Toy train ride with Nilgiri Mountain railway

An incredibly late post is finally up, yay!

During our Ooty trip in last April, we had an exhilarating ride over Niligiri mountains on Ooty's popular toy train. This historic railway line has been operating since 1899 (founded during British rule in India) and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India. 

These rare locomotive steam trains run from Ooty to Mettupalayam, covering 46 Kms and passing through 200 curves, 250 bridges ( including about 30 viaducts ) and 16 tunnels. Blame on lack of time, we had chosen to travel till Coonoor from Ooty (Udagamandalam), which is around 26km. We had booked our tickets well in advance over IRCTC website. It's very difficult to get tickets during peak time especially around summer vacation in India.

Here is the photo journal.... Needless to say, we had best time watching the breathtaking wonders of nature by enjoying the Nilgiris morning breeze patting over us. 

At Buffalo Zoo - 05/19/2012

Trip to India- Part 2

Luckily, we reached DC on time, no delay and hence we had ample time to get our boarding pass till Calicut. We were traveling via Qatar airways. I like traveling in Qatar airways because of many reasons.

Reading book at Doha Airport

Vacation...off to India!

Finally, the much awaited vacation is at our doorsteps. Less than 24 hours to go. I have been busy planning our trip, cleaning the house, shopping and more importantly packing the stuffs for a long trip.

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[Tour with PL] At Madame Tussauds

Our next destination was Madame Tussauds wax museum, located at Times Square. This is a major tourists attraction, displaying waxworks of historical and royal figures, film stars, sports stars etc.
Liya was all active and lively after a sound nap during our Brooklyn trip. We did not spent a lot of time in MT. Honestly, we both are not film freaks. But we definitely enjoyed watching the amusing wax statues, which appeared like original.

*Trust me, after getting out from the area, for a long time I was confused whether people I met on the road were originals or waxworks....lol!*

[Tour with PL] Nonstop Brooklyn Tour

Next, we are going for a Brooklyn tour. This wasn't suppose to be a hop on hop off, but nonstop. It was extremely hot, Liya love playing with her goggles.

 The final nonstop bus for Brookly tour was at 3.00 pm. We reached the boarding point by 2.00. We still have time left, then we saw a park and the ferry port to NJ and Statue of Liberty. Well, isn't it a good idea to spend few minutes there in the park, instead of standing in the bus waiting area, under the blazing sun...? Definitely yes, and we are in the park.

Wordless Wednesday :: A click from Marine Land

Liya enjoying the mind-blowing performance by adorable Walruses at Marine Land, Ontario, Canada!

[Tour with PL] ~ NYC trip: Moving on to WTC

Hmmm, we're damn hungry. I had packed our lunch from home, the typical Hyderabadi Chicken Thahari. We ate it in this park and Liya spent some time with the pigeons and squirrels slithering over there.
Next, we are heading to World Trade Center. The skyscraper, which stood as the world's tallest building, at the time of its completion, well known for anyone across the globe after the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with six new skyscrapers and a memorial to the casualties of the attacks.

[Tour with PL] ~ Standing at ESB

I apologize for super delays in sharing our travel stories. You know how difficult it is to take time out for blogging when a toddler is around and especially when she has already started feeling that Mamma loves laptop more than her. :D
Okey, I was saying that we headed to Empire State Building. I guess, ESB again doesn't need a formal introduction. But for those who don't know much about it, let me share a glint on it.

Liya @ Empire State Building

Here comes the digital reflections of the moments of joy, wonder, happiness, excitement... everything Liya went through while hiking onto the top of Empire State Building, NYC.

At NYC : Part 1

Pappa and girl in the shuttle

We took an early morning flight to JFK . Liya was little cranky as she was waken up too early and was given a shower. But she was all happy and thrilled as she was dressed up. We parked our car in the airport parking lot. It is around 1 mile away from airport. They offer free shuttle service to airport, so commuting was quite comfortable.
We landed JFK airport by 8.30 am. Liya was all peaceful and enjoyed her 'flight'. She killed her time by browsing through the TV screen in front of her; at times she watched cartoons as well. She conveyed 'Hi, bye, see you etc' to the passengers, entertained few of them with naughty deeds.

[Tour with PL] Tour de New York City ~ Before we started off

As  you already know, we got back from an awesome, unforgettable trip to NYC and DC.

   "A traveler without observation is a bird without wings"- [Moslih Eddin Saadi] 

Therefore, we will be glad to share with you on 'every bit' of our trip in coming posts. Read through and enjoy a 'virtual tour' through NYC.

About NYC: I am sure there needs no introduction about New York city. People around the globe must have heard of this enormous city at least once in their lifetime. The most populous city in USA, which lies at the mouth of the Hudson River.

Weekend Updates:: Trip to Canada Falls

Note: A week delayed post

Last weekend we visited Canada side of Niagara falls. We had done our visa processing etc few weeks ago, and the processing was unusually quick and easy process. We started from Buffalo at 2.30 in the after noon. Canada falls is almost 15 miles far (nearly 30 minutes drive) from our home. It was a warm and pleasant day. Liya just loved her trip as always. She was super excited, watching the scenery and commenting on everything passed by.

The view of Niagara falls from Canada is mind-blowing. I have no words to describe the beauty. Liya did not want to sit on her stroller and wanted to be carried in our hands so that she could get a complete view.

Trip to US- Part 6: Reaching Buffalo

At last, the long awaited boarding for our flight to Buffalo announced. It was so relieving, as we were all tired and were simply sitting in the Dulles airport. The flight was too small, I could hardly walk inside. Felt like my head might hit the roof. Liya was getting irritated in the small flight. I think, domestic flights in India are much better and are heaven compared to this 'match box' like airbus. It was almost an hour journey and we landed Buffalo safely. The airport is not very big, but very beautiful and hygienic.
This is the main airport nearby Naigara falls and hence this is one of the popular one in New York state.

Our bags which came much before us (in the 5 o'clock flight) were waiting for our arrival. As soon as we got out, Buffalo weather hit us. It was too cold outside and Liya's cheeks immediately turned red. We reached Residency Inn (which falls in Marriot hotels network)in another 10-15 minutes. We including Liya slept peacefully through night.

Trip to US- Part 5: At Dulles international airport

We landed Washington DC (Dulles international airport) by 3.30 PM. The immigration queue was much much longer than I expected. But there were so many queues and the process was really quicker. I should mention that there were quite few people talking in Malayalam in the queue as well. I feel proud to be a Keralite, everywhere I go, I can talk in my own language, there will be at least one person to listen to it. It took almost half and hour to reach our turn, but less than 5 minutes to finish all checks etc.

Trip to US- Part 4: Up in the air, over Me, Eu and US

It was around 9 am in Doha, our flight was already in the air. This flight was really vast and suited for a long journey. But I did not like the 'service' though.

Looking through the window, I could only see vast, terrific, dry terrain- so called desert. The scene was the same for many hours.  I was scanning through the route map in the screen and was imagining life in each country upon which we were flying through. Few hours later, I could see only ocean. For some time, I recalled few flight crash stories, with a slight fear in my mind. What otherwise I could do in such a long air journey.

Trip to US- Part 3: At Doha

It took almost 5 hours to reach Doha. We were served with Indian style breakfast from the flight. It was morning 6.30 in Doha. The airport was really crowded. There were huge number of people travelling to US itself. Like any mom in the world, my first concern was finding the baby changing room and getting Liya ready with new diapers and dress. Whomever I asked, did not either understand English or I did not understand the 'Arabic' version of english.

Flying to US: Part 2- At Hyderabad airport

We reached Hyderabad airport at 12.00 o'clock in the night. Liya was already in her deep sleep mode, and she was peacefully sleeping on my shoulder. Things moved much faster and everything was normal until we reach immigration counter. There was a long queue, and I was waiting a bit away from queue, taking care of 2 cabin bags, 2 laptop bags and my little girl. Jazeel was standing in the queue, waiting for our turn. Little Liya might have been under an impression that she is sleeping in her bed, in our home and never knew that she is at the door steps of a long journey.

Flying to US: Part 1

At last the most awaited day-29th Oct 2010 - the long journey to US - reached and I must say that I was very much anxious about hundred things around Liya and could not actually enjoy the excitement. I could not anticipate how my little girl would handle the 18 hours long flight journey, the waiting in the airports, immigration lines etc. But, thank god, it turned out to be a wonderful trip, she enjoyed sleeping in the basinet, and I could kill my time looking at her innocent face..:)

Another long drive HYD --> CLT

 Yes, as I mentioned in my previous post, we vacated our flat and drove down to hometown in the very next day early morning. I had planned to prepare and carry lunch and break fast and hence got up really early. After a while Liya also got up and she started screaming. She was not comfortable to sleep in the room without cot and bed. She did not like the idea of sleeping in the floor on the blanket and did not get a sound sleep too.