Delhi to Bagdogra

If one wants to go to Darjeeling or Gangtok and, for that matter, any part of Sikkim, the closest landing strip is Bagdogra International Airport. So we fastened our seat belts at Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi, for a four days adventure trip in the lapse of Himalayas. Our flight took off around 2.15 p.m. with a flight time of two hours and 15 minutes; we finally landed around 4.30 p.m. Upon landing, unlike every airport’s baggage service, Bagdogra’s baggage service was better as we got our bags faster than usual. After claiming our bags, we went to the information centers of West Bengal and Sikkim Tourism to ensure that we have included all the must-visit places of Darjeeling and Gangtok to our list. Upon gaining all pre-requisite knowledge about the sites, we went to a pre-paid taxi booking center to book a cab for Darjeeling. We were charged INR 2800 for the whole trip, of which we were supposed to pay INR100 at the booking center and remaining once we reach our destination.

P.S.: We tried OLA and UBER outstation initially, but it did not work. The local fleet has a stronghold in this area. Hence, there are very slim chances that you will find OLA or UBER here.

We started around 5.15 p.m. from Bagdogra Airport; as soon as we hit the road after traveling a few miles, only we were able to see tea gardens around. Looking at our excited faces, our driver informed us that we would find more beautiful fields once we reach Darjeeling. Beautiful sunset and cool breeze with a mild fragrance of blossoming flower, I don’t think there can be anything better and soothing during a road trip. Moving towards Darjeeling, we experienced the change in the terrain and weather; we started experiencing fog at few places as we gained the altitude. But whenever the fog gets cleared, we were able to catch the glimpses of the mesmerizing view of the valley. As we gained further altitude fog got dense, being seated next to the driver, I was unable to see anything; as a matter of fact, our car’s headlamps failed to penetrate through the fog. I don’t know how our driver was able to steer; guess that’s why it is always recommended to have an experienced driver with you who is very well aware of the terrain while traveling to a hilly region. After approximately 2 hours, we were reached Darjeeling; it took us around 20 more minutes to reach our hotel. We finally checked-in our rooms around 7.45 p.m. As everyone enjoyed the whole trip, no one felt any kind of exertion. We had our dinner at the hotel and then we went out for a walk to MG road as it was quite near to our hotel. While taking a walk, we asked the driver who picked us from the airport to show us around Darjeeling then takes us to Gangtok the next day. After a little bit of negotiation on the price, we were able to reach a number where we closed the deal and laid out the complete plan for the next day’s travel. After walking around for 45 minutes, we finally bid good night to Darjeeling and gently slipped into our dreams.

Stay tuned to know about our next day’s adventure.

Shutting Down the Engines

After a week of fun and adventure in Dubai, we landed at New Delhi IGI airport on the evening of March 10. We had a day in between before we go out again on an adventure to the land of mystic beauty, i.e., Sikkim. Along with that, we had Darjeeling also on our list. Since we want to restore our energy to make most out of our upcoming trip. So, what could be better than a short cultural walk? We went to the national museum of New Delhi, which consists of a maze of rooms that took us from Stone Age to Harappa civilization to the era of Buddha. We meditated near the relics of The Enlighten one- “Gautam Buddha.” After a doze of inner peace, we went on to explore the various artifacts present in the museum belonging to the era of numerous dynasties, narrating the reach culture of our country. As the insightful tour at the museum draws to end, our stomachs started growling. So, we took an Uber and landed at nearby Mc Donalds. After enjoying our meal at Mc Donalds, we went to India Gate, where we relaxed a bit in the park before finally heading to our apartment. We called off the day a little early as we need to pack our bags for the upcoming trip, and we were left with only 10 hours before our next flight to Bagdogra.

A Day in Abu Dhabi

Cultural Square

Our day started slightly early than usual as we were required to board the bus at 8.00 from the front gate of our hotel. Before I take you through the journey of my experiences in Abu Dhabi, let me tell you something which I missed, we booked our one-day trip to Abu Dhabi through a travel agency (Ryan travels). It took us around two hours to reach Abu Dhabi; as we moved through the city, we saw a lot of buildings of commercial importance and some shouting out about the architectural feat of the state. The first structure which we saw was the capital gate building, which holds the Guinness record of being the world’s furthest leaning man-made tower with a precipitous slope of 18 degrees, which is five times the slope of leaning tower of Pisa. We were just getting out of the amazement evoked by the capital gate building when we came across another architectural marvel, i.e., Aldar headquarters, which is first of its kind circular building in the Middle East. As we traversed further through the city, we saw cultural square, Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce, before making our first pit stop at Miraj Museum.

Snow in the Middle of Nowhere

After walking thousands of steps the previous day, our legs were crying out loud for rest, but when one is on such a tightly scheduled trip, then there is no time to take rest. Thus we found a middle way which served both the purposes, i.e., giving our legs the much-needed rest and continue our action-packed trip. We decided to take a leisure walk on the warm sands at the Jumeirah beach and to click some selfies near iconic Burj Al Arab, which is one of the most expensive hotels in the world. We started our day a little late and reached the Jumeirah beach at around 11.30. After spending some good amount of time in the calm waters of the Persian Gulf and giving our bodies the much-needed potion of vitamin D. We went to Burj Al Arab to flaunt our camera skills😊. I understand most of you must be familiar with the architectural feat of the Burj Al Arab. In fact, like me, many of you might have even watched the complete structural design of the Hotel in the episode of Megastructure on Nat Geo. But trust me when I saw the iconic design of the Hotel, in reality, I was flabbergasted, and the words which crossed my mind was WoW!

Around The Globe in Four Hours

Well, you read it right, I can understand your amazement, I would have also reacted the same way if I would not have experienced it at Global Village. The Global Village is located away from the hustle-bustle of the city. However, before I take you through our experiences at the global village, allow me to start from the beginning.

Previous night while resting by the pool, we replanned our next day’s itinerary by adding Burj Khalifa to the list. This time we were confident that we would be able to witness the beautiful view of the city from an astonishing height of 555 meters, as we were able to grab the tickets for the observation deck from a local travel agent located a couple of blocks away from our hotel. The good thing about buying the tickets from the travel agency was that we got Flexi tickets, i.e., it gave us the freedom to visit Burj as per our convenience.

Golden Ratio

Many of you might be perplexed by reading the heading Golden Ratio and must be thinking what it has to do with traveling. Well, you are correct; it has nothing to do with traveling, but with the next man-made marvel that we visited on Day 3, i.e., Dubai Frame. At the first glance, one gets an impression of the Dubai Frame as a giant portal gateway to another dimension. However, don’t worry, it’s not. It showcases very meticulously how everything started in Dubai; how it used to look 50 years ago in terms of landscape, lifestyle, trade, etc. and where it is heading towards. Once we entered the frame, we walked through the history of Dubai, the whole presentation was so vivid, and created to such a detail, that for a moment we felt as if we time-traveled to 1960s and 70s.

The Palm

On day 2 of our trip, we planned to visit and witness one of the most talked destinations in Dubai, i.e., Palm Jumeirah and to give our bodies the potion of vitamin D, The Beach, JBR. We left our hotel around 9.30 for our first destination, i.e., The Beach. One can easily reach The Beach via metro and tram; we took a metro till DMCC station. Distance from the metro station to The Beach was approx. 750 to 800 m, one can take the monorail till Jumeirah residence 1. However, we decided to go on foot instead of taking the monorail as we wanted to explore the nearby areas as well. After taking a long walk on the warm sand and swimming, our stomachs started growling and what place can be more suitable to extinguish our hunger than the flying cup. In the flying cup, we enjoyed our food with cool ocean breeze kissing our cheeks.

Jardins de la Ville

From the title itself, many of you might have figured out that on the first day, we had seen some of the magnificent gardens of Dubai. We started our day with Miracle Garden; we reached the garden around 11 am via bus, from Union station, which was just a station away from the Salah Al Din metro station located at a distance of 50m from our hotel. Talking about the garden, well, its size and appearance left us mesmerized; it has been appropriately named as a miracle because of the scenery being offered is treat to the eyes.

Prologue: A Travel Streak

From the sandy warm beaches & magnificent architecture of Dubai and Abu Dhabi; to serene, peaceful, and mesmerizing beauty of Himalayas. It was quite a transition not just in terms of terrain but also in terms of history and culture.