steepest in the world but these trains were actually very well engineered that one would never feel a thing. They were pretty fast. The mountains had so many waterfalls and crystal clear water was flowing everywhere. It was no surprise why Norway had so many waterfalls. Norway is a very cold country and is full of mountains. All the winter snow in the mountains would melt in summer leading to tons of waterfalls everywhere. We would have seen atleast 200 waterfalls :). Then after lunch at Flam, we took a ferry across the fjords. This was the highlight of the trip.

Passing through the fjords was a wonderful experience, and it was simply awesome. The water was clear, and the mountains surrounding it added to the scenic beauty. After the ferry ride for 2 hrs, we took a bus to Voss. From Voss, we again took a train back to Bergen and we were back at the hostel [this time we waited and took bus to reach hostel :)]. The weather was sunny even during this day. So we were lucky for 3 days.

Bergen photos at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/dparthi/BergenBoating

Next day [sunday July 8th], we had time till 4:40 PM for the flight. Even the Bergen airport was way outside city and one had to shell out 75 NOK to take the airport bus. The taxi would have been around 1000 NOK i guess on a sunday. I had taken the public transport in Germany and man, its so cheap there. Norway was just too costly.

We went to the Bergen markets after a heavy complimentary breakfast at hostel. Bergen is supposed to be a cultural center. It was famous for fish markets. They were selling reindeer sausage, moose [ a kind of deer] sausage, seal skins, arctic fox skins etc. We took snaps of these, visited a few landmarks like the harbour and the Bryggen market. Then after a light lunch, we took the bus [75 NOK] to airport, and that was finally it. Our trip to Norway had ended here.

From Bergen, we flew to Oslo, and then after an hour, we flew to Berlin that night. A wonderful trip had ended. I had to leave early the next day morning [July 9th] to Seattle. I slept for around 4 hours, got up and made my way to the airport [Banti accompanied me].

Now this was our first trip and there were quite a few things we learned. I think this is something everyone should keep in mind when they are travelling on budget. This is very true for people working in a weaker currency region and travelling to stronger currency nations.

1. Check out the expenses and the cost in that country. Mainly check out the public transport stuff.
2. Travel in group of atleast 4. You can take taxis to many places and still share the burden easily.
3. Stay in hostels if available instead of hotels. Hostels are not only cheaper but very clean too. They have very high standards too nowadays.
4. Choose the right airlines and the right time to fly. If you are short on time, choose a place where you can easily travel from one place to another without going through some other place [For our case, we had to go through Oslo each time].
5. Book tickets well in advance as they are cheaper. Many tour packages are also cheaper when booked in advance.
6. Never buy anything at airport shops unless really required. We found out the food in airport was excessively costly. Norway as such is costly, and buying a few fruits in the airport made us even poor :)