Swiss Military Hanging Toiletry Bag

Regular travelers who are always on the go usually find standard toiletry bags quite cumbersome as all the required stuff is usually stuffed into one compartment. This bag has a compartment for all - a water proof compartment for tooth brush, a compartment for deodorant and other multiple compartments for one's daily need.

This bag can be hung and provides some personalization in strange hotels in different cities. All this saves you time and I found it quite helpful. It comes in various colors and is quite sturdy.

Swiss military hanging toiletry bag is available on Amazon for a very special price and can be bought by clicking on the pic below.

Club Mahindra, Udaipur

After stopover in Jaipur we left for Udaipur where we were supposed to stay for 2 nights. We took a longer route via Chittorgarh and took longer the expected. Also, once we hit the border of Udaipur we took the bypass road as suggested by the GPS.

Unfortunately, the bypass is full of speed breakers and overloaded trucks go very slow over them so that they do not break their suspension. Hell yeah! It took us more than an hour to cover last 9-10KM stretch.

Finally we reached the mentioned property at 7:30PM. They have some planned activity everyday and the day we reached they had puppet show planned for the kids. So, immediately we unloaded the car and went for the puppet show which was enjoyed by our daughter.

This property is new addition to Club Mahindra property and some areas are still under renovation.
It looks majestic from outside and with all the lighting done up it looks amazing.

After our check in we were taken to our room. Oh! the horrible room, the most horrible room I have ever seen at Club Mahindra or anywhere for that matter. It looked like a cheap 800Rs a night hotel, except that the rooms were bigger. The room was not clean, it smelled of Guthka, cob webs around, torn and yellowish towels, stained toilet & toilet seat. Oh my god! I thought that our vacation trip is ruined. Well that is what they did. I wrote on tripadvisor and got a standard reply.

A few days ago I was browsing the latest reviews on tripadvisor and saw same complaints over and over again and same standard replies from the management. I think Club Mahindra should revoke their affiliation with them. It is not about apologizing. Because, of their attitude we lost on our vacation time. Can they compensate for that? Well no!

I wonder who are the people who are liking this resort! Have they never travelled? Or they do not care for their money. Club Mahindra per night cost works out to be 4500INR to 5500INR in which one can get a decent enough hotel of any reputed hotel chain.

Continuing my review, we asked for cleaning and the room even stank more as the cloth that the cleaner bought was dirtier. Yellow towels were replaced with slightly yellow towels! Yuck!

We thought there is nothing much we can do and will check out in the morning and will move into the nearest Taj property. Courageously, we went for our dinner which turned out to be okay. It was nothing special and was just average or below average. Next, day our rooms were changed and were slightly better. So we decided to stay back and move on to our next destination the next day.

Once or twice we thought of having a drink but couldn't as the Air Conditioning in that area was not working. It is the lobby / reception area where the bar is also located. Basically, for our entire stay the reception's air conditioning was off.

Next day we went to City Palace and saw couple of lakes and had few snacks and drinks outside at the Club Mahindra property, where we really enjoyed and felt like we were on vacation. City palace is amazing and worth visiting.

Finally, it was the day to check out we were so happy and overjoyed

In short,

Hotel - sucks

Kitchen - is average, room service quality of food pathetic and overpriced, they DO NOT accommodate change in orders or meal plans, etc. nicely and give you loads of attitude, same is with the waiting staff who do not understand your needs and can even as you to get up go on another table in middle of your meal for some stupid reason.

Swimming Pool - Dirty

Recreation Activities - Good. The only saving grace.

Overall, I would warn you from staying at this property and wasting your expensive holiday nights. It is just not worth the pain and effort. To this day I sulk not opting for Taj property in Udaipur.

I have never given such negative feedback to any hotel in my life hopefully Club Mahindra is listening!

Four Points by Sheraton, Jaipur

So we started our vacation by taking a stop over at Jaipur. We decided to break our journey to Udaipur because we were taking this second road trip with our one and half year old daughter. Normally we always have our daughter's grandparents with us and we were skeptical whether she would enjoy our company on such a long drive or not!

So on the decided day, we started late in afternoon. As I had some office work to wrap up and we did not want to rush. After all it is supposed to be a "vacation" :-)

On our way we stopped at Hotel Ramada, Neemrana for a fantastic fresh juice, pasta and burger!

Upon reaching Jaipur we took the bypass road and missed the exit which would have taken us directly to the hotel. So we had to take a detour which delayed us by half an hour.

The hotel is in middle of a busy locality. We were prepared for this, since we read a lot of reviews on the internet about the hotel being at the back of big bazaar. We were not so surprised.

Hotel has a separate entry and it is a part of a bigger commercial complex. Parking and check in was very smooth. The staff was very courteous and we were in our rooms in a jiffy. Our little one enjoyed the beds, the rooms were large enough and well maintained. We were too tired to go to the restaurant and planned to leave early for Udaipur next morning. Therefore, it was a quick dinner in the room - followed by a walk to swimming pool and recreation area. I would like to highlight that there is a special kids menu and is very handy to have.

Next, morning we had buffet breakfast. The spread was pretty standard and tasty - no complaints.

The big advantage of having big bazaar next door was that I was able to stock up on mineral water, formula milk for my daughter, few snacks and cold drinks. I somehow do not trust the roadside vendors on the highway and usually stock up these items. For me this was an amazing convenience to have and I was very happy that I was able to top up. This turned out to be even greater because the highway from Jaipur to Udaipur is pretty much deserted except for the toll plazas and the towns /  villages that come on the way.

There is absolutely no highway eateries which are decent enough. Especially, if you are spoilt with the food and choices you get on Delhi -> Chandigarh -> Shimla route.

That's it! It was a short stay at Four Points Sheraton, Jaipur. I would recommend this hotel if you are a business traveler,  frequent traveler to Jaipur or if you need a short one or two day stopover for your trip.

The staff is amazing, food is good, hotel is well maintained, the rooms are clean and super quite. There is absolutely no issues because of the main road.

Choosing seats while flying

Being in a job which involves lot of air travel, I have developed my own preferences while flying. This may or may not work for you and are solely my views.

1. First few rows are the bumpiest as they face the turbulence first.

2. The last few rows swing and bump like a see saw.

3. The most stable rows are on the wing although the engine noise is noticeable.

4. Seats near to toilets are the worst because of Odor, People Hanging around to go to the loo, etc.

5. Aisle seats are good for easy access, but if you suffer from motion sickness they are the worst seats.

Few Tips for the Nervous Flyers

1. Develop a habit such as Writing, Watching Movies, Listening to Music, Reading Books, etc. Basically anything that will divert your attention.

2. Try to take up window seat as you feel more in control because you can see around and make out what is happening around you.

3. Take up seats in emergency exit rows so that mentally you feel secure.

Full Service Airlines, India

After the embarrassing closure of Kingfisher Airlines, India is left with only 2 full fare airlines.

1. Air India

2. Jet Airways

We in India love bargains which is clear from the number of low fare airlines. Among the two full fare airlines mentioned above. Except for leg space there is nothing much to write about Air India.

Jet Airways gives some decent service which is at par with Indigo or slightly above.

I have been travelling a lot with Jet Airways lately; as most of the corporate(s) prefer to fly their executives with them. But, I cannot relate to Jet Airways as a full service airlines.

1. The food portions and good for a 10 year old.

2. They do not serve any soft drinks / mocktails.

3. Most of the food served is "Street Food" like Veg Noodles with Manchurian, Ragda Patties (Mumbai Steet Food), etc.

4. Planes are ageing. Which is evident from their upkeep.

5. In today's age they do not have any screens to watch movies, etc.

The only hope is Tata and Singapore Airlines tie up to fly in Indian skies. Lets hope and pray that it happens. At the moment it is stuck in red tape.

British Airways Offers

Return Flights from Mumbai to London at 51079INR only and host of other offers.
Click Here to see the details.

Trident Jaipur

Trident, Jaipur is an excellent property right opposite JalMahal in Jaipur. The location is ideal as you cross Amer and Amer fort on the way. The same road leads you to the pink city and the major shopping destinations in Jaipur. Basically, it is neither outside the city nor inside the city.

The property is maintained very well and staff is very courteous. Sometime, that makes you a little uncomfortable. But, it is not hard getting used to all the pampering and attention received.

The food is excellent; however the ‘only’ restaurant serving food can get very busy at times.

The rooms are impeccably clean with all the necessities required. Keep in mind the 3rd floor rooms being rented as Lake View rooms do not offer the view of the lake as promised. The view is blocked due to the vegetation.

Well the only drawbacks are:
1. The property is very compact. The rooms are comfortable and nicely decorated but they are quite small.
2. Lack of facilities like SPA.

Le Meridien is a stone’s throw away and seems to be a better option. As it is a bigger property within similar price bracket. However it lacks the view and the location which Trident offers.

Few good places to eat on GT road

Murthal - Jhilmil, Ahuja No. 1, Sukhdev

Few Kms ahead - Haveli

Ambala - Sagar Rathna

Chandigarh - a really long list

Ropar (Rupnagar) - Lee Rose

Dragon Air

Flying to Hong Kong from Bangalore just got easier.

Dragon air a sister concern of Cathy Pacific has started a daily service from Bangalore to Hong Kong from 2nd July, 2008.

Cafe Masala, Eva Mall (Bangalore, India)

CAFE MASALA

This is another BJN hotels property on the 5th floor of Eva Mall.

One can either chose to sit outside and enjoy pleasant bangalore weather or sit inside. However, balcony seating is void of any views. The food is really good, but avoid rumaali rotis.

We enjoyed north indian food that was ordered and the Kulfi was amazing. The tables provide enough privacy and are decently spaced. Also, the seating is very comfortable - puts you in nice position to enjoy food and conversation.

Turn around time is also decent and waiters are responsive. For example, as soon as our drinks were done. Table was set up immedietly for dinner and dinner was served.

For Saturdays and Sundays one needs reservation.

This is a decent joint in the heart of the city. I would recommened this joint for a casual dinner after shopping. I was also told that their lunctime buffet is really good and there are plenty of items to choose from.

I will post more on other BJN hotels property like Samarkand, Hypnosis, Indijoe etc.

Jet Airways - flights to San Francisco

According to the advertisement in TOI today,

Jet Airways is announcing flights to San Francisco from Mumbai on daily basis.
This flight is starting from May 5th, 2008.

I will review international and national flights of Jet airways in next post.

Travel Websites - India

In recent years there has been a boom in number of websites offering air tickets, packages, hotel packages etc. Here is a short list of few popular web-sites:

1. Makemytrip
2. Yatra
3. Cleartrip
4. Indiatimes travel
5. Ezeego
6. Travelguru