Panshet…An experience a of a different kind.

With Eid falling on monday, we would have two full days of chutti. Faced with extreme boredom we planned to head out somewhere. It was a tossup between Shivneri Fort & Panshet. With Hemant vetoing the fort with as much intensity as China did India for the UNSC seat, it was Panshet that won. The “We” consisted of Anuj, Anshu, Hemant & Me, with Raghav being in Mumbai & Soni refusing. The departure time was set for 8 AM, but being what we are, we got up at 7:30. … miraculously we were out by 8:30!
Had breakfast at Mayur Colony [Loni Dosa] after which we set our course for Panshet. The route was pretty simple, head onto Sinhagad Rd., past Khadakwasla, towards Sinhagad Fort & turn right when you see the sign telling you to do so [If you don’t then you will end up at Sinhagad Fort & that we had already done!] From there it’s another 20kms to Panshet. The drive was the best, comparing to Mahabaleshwar & Matheran. Mahabaleshwar made us work the gears going uphill, & Matheran was not as scenic. This was a perfect mix of the two…the climbs were gentle, the road was smooth with minimal traffic, & we were surrounded with lush greenery throughout. Riding pillion, unfettered, I was completely mesmerized by the beauty. With my custom playlist [created esp. for the trip] setting the mood, I was simply in another world altogether. Glorious.
On arriving in Panshet, we followed the signs that led us to a small place that catered to tourists[food/water/entertainment]. It was pretty secluded & there were hardly many people at that time.

The main attraction was “water sports“[if you could call it that!] in the form of Paddle boats *bleh*, Motorboats rides, water scooter, Speedboats & Kayaks. We settled on Kayaks deeming the others ‘unworthy’ of such a trip. It was then that we got an FYI from Anshu that he & water were not really compatible…infact he had never been in water that was more than waist deep.

Thankfully there was a Kayak that held two people so Anuj & Anshu went on that, with Hemant & me going solo [another FYI :I am a pretty good swimmer, have been so for quite sometime & completely at home in water. All thanks to mum’s constant hounding ]. So on went the life vests [damn bulky things I must say, made movement difficult ] & we climbed into the kayaks. Its one funny boat! You sit with your legs stretched out & if you want you can lie back too [atleast normal ppl can, Hemant could barely sit stretched out, let alone lying down :p]. You have some holes beneath your heels & your bum, I suppose its to let out the excess water that you bring in while paddling, the kayak stays afloat as its made of hollow plastic. You have a two sided paddle that you row with alternating bet. left & right [or would ‘port’ & ‘starboard’ be the correct terminology?:p].

It took us some time getting the hang of it…the trick is to dip in the paddle deep, stroke, pull, repeat on the other side. Soon we were rowing like pros! [well almost ]. I had taken a coupon for half an hour but it was so much fun that I extended it to one hour. We horsed around, raced each other [Anuj & Anshu won ] & had all sorts of fun!
Hemant went ashore to get the camera & took our pictures. While he was getting back on the Kayak again, he fell in the water! The best part? The camera was strapped onto his life jacket & that too took a nice dunking!! That kind of cut down the excitement & a few mins. later we were out of the water. Hemant was sad as there was’nt a photo of him on the kayak. He took out the batteries & the memory card & set it to dry. Will have to give it to the service center & hope it has not taken a major hit. The photos that had been taken were on the memory card & I was pretty confident that they would be OK, & they are.
As he was already wet, Hemant decided to take a planned plunge into the lake. Anuj followed him, on his return Anshu gave in & he too stepped in. Though he did’nt know swimming, the life jacket kept him buoyant & soon Hemant was teaching him how to swim. The heat was making the water look so very inviting that I could’nt resist . Soon it was the three of us in the water & anuj was ordered to take the pics . Swam around, splashed, taught Anshu & floated along enjoying the cold water against the hot sun.

It was almost an hour later that we got out & changed. Everyone was VERY well tanned leaving Hemant very distraught! [I have made peace with my skin tone knowing that it cannot get any darker, so have no concerns whatsoever ]
It was now 2pm & the only thing we had eaten was the dosa in the morning. All the activity brought on the hunger pangs [Rowing is not an easy thing! Our arms were burning with the effort . And they are still sore at the time of writing this!] so we decided to have lunch at ‘Preet-da-dhaba’. After taking a couple more pics, we bid farewell to the place & headed back.

Reached Preet-da-dhaba in half an hour & after the scrumptious lunch, topped with the heavenly lassi, all we wanted was to lay down & sleep. Somehow we made it back home [approx 4:30 ]& after a nice cold shower I fell on the bed…& did not get up before 11!
Overall a day VERY well spent! Went to an offbeat place & did something new. One awesome experience the beats the hell out of the regular khadakwaslas, lonanvalas & the khandalas.
That’s how we do it!!

P.S:With this trip my bike has crossed the 10,000 Km mark ! [And about time too!]

Flickr-ing of memories

        I had come to Pune in 2006 & since then have taken umpteen pictures. Many ppl whine as they think I take too many pictures, well something happened that proves that this “annoying“ habit is like a good investment. It provides rich dividend in the future .
        I used “Yahoo! Photos“ to store/share my photos, as I had no physical media storage[apart from my phone. It was the only multimedia device we had then & it held pics, music & vids, hence space constraints]. Unfortunately Y!Photos became integrated with ”Flickr” & all photos were automatically transferred to it. At that time I was given a Pro account, free of charge. Unfortunately [again] that was for a period of 1 yr. which soon ended, resulting in my account being downgraded. To go Pro again I would have to pay their subscription fee. This was obviously out of question for a stingy kanjoos like me…& besides I wasn’t [& still am not] a hotshot photographer so I didn’t NEED a Pro account, just wanted somewhere to store my pictures. Being downgraded brought with it the limitations…100MB upload per month only, 2 vids per month ,[& the biggie] only 200 photos will be shown at anytime.
        Well I sure had uploaded more than 200 to Y!Photos, so when the [for the lack of a better word] “lease” expired many of my photos had been hidden. I stopped using Flickr due to this, moving on to other services [google, fileden]. Soon “Out of sight, out of mind” syndrome kicked in & I forgot what all I had uploaded & what had been hidden. Until yesterday that is….
        I know that Flickr does inform you that your photos are being hidden, but its the way its actually done that created problems. I had created “Sets” to organise the pics, what Flickr did was show my sets but with some pics missing. Now how was I to know some photos were missing? I used to think that I had probably uploaded the missing pics somewhere else & forgotten [nothing new...my absent mindedness is legendary], not uploaded or lost it on the DVD I had made just before moving out of the Hostel[DVD’s are SO unreliable ].
        Well yesterday I decided to download all online pics & make a backup, now that I have a lappy & an ext. HD etc. You can imagine my surprise when deleting the downloaded pics the made more appear!. [It took me some time to realize what was happening, ended up losing some pics.] These were photos of which I hardly had any recollection, or given up as lost. And here they were!!
        Looking through them was was fun, showing them to my roommates brought back old memories…many of them had us in splits . I can see how all the pictures I have taken will make us all reminisce later in our life. Old friends….funny incidents…crazypana

I guess I should thank Flickr…its like it gave me a surprise gift !! [though I am still not subscribing ]

HP sucks.Period.

Anuj’s HP charger had gone bust. He had been running his lappy on battery, that he would swap with Raghav’s when it ran out of juice. To conserver power Anuj’s lappy was running on Powersaver, hence ultraslow making him, ultrapissed. He had tried to get the charger repaired as the damage was limited to the connector pin. Thanks to HP’s pointlessness the pin/connector was of unique make & not available in the market. And believe me I when say he looked high & low for it’s replacement [from upmarket stores right down to the chor bazaar]

So he withdrew Rs.2400 something that made his heart heavy & his bank balance lighter. We went to the HP store on JM to get a new adapter. He bought it . To celebrate we went to FC to have Chocolate Toast. It’s quite good! The bread was crisp & the chocolate….sorry am drifting… :p
On the way home we exchanged the old Spike-guard for a better one & made it back so that Anuj’s lappy was up & running, on High Performance [after 2 weeks!], before 7pm. Something he had promised he would make happen

But as with all good things there is a catch. The pin that goes onto the laptop is not of the correct size, it is 3 times larger in circumference. So to get it to fit HP has made a teeny-weeny converter. Now the whole thing looks positively stupid. It hardly resembles a charger, instead it looks like some confounding electric voodoo. Or in Anuj’s words “Rocket banaya hai kya?” Now, instead of one, we have four points that have a high chance of giving out. Plus there is chance of loosing the small adapter. The fun part? If the little thing gets lost/damaged, you have to buy a whole new charger worth Rs.2400 [as of today]! Wonderful HP, what a brilliant plan to drain your customers dry! *applause*

  

Top:New connector with adapter. Bottom:Old connector.

  

Converter+Connector

What is this need to unnecessarily complicate things? As it is your product quality is crap [am too irritated to sugarcoat anything right now.] And you are adding more crappy stuff, that nobody needs. Two of my roommates have HP laptops, one is DV 6000 other is DV 2000 & both have had to buy new chargers in the span on 1 year from their respective date of purchase. Both have different connectors & now you have added a new type. Thats 3 different connectors over 2 years. I only wish the time you spend on developing these (highly) dispensable connectors, you would have focused on making laptops that don’t scorch you when you work on them & don’t need to be taken to your snail-paced “Service Centers” every 2 months.

Congrats & welcome to the summit to stupidity *bows*. Dickheads.

Dream on…

Had a strange dream yesterday.

I was going to a Nike store to buy a new bag. Brought the bag back to the apartment, opened it & out popped 3 labrador puppies!! All cute & fuzzy bounding all over the apartment. Hemant did not like it one bit & ran off

Have no idea what it means or what induced it, but was nice

Of Cheetahs & Water woes

Read in TOI yesterday that the cheetah is going to be imported from africa & tried to be inducted back into the wild.

Environment and forests minister Jairam Ramesh told Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, “The cheetah is the only animal that has been declared extinct in India in the last 1,000 years. We have to get them from abroad to repopulate the species.”

Dude! Are you guys crazy?!? We all know what is happening to the Tigers & Lions we all have in our “Reserves”. Why bring them back just have them slaughtered? The thought process of these guys is completely warped…first you should have a plan in place to defend the assets you already have & then add to it further. *shakes head*

Again you can see this convoluted thinking in trying to solve the water problem in pune. You know that our monsoon is fickle & we have a water problem. But you get down to it when you are in the middle of the crisis. Boring wells etc. could have been done already & tankers should have been standing by to swing into action instantly. Instead we now have hurried digging, resulting in chaos & unnecessary pressure. The tanker owners are charging exorbitant prices & blackmailing the citizens. All this could have been avoided with a little foresight…nitwits

We are to have water cuts through out the day, but have no idea when these cuts will take place. If we had the information we could stock up on drinking water etc. for daily use. Instead here I am waiting, or rather, hoping for the water to come back on, so that I may brush my teeth & get ready...

Incompetence is frustrating!!!!!

American Adventure:Panama City Beach

Left rome at about 8:30….almost on schedule

The distance was 392 miles[630km]…covered it in 7hrs exact. Would have been less than 6 had we not been sidetracked, gone through small towns instead of going around them. The GPS keep on taking us into narrow streets instead of the highways. But I must say, I was really impressed by the sign system of the US. You can go from A to B over any distance just by know the direction of the destination [north/south etc. ] & get on the respective highway. You have signs telling you when to take the exit, which rd. you need to be on next. As you approach a traffic signal you have a signboard as well as spaced out strips on the ground that produce a different kind of noise than the regular road. The closer the you get to the signal, the distance bet. the strips decreases. I have seen 4-way intersections with no signals, just a 4-way stop sign. The car that arrives first at the intersection, is given the right of way, without any mishaps or blocking up the intersection. Excellent roadway system…no wonder ppl drive over long distances!

Ok enough of the road now…you must think I’m in love with the sadak & that i must do lotpot on it!

In PCB, checked into the edgewater resort. It’s not as good as the one in Orlando, but it good enough & this is the only one we could get reservations in, given the short notice. PCB is located in the Gulf Of Mexico…had planned to go to San Destin ,but the resort there were full. They gave these ‘resort tags’ to differentiate us from outsiders who might be wander around the resort…I call them Dog tags , you may catch a glimpse of them hanging from out pants/hands/ankles. Very irritating. Also if you lost them there was a $5 fine…& it’s easy to loose one, considering you are on a beach swimming & playing around. Then there was a mandatory $25 breakage insurance, that the reception guy said covered us till $1500 worth of damage, making it sound as if he was giving us some sort of a gift. The advantage is that now we have something to vent out our frustration on :p

Ours is a beach front condo so you can see the the sea right from the balcony & being on the 7th floor, the view is absolutely breath taking!!!!!

Panorama pic[Click to enlarge

White sand…green blue ocean extending into the horizon…the sun reflecting off the water. You can hear the surf breaking on the shores all the time.
Beautiful.

The afternoons was hot & no way were we going out in the blazing sun! I don’t know how the ppl can stand the heat & lay on the beach…the sand gets pretty hot too. Anyway since PCB is in a different time zone, it is 1 hr. behind Rome time, had plenty of time. So we relaxed for a couple of hrs, had lunch [finally had Peanut butter jelly sandwich!! thanks to Shivani SS Singh ]
Put on our bathing suites & walked down to the beach at 6 [local time] as it is the sunset is pretty late here…we had atleast 2 hrs of light. The sand was really soft & felt good beneath my feet, though they do make walking a bit difficult! It was white, & not brown making it look like powder. Walk down to the edge & tested the water…was cool. Walked along the edge letting the waves crash around my feet soaking in the surroundings. This is the second time I’ve been on a beach in my life. Am not counting Lakswadeep as I hardly remember anything….Had gone to Andaman & Nicobar, a long time back….memories are faint now.
Did’nt waste much time hanging around [just enough for a couple of pictures ] & were jumping into the sea. The water felt cool, the waves kept pushing us back at the start, but soon you feel them pulling you out. ! there was some seeweed floating around, but that wasn’t a bother…the saltwater unfortunately was…It was too salty, after sometime you had a bitter taste with the water going in your mouth.

Also you couldn’t keep your eyes open underwater as it would sting & that made swimming difficult. But these were only minor inconviniences compared to the fun we were having!! Swam out a bit, dove into the oncoming waves, scared shivani by going underwater & catching her legs :p. With the sun gone behind the clouds the beach had also emptied out [no sunbathers] Played around waiting for the sunset…the cloud hid the sun just before it dipped into the ocean, but still it was beautiful. Came out sat for a bit & then took a shower to wash out all the sand…

“]

The Sunset[Click to enlarge

It was starting to feel cold with the wind picking up, so decided to go into the resort pool as it is a bit heated. Swam in the pool for another half an hour with aabhas, shivani & mama [mum pa & aastha were still at the beach].
All this swimming had made us all ravenous so reluctantly we had to go inside, shower, change & then go out for dinner. It took us 45 mins to find a place to eat! There was way too much traffic on the road….ppl walking were going faster than us . It seems during the day everyone is at the beach & during the night everybody is on the roads…Crawled our way across beach road, found nothing so turned onto another, Hutchison, which turned out to be exactly opposite. Zero traffic! But then it had nothing on it…Cruised around till mama spotted Applebees. The place was nice, & we had a good dinner. An added bonus was some really good music, almost all were my favourites.

By the end of our dinner, it was 11pm & we were all beat…Aabhas was literally asleep on his feet! Headed back to the resort & lay on the bed without even bothering to change. Was asleep soon

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Today [writing this on the 28th] plan to go parasailing & jetsking. Plus there is go carting & maybe even a bit of bowling.:D
Expect another post soon
Cheers

American Adventure:Seaworld

Seaworld Orlando:An experience that can only be felt, not described. Had a GREAT day. Saw things that one can only hope to see, dud stuff I would not have, learnt extraordinary things.

The day started off quite well with us getting on the road at the required time. Reached seaworld well ahead of schedule so we were in early [mama saved $300 using a coupon he had!]. Got ourselves the map, & set our course for ‘Manta’, the brand new ride that had been put up in the park [FYI:This is the first roller-coaster ride of my life] that shivani just had to go on.

Having arrived early there was almost no waiting & the waiting area was a tunnel so that we could see the sea life. Got on the ride, strapped in & went horizontal[unlike other rides we were facing down with our backs parallel to the ground! We could see the drops drown to the ground. The theme was the Manta Ray & you are strapped to its belly]. Take off! With the first drop came the feeling of falling & scared the hell out of me, but once the rolls started it was superb! sitting gives you a sense of orientation, but with you face down, it is way weird! Tried to shout but the turns/twists/rolls kept knocking the air out of my lungs It was truly exhilarating & had a big adrenaline rush after the ride. Shivani, Mama, Papa & me were jazzed up to go again, but Mum, Mami, Aabhas & Aastha were kinnda in a petrified-shock! Put it off for later.Next on the list was the ‘Journey to Atlantis’.

After riding the Manta

It was pretty tame considering manta, but equally fun as you got to get wet! Mum & Papa sat in front & got soaked . It had three drops with a storyline of the lost city of Atlantis. Interestingly had zero wait time!
The last ride was the ‘ Kracken’ . It was the longest, lasting 3 mins though not as scary as Manta. Enjoyed it the most!! I was worried that my glasses would slip off during the ride & it almost did on the Manta! Had to close my eyes while plunging straight down, but they were open for the rest…though that did get me giddy:). I could not figure out where the cameras were located…so the pics came out real freaky. Shiavni & I wanted to go on again so that we could get a pic that looked good!

After the Kracken

Sample Videos: Manta, Kracken [not mine, vids by others just to give you all an idea of what the ride was like ...manta may look slow, but it runs around 90kmph,kracken at 100kmph].

We were done with the rides at around 10am. Shamu, the famous killer whale, had a show soon so we made our way to the ‘Shamu Stadium’ all the way across the park. The Shamu show is the most popular show at Seaworld, & runs for about 20 mins. And it was beautiful. With the new ‘Believe’ theme to raise awareness for nature, the show put on was simply wonderful.

The trainers & the animals have a connection that you can feel sitting in the audience. It is humbling to see a tiny human & a huge whale work alongside in a pure combination of trust & love. Looking at the Orcas[scientific name] you feel that they are as intelligent as you, and they probably are. Shivani & me sat in the “splash zone” while the others went up. The sun was beating down hard by now and we were glad when the whale thumped its tail drenching us in the surprisingly cold[~13˚C] & salty water! This, coupled with the rides had already vasooled us the $80![watch:shamu underwater video]

The next 4.5hrs were spent going to a couple of other shows[the sealion show was very funny, with the caricature & all. The sealions were better actors than those we have in bollywood! Hilarious], having lunch & watching polar bears, dolphins,sharks, turtles etc. Went back to the resort around 4 to rest. It had gotten very HOT, with the sun shining down brightly & no wind at all . Had drunk loads of water only to have it sweated out. We were wearing our swimming trunks, that too was no helping in the heat. Having multiple entries, we decided to return when it was cooler, around 6. Went back to the resort & caught forty winks.
Were back at seaworld by 6:45, planning to ride the Manta & the Kracken again[only shivani & me, rest had chickened out ] but the weather had become overcast & they shut down the rides due to the lightning. In the time we have been here in florida, the weather has gone freaky everyday, but in the afternoon making the evenings pleasant. Unfortunately, today it went exceptionally freaky & in the evening at that. This caused most of the things to shut down as it is park policy to bring close all open air sites with lightning within a 3 mile a radius of the park. This sort of threw our plans awry as we simply had to watch the famous ‘Shamu Rocks’ at the stadium & it was made of metal & only partially covered. As we started to make our way to the statdium, it started to pour, & I mean pour! Found shelter tried to wait out the storm, but it showed no signs of abating. Made the journey in spurts, walking as fast as we could when the rain slowed & hiding under when it intensified. It was a 15 min walk to the stadium & by the time we got there we were soaking wet. We almost didnt make with mami worrying that we would fall sick if we got wet. The stadium was not as full as usual, probably due to the storm, but it was good for us as we got good seats. Did not sit in the splash zone this time though .
Unlike the previous Shamu Show this was a Rock concert with Shamu & the trainers as the star dancers. The show was to start at 9, but one of the trainer said that they could perform only when the storm moved on & they would inform us in 15 mins. Thankfully everything went right & we were able to see the show. And what a show:FANTABULOUS!! It truly was a rocking show, with the lights, the music & the swift moves of both the whale & the trainers. The whales sure did dance! Indescribable.Here are some videos instead:Vid 1 , Vid 2.
Loved Shamu’s both performances….even the videos dont do justice to them.

Next was a fireworks & lights show:Reflections. It lasted for almost 20 mins! The show was a delicate choreography of water fountains, lights, showers, fireworks & music. It was amazing to watch, have never seen this or anything like this, it was one of a kind. Have a small video, the dang battery ran out, so its pretty short, but you will get an idea. It was a perfect way to finish of an absolutely magnificent day. One day that will be a flag point throughout my life!

Am putting up the pics that I have. Some really good ones are on mamas camera, but will be able to get them only when we return to rome…will make a different album of those & put them up separately. Enjoy, & feel free to comment!

American Adventure:Downtown Disney

Got up late…around 7. Found that mum was having a migrane, that put any plans we had on hold[had none anyway]. Lounged around the resort. I tried to relocate the yellow corvette I had seen the day before so that I could have a closer look & take a pic, unfortunately it seemed to have gone . Ate cereal for breakfast, so did the other ppl, tried to work out how to spend the day. After a bit of brain-storming[mostly by mama] it was decided that after lunch we could watch a movie at AMC, & spend the remaining time admiring the nearby places. Being located in Downtown Disney, there would definitely be stuff to see. Mama also found an interesting holiday package:visit Seaworld & you can visit Aquatica for free within a year if you are a resident of Georgia or Florida. That being settled, we had to decide upon a movie [PG]…narrowed it down to Up, Land of the Lost, Imagine That. Imagine That won with mami not liking animated movies[Up] & shivani’s friend telling her that LotL was a dud. So Imagine that it was.

Mami cooked lunch, nothing fancy, just Aalu, dal, chawal…come to think of it was the regular stuff I ate in pune AALU! but better [yeah I know you may say how can you make aalu better, but well she did]. Had it around 1, showered, left by 2 & were there in 15 mins. Got the tickets of the 3pm show. Having 30 mins to spare, we tried to get on the hot air balloon, but that ride required 30 mins too, so had to dump it.
Went in the hall 10 mins early to catch the trailers…they ran for 30 mins! The movie was OK. Had some funny bit, some emo-moments & entertaining ones.
Came out at 5. Took a walk around the place, mostly shops themed around Disney cartoons. By now it was cloudy bringing down the temperature considerably, but the flip side was we could not take a ride on the hot air balloon, it being windy & stuff. But we had lots to see & loads of photos to take. Aastha & shivani went crazy, snapping the cameras/phones all over the places & me getting towed everywhere to take their pics!
It was all very slow, but we had nothing more to do so we took our time, wandered in & out of the shops, browsed through interesting things. Saw huge robots/dinos built of lego pieces, an irish pub, a brit fish ‘n’ chips, T-rex & a dance show.
Left DD to go to play minigolf/put-put near our resort. Used coupons supplied at the resort to get games for 2 ppl free!Played an 18 hole game & enjoyed it!
Took some time getting used to it, & the holes were smartly constructed. Mama won, with papa coming a close second. Had dinner just next to the minigolf thing at CiCi’s. Again used coupons to get 4 buffets free by paying for only 4!! The food was good for the price we paid…had a choice from a variety of pizzas, salads, pastas. Fully loaded returned to the resort by 9:30.
Not tired much & nothing compared to yesterday! NASA drained me completely, fell asleep the moment I hit the bed…dead tired. But it was worth it. Seeing NASA, its history, the technology. Was inspiring & intimidating all at the same time. Very informative & educational. Will put up a post describing the NASA trip when am free. Have to be up tomm. by 6 for seaworld.

Take care!

American Adventure:Florida Edition 1

If you have been reading my blog regularly, you’ll know that we were to leave for Florida on the 13th. You will also know that we were supposed to have left Rome by 6am. The first part was taken care of..but the second part was woefuly out of sync. Instead of 6, it was 8:30 by the time we left![many reasons:us packing late into the night & shivani returning late from 'The Fray' concert....she could'nt get the poster, so she got me the T-shirt instead. Thank you SHIVANU!!]
Had packed before on the 12th before going to sleep…2 pcs of luggage with our clothes, 4 backpacks with odds & ends, & 4 big bags of food/snacks & associated content[masalas,tea sugar, pressure cooker, nimki, bhujia..,you get the picture, right?]!! Thankfully, everything,JUST fit in the trunk. Took a whole bunch of pics throughout, the good ones are on mama’s camera & will try to upload them asap, but the ones with me are up on the album, link in the RHS under “US trip Links”. Left by 8:30. Stopped to get gas & some cappuccino for us all…I don’t know why but these rest-stop cappuccinos are always thick & yum! Chatted, goofed around with shivani, snacked, took pics [silly/funny/good ones]. Saw some great cars:many Mustangs, a couple of Corvettes & a Porsche 911 turbo.Had loaded up on DVDs & watched shivani’s ‘Take the Lead’ followed by ‘The Day The Earth Stood Still’. Had lunch around 2pm at IHOP[International House Of Pancakes]. Loved the three egg omelette filled with chicken with pancakes on the side! [eating complete different food here...fajitas, pancakes etc. & more to come ]. Lunch took us an hour…slept for an hour or so once in the car….woke up to a strong rainstorm [heard later that there was a high alert for the storm] with the rain & wind making a huge din, reducing visiblity & increasing out ETA .
Finally made it to Orlando, Florida. Stopped at a mall to pick up some milk, eggs, bread, butter & water. In case you are wondering why we are picking up/packing cooking stuff that’s because the resort we are staying at [Sheraton Vistana Resort]

is like a large housing colony with rooms that are like a 2 BHK’s[Bedroom Hall Kitchen set]. A resort with apartments[though they call it villas] you could say. Staying here for a week so must have groceries to cook breakfast/ snacks/ tea etc. Checked in, got our keys, free gift, coupons etc. & went to our ‘apartment’:1939.
It’s on the ground floor, with a lake as its ‘backyard’. It’s a sweet suite! Small & cosy, yet fun [with a jacuzzi in the bedroom!].
Having food courts/gyms/swimming pools & loads of other activities within walking distance of 2mins…It’s gonna be fun!!
Moved in all the stuff into the apartment/villa & had tea[the kitchen if fully furnished, down to the microwave & dishwasher]. Aabhas & mama were going swimming, so we tagged along & took a small tour of our neighbourhood. Got back withing an hour, freshened up & left for dinner. Had planned to go to the pizza hut in the food court, but there was a long line & they didn’t have much choice in the pizzas & so we left for Uno.It was located out of the resort & Aabhas was the one to recommend it. Like the previous two times [at Chili's & IHOP] I chose what mama likes at the respective places, here it was chicken milanese[roasted chicken breast, with salad & & garlic toast]. The servings were large & we ordered the food accordingly, & this time there was minimal waste of food [unlike chili's!]. Place highly recommended….lots of stuff available[am staying off burgers & pizzas to try stuff you don't get back in India] & everything we had was tasty.
After dinner [& a picture] we took a short drive around ‘Downtown Disney’ before returning to the resort. Everybody is now asleep except me…& no, no midnight coffee tonight!

Tomorrow we will leave for JFK Space Center, an hour long drive. This time no departure time has been set, so hoping we don’t get too late!!

More tommorrow..cheerio

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American Adventure:Atlanta Daytrip

Had loads of stuff to do before 12:30pm today. Why? Mama had some meeting in Atlanta, so we decided to join him for the trip to have a look around. We were to leave for Atlanta around 12:30.No morning walk today…instead I went cycling for 3 miles…felt good, ridden a cylce after a LONG time . Got back, mum oiled my hair [dandruff??] & we packed for the weeklong trip to florida, beginning tomorrow. Shivani was going to a concert [The Fray were performing in Atlanta] with her friends & her iTunes library would not sync with her iPhone…fixed that to stop her from fretting to kingdom come. Had to take Buddy & drop him off to his doggy hostel, for the time we would be in florida. Showered, got dressed & pestered Shivani to shower quickly [she was the one who knew the location of the hostel, or so I thought!]. Left with Jason, got lost, kept looking for a florist found it & soon located the neighboring doggy hostel. Dropped buddy along with a week load of food etc., rushed back, stuffed backpack with snack & water for Atlanta & heated a ‘Lean Cuisine’ Pizza for brunch.
Mama pulled in the driveway with me just gulping down the last bite. Wished everybody goodbye, reminded Shivani to get me some stuff from the concert & were off.

It was a hour long ride, mama dropped us off at a mall, whose name I can’t place now…we or rather mum & Aastha went snail pace shopping while Papa & I scouted the whole mall in an hour & a half[Trust me, it was BIG]. Spent 3 hrs. in & around before mama called to say that he was done. Joined us soon & we had ice-creams before heading back. Aastha got some clothes, a pair of her dream brand sunglasses [those huge 'bumblebee' ones! Hate them!! *yuck*]. Mama got me an iDesign Cube Clock…verryy cool & slick , I was looking for a laptop sleeve but they had only the 15.4″ ones, not 13.3″, mama said he would take us to an electronic store & I could get the sleeve there. Mentioned the thing about an external HD, to which he replied that he already had a 320GB one at home!

[Though I was planning to get a 400GB one, I am not one to look a gift in the horse's mouth! 320~400 anyway :p]
Reached rome at around 6 & played with the HD[3 partitions:Mac, Time Machine & Windows/NTFS. Fiddled around with time machine till I finally had it down pat. Convenient & classy]. Set up the car headphones/remote so that we could watch movies on the car DVD player…afterall it would be a 7hr drive . Checked to see that everything played on all the screens & the headphones. Helped mami to pack food stuff esp. Indian stuff [masalas,daals...going to make khichdi there :p. Obviously, not ON the beach!!!] Had dinner two hrs. ago, now having piping hot cappuccino & finishing this.

Have to get up by 5…the plan is to leave here by 6. How fruitful it will be? Hah! Unlikely . Anyway must atleast give it a shot. So off to sleep.

Good Night