Mumbai to Udaipur (746 km) in 22 hours. This was the longest non-stop ride of my life till date :)

Udaipur to Jaipur (401 km) is my second day of this series. Some bad moments and falls but i ain't quitting yet or ever ;)

How does it feels like when some destinations which were never in your travel bucket but you suddenly realize those are happening ?

This story is somewhat similar, trip to Foz do Iguaçu a beautiful Brazilian city located in the Brazilian state of Paraná, is the main base for visiting famed Iguaçu Falls, one of the world's largest waterfalls. Also counted in the list of one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Interesting isn't it .🤟

Located presently in Londrina another city in South Brazil in the Brazilian state of Paraná, so my voyage begins from here accompanying me Payel, Som,Saba, Susmit and Pranav all of us belonging to same mother land and visiting Brazil for the first time.

So with lot of exhilaration we started our inaugural trip in the midnight of 31st October 2019, it's a 500 km drive to the city of Foz do Iguaçu. We were in package tour that we booked a month ago, as we didn't want to put ourselves into trouble since Portuguese being the official language here often turn fellow Indians like us into dumb.Package costs R$ 800 (Brazilian Reais) per person which includes travel, accommodation, tickets and breakfast. Had no idea then if it's was cheap or expensive and we never thought of calculating it either.

So overnight drive on a Mercedes van in Brazilian express way is itself a thrill that can barely be explained and pouring extra spice to that are those Bollywood evergreens running in background.

Don't be surprised the agency added another dozen and half of lovely Indian folks. So our total count is 19 including our agency manager cum guide who speaks quite fluent Portuguese despite being an Indian.

So we checked in our hotel around 8 AM in the morning and after quickly getting freshen up we devoured into breakfast and completely snapped in few minutes. Overnight journey is always hectic and we were able to feel it but our excitement was in no mood to maximize that.So we headed for the Iguaçu falls, it was around 5 km drive through a picturesque city with roads appearing like mirage throughout and passing across signals with zero to moderate traffic.

Finally we reached at the Iguacu National Park after completing the ticketing procedure we headed towards the falls in a bus(service available inside the park) it was utterly beautiful well maintained roads with huge branches over it paving the way for open roof bus pass by shades, and then for the first time I got glimpse of the majestic falls and that fuelled additional exhilaration in me minimizing all the arduousness.

Bus dropped us at a point after 4-5 kms and from we were on our own to trek down another 2-3 km to reach the "Devil's Throat", it's the main viewing point of the fall which is around 98ft tall.

For a moment I could not believe my eyes, that I am really viewing this spectacular beauty, gallons of water per secs rumbling and crushing over the gigantic rocks with rainbows here and there.It was such a soothing and blissful view. Truly nature can be so amazing.We spent around an hour or so while continuously kept on clicking photos. And before we get completely drench we left and went up for lunch.

In the photo the falls we are viewing is from Brazilian side which is only 40% of it and rest can be viewed from Argentina side, which I heard is more amazing.

Time was around 2PM and after completing lunch now was the time for most exciting part of the trip, "The Safari".

We already had booked the tickets in the beginning which costs us around R$250 BRL each. Two of my friends Susmit and Som unfortunately doesn't gather enough courage for the safari so we left them waiting in the waiting area and headed for the adventure.

Now "The Safari" is all about riding on a boat upstream along the river towards the falls and getting drench underneath it, sounds regular but actually not !!!

After geared with necessary stuffs we boarded the boat and start sailing, the initial few minutes was amazing and each one of us was like it's doesn't scare us at all, but !! The moment we started slowly getting underneath one of the mighty gigantic water stream what feels like dying in a moment. Each one of us in the boat was screaming don't know was it excitement or fear. But it was total adrenaline rush and off-course total value for money.

It was around 30 mins of safari, and that 30 mins i will always cherish throughout my lifetime.

With that safari we were done in the Iguaçu park after clicking few photos we left for our last destination of the day. And it's Argentina, main purpose was actually shopping in a duty free shop, located in Argentina-Brazil border.After few hours of shopping and completing our authentic Chinese dinner in Argentine soil we completed our amazing and adventurous day to get ready for Day 2.

It's was a pleasant 1st November morning and today we completed our breakfast through an hour along with chit chats. Our first destination today is Itaipu dam which is built over Parana river, and is one of the major electricity generator for Brazil and Paraguay. After all ticketing procedures and general overview of the dam we boarded the bus which took us into some part of Paraguay then slowly on through all heavy machinery generating power to the top of the dam.The view was mesmerising and most exciting part is we can see two countries Paraguay and Brazil at the same time separated by river.

Overall it was a very nicely decorated and well maintained area with some picturesque spots. So we quickly wrapped up from there and off-course after some group photo sessions. Our trip photographer was our agency manager, so that nobody in the group misses out, a pathetic photographer though 😛.

Now is the time for visiting one of the popular bird sanctuary, it was a nice sanctuary where hundreds of different origins of birds can be found.

We spent around an hour there. We thought of spending few more hours but it was that time if the day where most of us started losing energy with empty stomach. After intensive googling and going through numerous review comments we finally did manage to lock one restaurant.

Lunch was not that exciting that to be cited about 😟, now we headed towards our final destination "Marco das Três Fronteiras". It's a view point where Iguaçu and Parana river intersects each other and thus creating a natural border between Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay.

It's a beautiful place well maintained and along with some regular shops. We spent around 2 hrs there chilling, clicking photos and buying gifts. Among 5 of us Payel spent most of the time in shopping and rest of us on photo sessions.

After tiring 500 Km journey we reached home midnight. That's why may be nobody wants to have the return journey but that's how return journey marks the beginning of another trip.

So with that I completed my first trip in Brazil. Altogether it was a very enjoyable trip with bunch of energetic and enjoyable folks. It can also be called road trip as throughout the journey we rode in our same beloved Mercedes van.

Coming on to the costs accept lunch, dinner and personal shopping everything was included in the package mentioned above.

Thanks for reading..... Coming up some other exciting trips "Samba Safar- Part 2".

Uploading few more photos all clicked with my mobile lense.

When we landed in Levanto, little did we know that this town is the home to the pizzeria- LA PICEA whose pizza had won the European Pizza Champions Hamburg and the second place in the World Pizza Championship in Parma 😍

As soon as we got to know, me and Amit (my SO) rushed to this place on our bicycles. But since got to know about this pizzeria very late in the day, we could not make any reservations. When we reached, it was a little over 7 and visitors had started queuing up in front of the restaurant in the small alley.

There were no chairs so we stood and stood and stood for a whole 2 hrs. After all how could we have left ,without eating the best pizza of Europe!😲 By the time our turn came, it was 9 PM.We ordered the pizza 'Gola' that won the 2016 European Pizza championship, and another one. It took the good looking Italian chef just 20 minutes to get them to our plates.

The melt in the mouth Burrata, the crunchy pine nuts , the musky aromatic truffle , the delicious ham, and the cherry tomatoes! Truly the best pizza we ever had 😍 We were just oohing and aahing about the textures and flavours that little did we remember that we are in an unknown place with low phone batteries and a long ride back to the airbnb via our bicycles, realizing we finished our pizzas quickly.

With Google Maps in one hand and manoeuvring the cycle in the other , we started riding back super fast. It was pitch dark , our cycles did not have flashlights, and it was getting scary. It was an unknown town, unknown folks, anything could have happened, anything,and then it did.

My cycles chain got dislodged and I couldn't ride anymore. We tried fixing it, but with limited skill and lack of light , we couldn't. Since there was no way to call a cab or maybe we didn't think of one then, we got on foot & started walking in the pitch darkness. One of our phones battery was dying super fast...& dead (Bad Apple)😜

We were stranded in the night on the road, in an unknown city, with 1 phone barely getting a signal. when I almost gave up. The only semblance of light on the road was of the barely shone stars,and the few vehicles passing by.The GPS was showing another 20 minutes of walk left😫

Both of us were secretly worried about the phone dying and had almost submitted to our fate, when suddenly a stranger stopped a pickup-truck in front of us😱He gestured , went ahead and directly picked up our cycles and started shoving them in the pickup truck.

We just realized what happened,a stranger to our rescue. He politely asked us about where we were headed and told us he could drop us.

With much exhaustion and little anxiousness we got into the strangers car, all the way hoping this is not the last time we were seeing each other,or anyone else... I began fervently praying 😱

When i realized we were near our airbnb, some hope was back and instead of the scare hormones that had doubled up in the 10 minute long car journey, intense gratitude filled up for this strange gentleman.

Our knight with the shining armour (his truck), had indeed rescued us and brought us back safely without us even asking for his help 💖

Faith in humanity restored.

We thanked this gentleman furiously and he left wishing us well. 💖 But wait!!

As soon we were about to enter the building , a black animal with shiny eyes was waiting ... looked like it was waiting for us. I thought it was another bad omen before Amit shoos the meowing black cat and enters the building pushing me in too..😂

References: http://www.pizzerialapicea.info/

To read more about my experiences and recommendations, head here.

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So as a IT professional we don't have that much holidays but still we want to complete our wishlist trips in short span. Hence I am sharing my Kerala trip story so that you can also plan your trip accordingly and enjoy in short span those who doesn't have that much holidays.

         I have satday, sunday , Monday 3 days to plan my trip and Kerala was in my wishlist. So as I searched and after researching I got to know more popular places are in kerala is Munnar, Alleppey and kochi as it is the main city from where you need to take flight. So if I cover Munnar, Alleppey and kochi in 3 days than I can say I travelled the "Mini- Kerala". So I booked flight from Mumbai to kochi on Friday night , I reached within 2 hour and I booked the cab for Munnar as in day 1 need to cover Munnar. So after pick up in early morning I told driver first I visit all the sightseeing places in Munnar and at last I will go to my resort. So on the way I enjoyed all the enchanted waterfalls covered by rainbow, spice garden , highest peak of Munnar , also few dams , flower garden and the whole tea garden . Also I waited for the last place to buy the dry fruits and spices as According to my thinking with increase of height and the last place, the price of Essentials will drop as you can get the harvested dry fruits and spices from the farmers itself not from the vendors . It's took almost 8-9 hour to complete full Munnar, so you need to start in early morning near 4am once the sun rises. Even after that I took Ayurvedic full body massage for my relaxation from one of the best massage centre which took 2 hour almost, also you can ask locals or your driver for your assistance. Still I have time , since I have started my journey at 4 am, so after that finally I went to my resort named "RiverTree Resort" which was one of the best resort so far , also the food was so fresh , cheap price and tasty .

Next day after breakfast we leave our resort and started for Alleppey . There is only backwater view majorly in Alleppey so you can chill whole day in Alleppey and can complete Alleppey in 1 day. So most important thing there are also resorts are available to stay as well as houseboats are in Alleppey which is quite expensive as all the facilities are available in the boat and need to book whole boat with respect to time. As we are not aware that only for 1-2 hour also boats are available for sharing basis but they are not like full facilated houseboats. So we already booked 1 room kitchen houseboat for our full day including night as an one time experience, which cost us 7k include 3 time meal. So cook is also available in the boat , he will ask you whatever need to cook veg or nonveg according to your need. But overall we enjoyed the views with good music and good food  as till 5pm the boat was roaming around backwater by the driver, after that he will stuck the houseboat with the riverside.

So the last day that is Monday or you can say day 3 we left out houseboat , started for kochi as we had our flight at next day early morning at 5am from kochi to Mumbai so that we can join office at the very next day. On the way to kochi we visited the church, sight seeing like chinese fish net , Martine drive , allapunza beach which was quite clean and good and all the kochi sightseeing , also we did shopping of some traditional Kerala sarees for family members . There is one famous spice Market in Kochi from where you can get dry fruits and spices in cheap price. So mainly from kochi to Munnar,  Munnar to Alleppey and Alleppey to kochi  take 6-7 hour each , so if you start your travel at early morning you can easily complete each places in 1 day . So here our beautiful journey ended with lots of beautiful memories.

I was so busy during the beginning of the year that I hardly got any time to relax. All I wanted to do was to spend a couple of days in a place that is far away from all the hustle-bustle. A place that is surrounded by nature, nature, and nature alone.

As John Muir says - "Everybody needs beauty. Places to play in and pray in where nature may heal and cheer and give strength to the body and soul alike".

A friend told me that they are going on a road trip during the weekend to Meghamalai in Tamil Nadu and without a second thought I said that I am joining. And that is how our journey from Bengaluru to Meghamalai via Coimbatore, Dindigul, Theni began.

We started early in the morning from Bengaluru and our first stop was at iconic Annapoorna Restaurant at Coimbatore. Order anything Mini Breakfast, Poori Sabzi, Coffee; everything is simply lip-smacking. The cutney and sambhar is just out of this world.

The moment we entered Meghamalai, I was in shock. For kilometres and kilometres, all I could see was acres and acres of tea estate surrounded by lush green hills. |I was anticipating to see brown hills considering it was post winter! But there it was pristine greenery.

We reached the cottage where we were staying for the night and it was right in the middle of stunning views. We parked our cars and went out for an evening walk. The hues of setting sun made the scenery all the more magical. When we returned, we were welcomed with freshly made strong chai. We all sat outside for couple of hours having random conversations. Homely food, some games during the night and it was time to curl up on our cozy beds.

We woke up early in the morning. Birds were chirping by the window. Quickly freshened up and went out to explore the estates. To witness the rising sun and floating clouds was like witnessing a live painting that was changing by the minute. See for yourself:

Untouched evergreen forests, water streams, and the landscape was breathtakingly beautiful. Unpolluted nature made us feel alive all along the way. The clouds were moving, sun was playing hide-and-seek, and the tender winds carried happiness all around.

We drove till the dam and my good god gracious, it was heaven for real. Couldn't have asked for more! Returned to the cottage, packed our bags, got ready, and the yummy breakfast was waiting for us on the table. Spent some time around the cottage and we started our return journey.

On the way while we were driving through the road towards Theni, I spotted this road which was similar to the famous Parra Road of Goa. After Dear Zindagi starring Alia Bhat and Shahrukh Khan was filmed there, Parra road is bustling with tourists and travelers alike. And here was this road, unknown to the world and beautiful with swaying coconut trees along the road.

In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks. And yes, we too did. It was a wonderfully memorable journey. A much needed vacation to unwind, relax, and rejuvenate.

If you like this blog, connect with me. And let me know if you think the Parra Road and the unknown location seem similar. Love & Light Folks.