Viking

Watch the kick-ass YouTube video here

Now for the synopsis:
It was just over a year back when we moved to Europe and did our first trip to neighbouring Belgium to mark my country #25.

However, it was only country #24 for Geet at that point, and we continued to be on different country counts until this trip to Sweden, which not only marked our very first visit to the Nordics, but also happened to be country #35 for both of us.


It's been a whirlwind of travel for both of this past year where we covered the following new countries:

Belgium S
Croatia SG
Malta SG
Peru SG
Bolivia SG
Ireland G
Hungary SG
Portugal SG
Russia S
Estonia SG
USA G
Sweden SG


What made this trip more memorable though was the fact that we toured with friends from other parts of Europe, Christina from Rome and Sabine from Belgium, and had Daniel from Stockholm to give us the complete Viking experience that just wouldn't have been possible without him.


We experienced some amazing cuisine that can be read in the TripAdvisor reviews below,  witnessed fascinating nuances that's on our Instagram TEN TALKS, and saw some unbelievable sceneries that's posted on our YouTube channel.


Looking forward to so much more there is to travel and see, and hopefully this gang lives up to the plans we've made to next have Sabine host us in Curucao, Christina host us in Naples, and finally Geet and I host the rest in beloved India.


TripAdvisor
Phil's Burger Stureplan
Scalas Bakficka
Cafe Sten Sture
Wilmer Kaffebar
Kvarnen
Den Gyldene Freden
Pharmarium






 

NY2.0 (second but different)

Visited New York twice ten years apart, and underwent a completely different experience. 

Statue of liberty

Visited the island in the last trip getting an up and close view of lady liberty and spoiled my passport at the time in the rain. 

This time around, took the free ferry ride from Manhattan to Staten island and saw lady liberty from the water. Completely different experience. 

Brooklyn bridge 

Landed up in a ghetto neighbourhood of Brooklyn after taking a wrong train from Manhattan, and quickly took a cab to get out of there which drive through the Brooklyn bridge. 

Crossed the bridge again this time, but from the level above, which is the walking path over seeing the vehicles below. 

Did this walk after capturing some great views of both the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges from DUMBO and eating at Grimaldi's. 

Times Square 

Literally lived in this Square the last time around. Eating, drinking and sleeping in the neighbourhood two nights in a row. 

Barely caught a glimpse this time after a drink at Three Monkeys, watching Chicago at Ambassador Theatre and finishing off with dinner at Halal Guys. 

Broadway 

Missed Lion King that only Bala visited the last time because I thought the tickets were too expensive, and caught Chicago this time at discounted fairs that are offered during Broadway Week that happens around labour day. 

Chicago is an out an out musical showcasing the pure singing and acting talent of the performers. The songs are all memorable, leaving you with a lot of nostalgia as you watch it. 

Niagara Falls 

Rented a car and did a tiring drive to the Falls, catching a glimpse from the top at dusk. Barely an experience worth remembering. 

Took the one day tour from Manhattan to Niagara, that could once again be termed tiring, but is actually pretty well organised to give you a comprehensive Niagara Falls experience. 

Take Tours is the agency that begins the bus ride from Times Square at 4am to reach the Falls by noon and resumes the return journey at 4pm to get back to Manhattan at mid night. 

In those 4 hours in between, you see the Falls from the top, bottom, sideways, everywhere, by doing the Maid of the mist boat ride and then visiting Luna island. 

Highline

Not sure if this was even around 10 years back, but is a neat walkway from 34th street to 14th which ends at the highly recommended Meatpacking district. 

Meatpacking was under construction, and probably too much in the middle of the day and burning hot to give a great experience, but will still remain memorable for the Apple Store and one of the few good meals we had over the trip at Dos Caminos. 

Rockefeller Centre 

Empire state building was the sky rise visited last time, but chose the less touristy and lower in height Rockefeller Centre for this visit and turned out just as if not more memorable since this is the place from where the famous workers on a bridge was shot and gives a really great view of Manhattan which includes the Empire state building itself! 

Top of the rock is the ride that goes up to the 65th floor in 40 seconds costing $40 pax. 

Central Park 

Remember this place pretty much to just go in and throw up after that 2 nights of partying in Times Square. 

Spent some leisure time after packing in an awesome breakfast of bacon, omelette and delicious coffee from the Wholefoods at Columbus Circle. So much better. 

Wall Street 

Spotted the bull here the last time, and caught both the bull and the fearless girl in front of it this time. 

Wrapped it up pretty quickly with a meal from the latest craze of Kati Roll Company. 

Macy's

Visited Target as if it was the thing to do among department stores the last time, and bought miniature deodorants and some shirts from there then.

Visited the much better Macy's and drowned ourselves in shopping bags given labour day offers and incredibly alluring prices when compared to European shopping. 

New Jersey 

Visited Hoboken (no idea why) and went to this bar where the Pirate Rum from the top shelf is etched in permanent memory. 

This and seeing Sanjeev were the top reasons of the last visit, while this time around, it was to see Shweta and eat at the picturesque Havens. 

Guess meeting people (Indians more specifically) is the only reason to visit New Jersey. 

One World Tower 

Probably the single most different experience, and for good reason. 

The previous visit involved the memorial at the grounded twin tower site, while this one showcased the new One World in all its grandeur, with impressive buildings and landscapes all around. 

Kudos to the spirit and engineering acumen of the Americans. 

Flushing Meadows 

Completely new experience, and the primary reason for this trip to begin with. 

Watched 2 matches here. One was a repeat of the same game we watched at Roland Garros; Nadal vs Del Potro semis, with only the result being reversed this time asNadal went out injured in 2 sets. 

The other were players we're seeing for the first time; Djoko and Nishikori, and a match that got over in as much time at the earlier one given how Djoko dominated over the highly skilled but totally inefficient Nishikori. 

Flushing meadows was really beautiful overall, but the spirit of tennis is still far more vivid in Roland Garros. 

Finally, it was delightful to catch up with Bobby and his family who we hung out with in Manhattan and even went to the match with. It was a short time, but time spent well nevertheless with visits to Asiate and Obao during our time there. 

In conclusion, while a second trip can be done with entirely new experiences in spite of spending a full week at New York, there are still so many more things to check out like visiting a speak easy (heard there's one inside the 5 guys burger chain), watching a show either at comedy cellar or of one of the guys we keep seeing on YouTube (Trevor Noah, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon), trying out strange cuisines like Ethiopian which only a city like New York can offer (restaurants like Sheba, Meskel, Cafe Wha, Jo’s ShangHai, Cats Deli and Woodbury were recommended) and maybe even visit Little Italy or Little China. 

So much to do still! 

Truly a place you can never get bored of.