It has been 14 years since me and my wife were married and we never been to an overseas place for Vacation together or as a family with kids
Whenever due to business needs I travel overseas, there has been always a haunting and guilty feeling of me not taking my wife and kids on a memorable overseas trip.
Passports after Passports - Visas after Visas, this guilt was pushing me to the extent of planning an overseas vacation at any cost to satisfy the Egos of my wife and Kids :)
After a lot of scrutiny and probing we decided to visit London, Venice, and Rome and embarked on a planning spree which includes, booking flight tickets, Visas, Hotels, food, sightseeing and last not the least the Budget.
It was my Friend in London who was instrumental in me deciding this trip and he too being a good Samaritan offered to stay with his family in London.
Next step was to book my flight tickets. The first leg was a round trip from Bangalore to London. After lot research in momondo, make my trip portals, I could finalize on BA which provides non-stop flights including reasonable baggage and food options. For a negligible extra fare I was able to book a direct flight with all that a vegetarian family needs for both our return and onward journey to London
Flight bookings are not yet over, I need to plan my trips from London to Venice, Venice to Rome and Rome to London.
With some guidance and prudence, I ended up booking a flight from Gatwick to Venice. Train from Venice to Rome and once again a flight from Rome to Gatwick.
The next step was to book my accommodation. with the help of google and customer feedback I was able to narrow down on serviced apartments in Venice and one in Rome.
The next major step was Visas for the entire family for both UK and Shenzhen Visa.
UK Visa was no brainer, I utilized the Holiday season window to apply upfront more than 2 months earlier and got the UK VISA within a week
It was the Shenzhen Visa which gave me nightmares. There were some back and forth information needed by embassy and even after providing all those, there were no updates nor Visas given until 2 weeks before my departure. I ended up calling the Visa consulate in Delhi to pressurize and after much of firefighting was able to get my Visas.
At one point I was even contemplating to cancel my Italy trip.
The final step was arranging Forex, winter clothing and any other country specific needs which were taken care more like a ritual that are needed for any trip
Finally the the D-Day arrived and all were excited especially my wife and kids expecting a memorable journey in to the skies.
The Bangalore London flight was on time and we reached the airport. My friend has arranged for a taxi and reached his home happily.
Whenever due to business needs I travel overseas, there has been always a haunting and guilty feeling of me not taking my wife and kids on a memorable overseas trip.
Passports after Passports - Visas after Visas, this guilt was pushing me to the extent of planning an overseas vacation at any cost to satisfy the Egos of my wife and Kids :)
After a lot of scrutiny and probing we decided to visit London, Venice, and Rome and embarked on a planning spree which includes, booking flight tickets, Visas, Hotels, food, sightseeing and last not the least the Budget.
It was my Friend in London who was instrumental in me deciding this trip and he too being a good Samaritan offered to stay with his family in London.
Next step was to book my flight tickets. The first leg was a round trip from Bangalore to London. After lot research in momondo, make my trip portals, I could finalize on BA which provides non-stop flights including reasonable baggage and food options. For a negligible extra fare I was able to book a direct flight with all that a vegetarian family needs for both our return and onward journey to London
Flight bookings are not yet over, I need to plan my trips from London to Venice, Venice to Rome and Rome to London.
With some guidance and prudence, I ended up booking a flight from Gatwick to Venice. Train from Venice to Rome and once again a flight from Rome to Gatwick.
The next step was to book my accommodation. with the help of google and customer feedback I was able to narrow down on serviced apartments in Venice and one in Rome.
The next major step was Visas for the entire family for both UK and Shenzhen Visa.
UK Visa was no brainer, I utilized the Holiday season window to apply upfront more than 2 months earlier and got the UK VISA within a week
It was the Shenzhen Visa which gave me nightmares. There were some back and forth information needed by embassy and even after providing all those, there were no updates nor Visas given until 2 weeks before my departure. I ended up calling the Visa consulate in Delhi to pressurize and after much of firefighting was able to get my Visas.
At one point I was even contemplating to cancel my Italy trip.
The final step was arranging Forex, winter clothing and any other country specific needs which were taken care more like a ritual that are needed for any trip
Finally the the D-Day arrived and all were excited especially my wife and kids expecting a memorable journey in to the skies.
The Bangalore London flight was on time and we reached the airport. My friend has arranged for a taxi and reached his home happily.
We had a very warm welcome and blown away by his hospitality. It was nice to greet and meet their family. After some 30 minutes we walked to a near by park to get a glimpse of evening in London. The park was well maintained and indeed huge. We spent some time and reached back home to have dinner and catch up with our tiredness and jet lag.
