PAYANIGA

Travel Blog by Prashanth M

The Advantages of a Cruise & Stay Holiday

April 7, 2013 by Prashanth | 0 comments

Whether you’re accustomed to cruise holidays and fancy a little bit of a change, or you’re a complete newbie that wishes to tread the waters a bit before jumping in the deep end, a cruise and stay holiday could be the perfect option for you. Whether it’s a cruise on the decks of the Brilliance of the Seas or you are thinking, instead, of the luxurious Oasis of the Seas Caribbean itinerary, you can easily add a stay on dry land too, to get the best of both holidaying options.

With a cruise and stay break, you can opt to stay at a hotel in the embarkation port before you set off on your ocean journey, or save the stint on dry land for after the cruise is over. It’s completely up to you when you book with Cruise Thomas Cook.

Gone are the days when cruises were the glamorous alternative to the everyday holiday, where an evening meal wasn’t possible without dressing to impress in a tux or a cocktail dress. Nowadays, cruises are available at affordable prices as well as offering smart, casual and informal options.

If you’re new to the whole experience, a cruise and stay break would be perfect. Not only would you have the chance to benefit from the ondeck facilities, visit various exotic ports of call and appreciate far corners of the world, but you’ll also be able to kick back and relax at an idyllic hotel for several days as well, giving you a perfect reason to extend your holiday to suit your personal preferences.

Test the water and see whether a cruise is for you by checking out the cruise and stay options available with your chosen itinerary. Perhaps you love the look of a particular destination but a day’s stay just won’t cut it, or would like to combine a mini cruise with a couple of days extra stay in resort – cruise and stay vacations give you unlimited possibilities to help make your dreams come true.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored guest post.

Castles of Scotland

March 28, 2013 by Prashanth | 6 Comments

If you live in the UK for quite long time and don’t visit any castle, then it’s a unpardonable offense. Being someone who loves architecture and historical places, I didn’t want to miss this opportunity to visit the castles around Scotland during my stay. I managed to pay visit to quite a few castles – couple of the prominent ones, few less known ones and one which I stumbled upon accidentally. Though I had a wish list to visit few more castles to visit, but managed to miss them. Here are top five castles that I visited, in the reverse order -

PAYANIGA - Castles of Scotland

5. Tolquhon Castle: I stumbled upon this Tolquhon castle (pronounced as ‘toh-hon’) when I was searching for a place to explore on my cycle over a weekend. Finally I ditched the idea of riding as my friends too got interested in visiting and we drove down to the castle. Constructed in 16th century, this small ruined castle is hidden within the countryside in Aberdeenshire. Though very close to Aberdeen, the castle is secluded and very less frequented by the visitors. With fields on all four sides, the view from the castle is eye soothing. And if you are in luck and visiting the place during harvest season of rapeseed plant, you are bound to be in the middle of yellow sea.

PAYANIGA - Castles of Scotland

4. Balmoral Castle: Constructed in 14th century, Balmoral Castle comes with a huge estate of close to 50,000 acres and is one of the residences of the British Royal Family. Situated on the banks of river Dee, the estate contains a wide variety of landscapes and well maintained flora. For someone who love long strolls or sitting by the riverside and have a leisurely time, Balmoral is the right place.

PAYANIGA - Castles of Scotland

3. Balvenie Castle: Though the name Balvenie is known to Scotch lovers, many might not know that it gets the name from Balvenie castle. It had snowed the previous night I visited. With everything in the vicinity painted white, the castle stood-out in the frame. Situated on the outskirts of Dufftown, it overshadows the Balvenie distillery and is neighbour of Glenfiddich, the world’s best-selling single malt. This is the place to enjoy the view of the castle with an 18 year old single malt to accompany.

PAYANIGA - Castles of Scotland

2. Dunnottar Castle: A castle which comes with a beautiful view. Situated on the outskirts of Stonehaven, is a ruined medieval fortress. With sea breeze caressing us, a day out on a sunny day is worth every second spent there.

PAYANIGA - Castles of Scotland

1. Urquhart Castle: Along with a wonderful view, this castle gets an upper hand with an added mystery of Nessie monster. Yet another ruined castle, was first built on the banks of Loch Ness in 13th century. With plenty of cruise services around, it makes a nice getaway spending time searching the mysterious Nessie monster.

Though most of the castles I visited dates back to medieval to 13th-14th century and ruined completely, they are very well maintained by the National Trust for Scotland. If someone wants to visit these castles, it is obvious that one ends up paying up entrance fee in most of these places. Better idea is buying the tickets to these castles online using a credit card which gives some discounts to the buyer.

Do you take photos of the cattle too?

March 9, 2013 by Prashanth | 8 Comments

Continuing my rant about travel moments/incidents that catch us off guard and ponder about them, here is a conversation I was involved with an old man. If you haven’t read about how we made a mess (and also kind of an adventure) out of our trek plan, read here – Somebody moved my mountain.

Manchanabele is one of the places visited by most of the bird enthusiasts living in Bangalore. During one of the days when I was interested in birding, I joined Shashank to visit Manchanabele. While we were running behind the birds, an old man from the nearby village approached us and there started the conversation between me and the old man while Shashank was trying to photograph a Golden Oriole which was perched on a tree. Keeping an eye on the Golden Oriole, Shashank was more interested in our conversation. Below is the conversation scripted by him.

PAYANIGA - Do you take photos of the cattle too?Lost in conversation – Me (6 years ago) and the old man. (Photo and text by Shashank)

Old Man: So, you people are photographing eh?

(literal translation from Kannada comes out something like - "are you (two) hitting photos?" - but then languages of the orient are not translation friendly, so let us take just the sense and move on)

Me: (a bit distracted) yes.

(Oh yes, all we need now is a loud conversation below the tree to help the bird, which had probably seen us already, relax)

Old Man: What are you taking pictures of? the tree?

Me: (still distracted) No, actually we are shooting birds.

Old Man: Oh, where have you come from?

Me: Bangalore.

Old Man: Oh, so you people have come all the way from Bangalore to photograph crows and sparrows eh?

Me: (looks at the old man now) Ah, yes. Also many other birds. There is a lake nearby isn't it. Many varieties of birds are found around here!

Old Man: Oh is that so? You can take pictures of the cattle too, can’t you? Buffaloes, oxen, sheep. There are many of them on the lake…

Me: Ah, yes of course. Thanks but I take photos of just birds.

Old Man: (clearly bewildered) Oh Ok. So you take the photo. What do you do with it?

Me: (uh oh! try explaining digital photography to someone in the countryside) We see it in the computer and then show it to everyone.

Old Man: Oh, so you can see the bird in the computer eh?

Me: (still watching the tree carefully for the Oriole) Ah, yes.

Old Man: What do you do with it then?

Me: (let me repeat it again) We then share it with others over the "internet". Everybody else watches it on their computer.

Old Man: What do you get from it?

Me: (thinking - "there can’t be a tougher question than this in the world!") We will win prize if the photo is good. (Phew, took the easy way out!)

(I glow in the feeling of having made the old man feel special, of having made him feel he was watching something phenomenal being made. Then there is a long pause where I sight the bird again and start clicking.)

Old Man: Ok, I will go to the lake to fetch my cattle, God bless you!

Shashank: Ok, at least let me snap a picture of yours.

The conversation stopped as abruptly as it started. This was one of those many conversations I was involved wherein my situation is nothing different than a clueless fish trying climb a tree :)