Arvind Kamath Blog on Travel and Leisure

‎"You gather the idea that Mauritius was made first, and then heaven; and that heaven was copied after Mauritius." - Mark Twain Mauritius was on my bucket list of “Must See” places since a long time and I finally got an opportunity to plan a vacation to this wonderful Island country, with my family in end October 2011. This was my first visit to an African country and to the Southern hemisphere, where you encounter opposite weather patterns. It was summer time at Mauritius while we were welcoming winter in India. The first experience of a country starts either with the Airline or the Airport. I was not disappointed by both although I had read horror stories of their National flag carrier – Air Mauritius.  I was pleasantly surprised by their service, on time arrival/departure and importantly the food. The flight from Bangalore to Mauritius is via Chennai and the 1 hour stopover was the only hitch. The journey time is approximately 8 hours while it is 6 hours on ...

Swedish experience When I was asked to travel to Malmo on business, I did not even know such a place existed on the globe. Is it in Denmark or Sweden ….. that was the question before me. I had never travelled to the Nordics before and hence my ignorance could be excused. I later found out that Malmo is a seaside town located at South West Sweden, just 20 miles from Copenhagen as the crow flies, but about 400 miles from Stockholm. Malmo is the third largest city in Sweden after Stockholm and Gothenburg with a population of just under 0.3million. I entered Sweden through Copenhagen airport since it was the nearest International airport to Malmo. The train ride from Copenhagen airport to Malmo was really breathtaking. The 20 minutes ride consists of 15 minutes on the Öresund Bridge which links the 2 Nordic Nations. The Öresund Bridge was opened in the year 2000 and offers a new road and rail connection between Denmark and Sweden. It is considered to be one of the greatest st...

I did not get an opportunity to stay at Acres Wild while on my visit to Coonoor in April 2011 but I did make it a point to meet Manzoor Khan, the man behind Acres Wild. One thing I liked most about Manzoor, is his accessibility be it on e-mail or phone call. On reaching Coonoor I called him up at around 10am and he was more than happy to meet me and my family to show us around his vast property that includes a cheese making unit. We met him at around 10:30am while he was already in the midst of introducing the geese near a small lake, to some school children from nearby Coimbatore who had come for a tour of Acres Wild property. Unfortunately his better half Tina was missing in action that day but he did admit that she was the brain behind the cheese making unit at Acres Wild. He met me as if we had known each other for ages. We had only interacted over e-mail and phone calls in the past. The children were scrambling around to get his autograph, for his earlier successful role as a lead...

"The Bungalow" at Ooty managed by Tranquilitea is truly a home away from home. I had booked the entire Bungalow located in the heart of Ooty near the Race Course for 3 days. The occasion - my parents wedding anniversary and my son's freedom from Board exams. The caretaker Amudha and her family took enough care to make our stay very memorable and what I liked is their prompt service and never say no attitude. The best thing about the package was the FOOD and being a foodie this comes top on my priority list. Amudha charged us ONLY for the ingredients that were used to cook our meals. You can't believe it,but yes its true. The cost used to be a measly 200 or 300 bucks for a great meal dished out to a family of 5 foodies !!!! Its always said that our appetite increases while we are at a hill-station and if the food is great, what a combination for a hearty meal be it vegetarian or non-vegetarian.... The Bungalow has 3 large bedrooms with attached bathrooms; a dining room...

 

Home Stay experience at Heavenly Coorg This was my 5th visit to Coorg and 2nd to Palace Estates in just 2 years !! I had now experienced “home stay” after my initial stay at Palace Estate in October 2010. Palace Estate is located at Kakkabe, a small town about 30 kms from the capital of Coorg (a.k.a. Kodogu) called Mercara (a.k.a. Madikeri ). The local people called Kodavas still prefer to use anglicized version of these names. The distance from Bangalore to Kakkabe is about 280kms via Mysore/Madikeri and the journey time is approximately 6 hours with a short tea break. It took us long since the road at some stretches from Madikeri to Kakkabe was in pitiable condition fit only for bullock carts or hardened trekkers. Finally we reached the place just in time to savour the sumptuous lunch provided by our host, Prasad Apparanda of Palace Estate Home Stay. The advantages of staying at a home stay, which I realized, are many especially if you want to discover the lifestyle of the local peop...

I was invited to Doha, the capital of Qatar for a Sales related meeting and hence the duration of my stay was barely 2 days. What can one see in 2 days especially when you have a tight schedule? I was in the Hotel 90% of my time and the remaining 10% spent on the Road or inside the Airport. What I gathered from my colleagues in Qatar is that the country is blessed with tremendous reserves of Oil and Natural Gas and in fact it has the third largest gas reserves and the highest GDP per capita in the world. Qatar is an absolute monarchy ruled by the al-Thani family since the mid-1800s and has since transformed itself from a poor British colony noted mainly for pearls into an independent state with significant oil and natural gas revenues. The Doha Airport is beautiful and well managed although not as huge as Dubai Airport but larger compared to Bahrain Airport. I completed my Immigration formality in just 30 seconds although I expected more time assuming the stricter rules and regulations...