My itinerary - vacation trip

8 Night Southern Caribbean Cruise from Port Canaveral, Florida, U.S.A. 04 April 2015 - 12 April 2015:

Day 5: It was an overnight sailing from Aruba. The cruise liner berthed at the Kralendijk harbour 08th April 2015 around 10.30 A.M. and we had time till 4 P.M. on land.

Bonaire is an island Municipality of the Netherlands and an acclaimed diving and snorkeling destination whose reef-lined coast is protected within the Bonaire National Marine Park.

As with most cruise tours, it is nothing but beaches and sea, especially on this tour. While other members of the family are always interested in the sea adventures, me and my wife always preferred to stay safe on the sands :).

After disembarking we hired a van and straightaway drove to the Wind and Surf Beach. The van will vanish for the driver to do other trips to fill his pocket and return by 1 P.M to pick us and drop at the harbour.

Arrived



On to the beach



On the beach



Ha! the most interesting event for us :). Don't remember what we ate but we sure made a mess at the mess.:)



Back onto the streets of Kralendijk after lunch at the cruise liner ( All included in the fare. So why miss it? :) )

A refreshing local beer. Usually I am never in the picture (since I am the shooter) but this time I made sure I am seen for posterity.



The street train and my daughter ready to hop into it ( as my wife looks on) - but didn't :)



The Grill house at the harbour we never ventured in - we have everything on the cruise liner. You name it and you have it. Most of the time we don't know the name - only me and my wife - so we just have it.:)



Another street scene - clean and dust free roads and pavements

8 Night Southern Caribbean Cruise from Port Canaveral, Florida, U.S.A. 04 April 2015 - 12 April 2015:

Day 7: After cruising for full day since it sailed out of Bonaire, the cruise liner arrived at Grand Turk around 8 A.M. on 10th April 2015. We can have our feet on the land till 4 P.M.

Grand Turk is a British Overseas Territory and the capital of the Turks & Caicos Islands located 575 miles southeast of Miami, Florida and 30 miles south of the Bahamas. GrandTurk is one of 40 islands that form the Turks and Caicos archipelago. It has the state of the art luxury cruise ship center.

It is here that Christopher Columbus first made landfall on his initial voyage to the New World in 1492. Almost 500 years later, US astronaut John Glenn “discovered” Grand Turk himself, after he became the first American man to orbit the earth. We have that depicted at the exhibits at the cruise center.

After Columbus and John Glenn, we have set foot on Grand Turk :). (But they hadn't seen this state of the art Cruise Center that became operational in 2006.)



[ EDIT: Talking of Colombus, this is the statue of Colombus at Genoa, Italy, the birth place of Christopher Columbus, which we visited on 4th April 2012



Back to Memories of John Glenn]

Memories of John Glenn ( Click on the Photos and then zoom to read the display)






The Freedom seven capsule in which John Glenn splashed into the sea near Grand Turk. Wait! this is only the replica. The real Friensdship 7, I believe, is on display in the Smithsonian Nationa lAir and Space Museum in Washington DC. Most visitors here believe that this is the real thing :).









At the Beach





Shopping Square at the Cruise Center





Day 9: 12th April 2015 8 A.M. Back to Cape Canaveral.





From there we drove to Tampa to visit one of my wife's cousins ( more specifically for lunch ) and after lunch drove back to Atlanta.

And then ..... Bye bye Atlanta Post #25

My daughter in U.S.A sent a three page travel plan which I cut down to half.

31stMay (Tue)
Arrive Madrid 8:15 am (from USA) and 1:40 pm (from India). Meet at Holiday InnPiramides.
Mustsee places are the Royal Palace, Prado Museum, Thyssen Museum, Reina SofiaMuseum, Sorolla Museum, Cerralbo Museum, Plaza Mayor, El Retiro Park, Basilica of San Francisco ElGrande

1stJune(Wed)
Take metro to Atocha (green to opera, red to sol, blue to atocha). Train to Toledo10:20 am. Return train from Toledo 3:25 pm.
Prado Museum - enter free between 6pm - 7:30pm

2ndJune (Thur)
Checkout.Use combinados cercanias code to take C1/C10 to Atocha (airport direction)Train to Cordoba 10 am.
The best sights in Cordoba:
1.Mezquita/Cathedral - The most important architectural feature of the Mezquitaare the double horseshoe arches, made of jasper, onyx, marble, and granite.There are 856 columns in the church and they seem to be a sea of arches and columnsto the visitor.
2.Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos - Has beautiful gardens.
3.Palacio de Viana - The palace has important artwork and there are 12 differentpatios, all beautiful.
Trainto Seville 8:52 pm. Arrive 9:35 pm and walk/taxi to hotel

3rdJune (Fri)
What to see in Seville:
1.Cathedral/Giralda Tower - The Cathedral is the third biggest church in Europe.
2.Alcazar - The palace rivals the Alhambra.
3.Plaza de España - The most beautiful plaza in Spain.
4.Casa de Pilatos - Beautiful palace with wonderful gardens. See the upstairsapartment.
5.Museo de Bellas Artes - One of the most important museums in Spain.
6.Church of El Salvador - One of the most beautiful Baroque churches.The ticket from the Cathedral allows one to see this church for free.
7.Museum-Palace of the Countess of Lebrija - Has some of the best Roman mosaics in Spain.See the upstairs apartment.
Agood flamenco place is Los Gallos (Plaza de Santa Cruz, 11). The main shoppingstreets are Calle Tetuan and Calle Sierpes.

4thJune (Sat) Checkout. Walk to train station. Train to Malaga 12:50 pm. Walk tohotel.

5thJune (Sun) Walk to train station. Train to Ronda 10:05 am. See book fordirections to town. Return train 4:50 pm.

6thJune (Mon) Walk to bus station Alsa bus to Granada 10 am. Cab to Alhambra.Collect tix with confirmation and credit card. 2 pm - 8 pm (Nasrid palace entry3-3:30 pm). Return bus to Malaga 9 pm
Downtown Granada is the Realejo Barrio. The Plaza Bib-Rambla has many restaurants.
Best sights besides the Alhambra:
1.Cathedral and Royal Chapel
2.La Cartuja Monastery
3.Alcaiceria (shopping)

7thJune (Tues) Checkout of Novotel, walk to station. Train to Barcelona 8:40 am.Arrive 2:25 pm. Sants to hotel - metro(blue, yellow to Llacuna, walk) or cab.

8thJune (Wed) Prab Munich Rest - Montserrat. red or green to Placa Espanya. Buy tix R5 towards Mauresa aeri mont for cable car. Train departs every hr :36,returns :45 (last 6:45 pm)

9thJune (Thur)
Downtown Barcelona is the Plaza de Catalunya. Eixample, the modern barrio of the citybuilt in the 19th and 20th centuries, with a square grid of streets. ThePasseig de Gracia is the most elegant avenue, with upscale stores. Good shopping streets downtown are Portal de l’Angel, Portaferrisa and Pelayo.
The most important sights are the Modernist sites, which are the Gaudi sites andthe Lluis Domenech sites

10thJune (Fri)
Take metro(airport single ride ticket)/cab to airport
Depart10:25 am (to USA) 23:35 pm (to India)

So basically it is going to be Madrid > Cordoba > Seville > Malaga > Barcelona

We don't even read any of this thing. She is the navigator on all our trips and we just follow her .

Funtime: Grrr....Attacked by Pirates on high seas on Carnival Valor



Well, it was a repeat of what happened on Carnival Fascination on our Bahamas Cruise and so we were prepared to act this time :)

Senorita (Spanish/Hindi) and Why this Kolaveri di (Punjabi), Flash mob at Madrid- 2012:





31 May 2016:

Ha! This is where it happened. I realised it only when I reran the video.

You on the road again jumanji?

A Guy

US trip 2023: Me and my wife.

Onward Departure: Bengaluru 13 Apr 2023 03:55 AM Arrival: Atlanta,GA 13 Apr 2023 16:25 PM Camp: my eldest Daughter's residence in Atlanta GA

My second daughter from Bengaluru ( second in command at DELL, India) from Bengaluru will fly and join us at Atlanta on 06 May 2023 and return to Bengaluru with us on 22 May 2023 ( She has only three weeks leave of absence)

Main Agenda : My Grand Daughter's - Second daughter's daughter - Rutgers University, New Brunswick NJ Business School Convocation on Thursday, May 11,2023. She also did her Honors for which the convocation is on 02 May)






During our stay, we will also be travelling to Arcadia CA to visit my brother (90+) , Los Angeles CA, San Jose CA (if possible), New York NY, Boston MA (if possible) combined with New Brunswick NJ, Austin TX ( if possible and my daughter visits DELL HQ at Austin,TX)

Return: Departure Atlanta,GA 22 May 2023 19:30 PM Arrival: Bengaluru 24 May 2023 02:25 AM.

I understand that the new variant of Covid is prevalent still in USA. Hope everything goes on well and it doesn't cause any problem with our trip.