Merhaba Turkey, Namaste India!
For the past few months I have been anxiously looking forward to this upcoming travel expedition. I’m very excited because I am going to visit India after 3.5 years and I’ll be spending over a month there. It’s a very special feeling to go back to the place where you grew up, isn’t it? I’m also going to Turkey on the way.
Journey to India from Toronto usually necessitates a change of flight and it can be done anywhere between New York and Dubai. The last time I flew to India via Moscow, I stopped in Russia for few weeks. This time I was looking for some similar travel opportunity, but to a country that would have simple visa rules. Thus my options narrowed down to a few countries in the middle east and the USA. Since US is not really “foreign” and I can’t travel to Arab countries due to an Israeli stamp in my passport, the decision was simple.
Turkey
My first stop will be in Turkey (since I am flying Turkish airlines) and I have been researching about this country a lot. With rudimentary knowledge of conversational Turkish, I am hoping to get the most out of these two weeks of couch-surfing-and-backpacking trip. I’m going to do the standard on-the-beaten-path circuit of Istanbul, Cappadocia and Aegean ruins. Not yet decided if I should travel clockwise or anti-clockwise, it will depend on the weather when I get there.
Visa requirement for Indian nationals for travel to Turkey reduces to a visa-on-arrival if you have a valid visa for US, UK or the Schengen zone.
India
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↑ Sunset from Dombivli, my hometown and a suburb of Mumbai
After a couple of weeks in Turkey I arrive in Mumbai during possibly the worst weather conditions. May is the hottest month in India and schools are closed for summer vacations. This results in a deadly combination of heat, humidity and crowd. Oh whatever, I’m really excited to see friends and loved ones, not to mention eat delicious food. I’m going to spend time on the west (Konkan) beaches of Maharashtra and then travel north to the Himalayas.
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↑ Hiking in the Himalayas, 2005.
It’s been almost six months since my last trip to Ecuador. And while I was able to get away to Detroit, Philadelphia, New York city and Calgary in between, none of these were more than a few days.
Travelling is the best way to spend money, isn’t it?
Have a safe and happy trip! Looking forward to all your posts. Those photos are so beautiful!
Thankyou Claude!
Hope you enjoy your time in Turkey. Will be looking forward to your posts about your visit – on the beaten path or not. 🙂
Julia
Thanks Julia, hopefully I can visit Fethiye next time. 🙂
Welcome Home Dear Friend 🙂
Thankyou Raji, hope to meet you this time!
Mitraa…
Its been a while since i commented on your blog.
Have fun in Turkey and have a safe trip to India.
Come to pune for a day or two if possible.
Cheers
Thanks Himanshu, I had a nice trip, unfortunately was in Pune very briefly. Hope you are doing well!
India is my favourite country I’ve ever visited and Turkey is destination I’m dying to visit. Needless to say, I’m quite envious :p Have a great journey!
Thanks Samuel, I’m back from the trip and it was quite “epic” (although that word is overused). Hope you can make it to TR!
Welcome to your country.
Hopefully you will have a nice time.
Very Old fan of your Blog 🙂
Thanks Abhishek! Good to hear from you! 🙂
Where abouts up North do you think you’ll be headed? We might cross paths again 🙂 Just checking out your blog for some info on Bhutan.
Hey Andrew,
Thanks for stopping by. I read few of your posts on India.. looks like overall you had a good time as well! Hopefully there was enough cricket. 🙂
[…] close to one year since my last major trip to Turkey and India and although I was on the road for close to three months in 2012, I promised myself to make the […]