Traveling near restrooms in the train isn't fun

I had an interesting (rather horrendous) experience during my return trip from Tiruppur, last week. I had booked two tickets (for me & my wife) from Tiruppur to Chennai. Both the tickets were in the Waiting List (single digit waiting list number) until the last day. Most of the times, the wait listed tickets get confirmed just before the charts were prepared. Unfortunately, only one of the two tickets got confirmed during the day of the journey. I went to the station and checked at the "Inquiry" department. The person at the counter recommended me to board the train & check with the TTE if there are any vacant berths. It was too late for me to cancel the train tickets & to take a bus to Chennai. Also, it won't be comfortable to travel in a bus, with a kid (There is only one stop in-between the whole journey & kids cannot control peeing in-between). I decided to take a chance - hoping that I would definitely get a berth since I'm traveling with a female & kid.

The train (Allepey Express) came to Tiruppur at around 10.45 pm and we boarded the train. To our surprise, there were already 3 folks sitting near the restrooms because their tickets are wait listed. All the lights inside the coach were switched off and the coach was completely dark. All the other passengers were in deep sleep. I asked my wife and kid to get into the confirmed birth. I waited for the TTE to show up. The train started to move and pick up speed. I waited with the other 3 passengers near the restrooms. The TTE showed up in about 15 minutes. He said all the berths are booked and there are no vacant seats. At about 11 pm, the train stopped at Erode and all my 3 companions got down/vanished.

I was the lonely person sitting near the door/restrooms. It was not a pleasant experience, though. I was very tired and fell asleep in about 30 minutes. However, I couldn't continue to sleep for more than an hour. The smell emanating from the restrooms was constantly increasing as more and more passengers start to use them. To add to this, there was a trash bin close to the restrooms. It was filled with cockroaches and mosquitoes, that were busily scavenging the left overs of food parcels. I couldn't imagine how I was able to sit there for such a long time. But, I didn't have any other option. My eyes started to burn and I went back to sleep again. Around 4 am, the TTE stopped by and asked me to take a vacant berth. I had a sound sleep for 2 hours.

The few hours that I spent near the restrooms made me to think about several issues in the system - the 'automated' ticketing system that confirmed just 1 out of 2 tickets, the unhygienic condition of the restrooms, the fate of poor passengers who travel in cramped 'unreserved' compartments etc., At least, I was better-off traveling in an A/C coach :) I'm thankful to the TTE who let me stay in the A/C coach. The state of unreserved coaches is pathetic. They are packed with people and there is hardly any space to walk or even to comfortably sit. We keep talking about human values and human rights. But, people are packed like cattle in these unreserved coaches. When would the system change? I'm very confident that the system wouldn't change, unless we do something about it.

Also read:

I love IRCTC.CO.IN
Skywalks in Train Stations - What are they for?
If I don't care, who'll care?

Kovai Trip - Maruthamalai/GCT visit

We went on a short trip to Coimbatore, last
weekend to attend a couple of weddings. I visited Maruthamalai temple & Government College of Technology (GCT) after nearly 7 years.

The thought of Coimbatore brings deep memories of the past - a colorful college life ... filled with lots of dreams & ambitions, 5 or 6 of us eating from the same plate at hostel, exciting college tours, sleepless combined studies, vibrant college symposiums, campus interview preparations, watching movies from the front rows, chit chats in-front of tea shop ... the list goes on and on.

We took Nilgiri express from Chennai which promptly reached CBE Junction at 5 am. We got down the train and came out of the station. It was still very dark. However, the place was very busy. It was filled with people everywhere. Tea stalls were busy catching up the morning crowd. The weather was slightly cold. We tried to rent a hotel room near the station, for a short stay. We couldn't succeed in getting a reasonable accommodation at an affordable cost. We decided to go to Maruthamalai and rent a hotel room there. We went to the bus stop and waited for Maruthamalai bus. In the mean time, an auto driver was eagerly trying to persuade us to board his auto rickshaw. He closed the deal at Rs.120 for taking us to Maruthamalai. I was pleasantly surprised. An auto driver in Chennai charges the same amount to take us from just Choolaimedu to T.Nagar !! He took us through the streets of Coimbatore and I was reminded of the days when we used to walk back to the college after watching night show movies. He dropped us at a hotel near the foot steps of Maruthamalai.

Also read:

Rameswaram Trip Experiences
Tirupati Tirumala Temple Visit - May be the last?
Tiruchendur Temple Visit - Poojari's demanding money

We rented a room in Hotel Podhigai Regency. It appeared to be recently built and they gave us a single bed room for Rs.600 (one day stay). We got ready, had breakfast at a road side restaurant and visited the temple. There aren't any decent restaurants in that area (Well, the same restaurants looked decent to my eyes 12 years ago). We took the mini bus from the bottom of the hill to the top. There are some infrastructure changes going on at the temple. Other than that, there are not many changes. We spent a couple of hours there and came back. We then took a bus to GCT Coimbatore.

We reached GCT, at around 10 am. The famous 'Mahalakshmi bakery' where we had our late night tea was missing. Vasanthi bakery was still there. The 'Kayyeandi Bhavan' where we used to have our dinner most of the times was also missing. We entered the college through the 2nd gate (boys hostel gate). The college looked very colorful. The college playground, and the surrounding trees/bushes looked fresh, as if they were just painted in green. In general, the college campus looked very clean. I went to the CSE department and met Prof. Lakshmi Prabha (HOD) & Prof. Annadurai (Ex. HOD, some regional head now). We had an hour long conversation. Except for the seminar hall (which was upgraded with teleconferencing facilities), the remaining infrastructure looked pretty much the same. Lots of multi-national companies such as Oracle, AIG are visiting the campus these days for recruitment. CS department had 100% placement last year. The folks in the college are very upbeat. I heard that hostels have Internet facilities and most of the students have laptops/computers. We spent another 1 hour going around the campus and taking pictures of Auditorium, Canteen, Class rooms, Stationery store, Hostels, etc., When I left the campus, I was very emotionally moved. (Also read: Infoquest 2010 in GCT, Coimbatore  World Classical Tamil Meet 2010 - Coimbatore)

Life is so wonderful. You never know what is in store for you. Dreams change. Ambitions change. But, you keep moving on. The world is full of unopened doors.  Every time you open a door, you are exposed to new things in life. I'm quite excited about the beauty of this life and its mysteries. We don't have to worry what will happen to us in future. If we can make sure that we do our best in the present, our future will definitely be bright and beautiful. OK! Let me stop right here.

Also read:

Rameswaram Trip Experiences
Tirupati Tirumala Temple Visit - May be the last?
Tiruchendur Temple Visit - Poojari's demanding money
Infoquest 2010 in GCT, Coimbatore 

How to plan a sightseeing trip in US?

How do you plan a sight seeing trip in US? What is the process involved? What are some useful websites to gather information regarding your travel, places to see, hotels to stay, etc., How to get the best deals when booking car, hotel, flights etc.,? Where can you get some useful feedback from 'real people' (as opposed to just marketing blurb)? You'll find answers to all such  questions in this post.

What qualifies me to write this post?! Well, I've visited 32 different states in US and have made at least 15 sight seeing trips in a row with my family (which includes a toddler). I'm more than excited to share the art of planning for a trip, with all of you. (Disclaimer: The more trips you've made in US, the less useful this post will be to you.)
 
In the best interest of my readers' time & to improve the readability of the post, I've decided to make it as a multi-part writeup. The first part will talk about 'Selecting the Destination and Places to See'.

The first thing you should decide when planning a trip, is your travel destination - "Where do you want to go? Do you want your vacation to be relaxing or tightly packed? Are you interested in doing a lot of activities or do you just want to do sight seeing? Do you want to drive to a destination or do you want to fly? Lots of these factors go in, during the decision making process. Also, it depends on your family members, their health/fitness conditions, your interests, etc.,

Once you have identified a set of destinations for your trip, the next thing you have to find out is "Is this a right time to go there?" For example, you should visit places like New Hampshire in Fall, Portland during Spring, & Glen Canyon or Crater Lake during summer. Your timing of the trip is very important and it influences your travel destination.

The third big question is "Will the trip or destination fit my budget?". If you have budgeted just $200, all you can do is a simple road trip to a nearby place. At the same time, if you have $2000 or more, you can do a fun-filled trip to Hawaii or you can take a cruise. So, your budget for the trip is very important in deciding the "destination".

The fourth question that you should ask is "How many days do I want the trip to be?". The number of days of your trip is dependant on your work schedule, the destination, your family members, your budget etc., Most of my trips were about 3 - 5 days long and it worked out well for me.

After finalizing your destination, you have to identify the list of places to see in/around that destination. You need to do a lot of research for this. Here are some tips:

1. Look at Trip Advisor. This website gives lot of useful tips regarding 'places to see' with real user reviews.  
2. Visit About.com. They have lots of interesting articles about special destinations (such as New York, Hawaii, etc.,) 
3. Visit US National Park Service website. This website provides useful information regarding all National Parks in US, monuments & historical sites 
4. Search Wikipedia. Wikipedia gives information regarding the destination, culture, people, important land marks, etc.,
5. Look at State/City web sites (or Chamber of Commerce websites). Each state/city in US maintains a web site and those websites have tourist/visitors section listing the 'sight seeing places'. For example, this is the website for the City of Idaho Falls and there is a link for visitors.     
6. Search through Yahoo Answers. Yahoo Answers has a travel section and there are so many active participants there. You can get lots of useful tips, suggestions and help from the folks, there
7. Look at the List of Places to See in USA article 
8. Do Google Search. A simple "places to see in " would show thousands of entries. Of course, you need to read 100s of articles to gather information
9. Search Google Maps. Google Maps also provide some information regarding the attractions near to a place/locality. Just type "attractions near " in the search box. You'll see lots of results. 
10. All modern day GPS devices provide travel details regarding nearby attractions, museums, historical sites, etc.,. They make your trip planning very easy. If you have postponed the job of 'selecting the places to see' till the day of your trip, just buy or rent a GPS. You are all set for the trip. In fact, GPS helped me very much during our road trip. Otherwise, we would've got stranded.

Hopefully, this post gives you enough tips to select your travel destination and the list of places to see in each of those destinations. The next post in this series will give you tips regarding How to get the best deals for airline, car, and hotel booking?.