Skyscanner and I travel to Egypt

I must have been around eight yrs old when I first heard about a country named Egypt from my grandfather. He was a fantastic storyteller and every night before going to bed, he used to regale me with stories from different parts of the world. Through him I got to know about the Sphinx, the great pyramids, the pharaohs, the beautiful queen Cleopatra, the mummies and I used to wonder when I would get the chance to visit this magical place. That time has come and I'm all geared up to take my next vacation in Egypt this November. The  hitch is that I can spare only one lakh for the trip so I needed some solid help in planning. That's where Skyscanner.co.in swooped in like a knight in shining armor.

Have you guys checked out skyscanner? This website is just awesome folks! All that you need to do is enter your travel dates and they will immediately start scanning different airlines to bring the best deals. I entered my travel dates and in a matter of seconds, got 76 results! I always thought that a trip to Egypt would mean very high airfares but Skyscanner gave me a return airfare of Rs 46,187! This included two stops but since I wanted to spend most of my money on sight seeing, food, shopping etc, this was a great deal for me. 

Ok so airfare done. Next step was to check out hotel rates and skyscanner did that effortlessly as well. All that I did was click on the 'Need a hotel in Cairo' link and I got the rates of 170 hotels from different hotel booking websites displayed in front of me.  From hostels to uber luxury hotels, everything was right there. I'm definitely not a staying in a hostel type of person so my requirement was a decent and safe place for a woman traveller.  I settled for Le Meridien Pyramids Hotel & Spa, a five star hotel very close to the Giza Pyramids and the Sphinx. And can you guess the rate I got for 7 nights at a 5 star hotel? Rs 24,924! This was offered by booking.com and I was told that I had saved around Rs 6000 on the deal. So adding up the airfare and hotel rate, the total came up to Rs 71,111 which is definitely a steal. I've managed to save a pretty good amount of money and that's gonna be spent on discovering as much as I can of my dream destination.

Thanks Skyscanner for making my travel planning so easy and hassle-free. Egypt, here I come!

This post is a part of Skyscanner travel wizard activity at BlogAdda.com

Visit to the Four Seasons Wines Vineyard at Baramati, Maharashtra

On 16^th Feb, a group of very excited Kolkata bloggers that included me, Poorna, Shikha, Shayoni, Swarnali and Deepa boarded an Indigo evening flight to Pune. The reason? To visit the Four Seasons Wines Vineyard at Roti, Baramati, a two hour drive from Pune. This trip was one that all of us were looking forward to ever since we received the invite from Four Seasons. Many whatssap messages were exchanged inquiring about the weather at Baramati, what kind of clothes to take, what we would do out there, when we would meet at the airport etc etc. It was the first time all of us were travelling together and the excitement level was quite high. The flight to Pune was an uneventful one spent half sleeping, half reading and half chatting and when we landed it was 9.30 pm. Four Seasons had already arranged for two Innovas to take us to the vineyard and after we were joined by the 6^th blogger from Bangalore, Animesh, the group set off for Baramati.

We reached around midnight and were completely awestruck by the grandeur of the place. The chateau on location boasts 14 rooms, a swimming pool, a spa and a party deck and terrace which can hold a 1000 people for anyone looking for an interesting holiday. We were given a warm welcome by Anu of Four Seasons and shown to our rooms. Before retiring, we planned to meet at 6 am the next day to view the sunrise, explore the vineyard and of course take a lot of pictures!

The Four Seasons Vineyard, owned by the UB Group is spread across 55 acres of land. The morning stroll around the vineyard and its adjoining forest area was wonderful. We were joined by Mr Bala, the GM who is a treasure trove of everything related to wines. He has been in the industry for nearly 20 years and all that we got to know about wines at the end of the tour was primarily due to him.

After a lovely breakfast at the restaurant that included danish pastries, muffins, cheese omelette and medu vada we started off on a guided tour of the winery with Mr Bala. From sorting of the grapes to the fermenting process, to bottling and labeling, we saw everything. And obviously, each step of the process included tasting the wine from when it starts off as pure grape juice, to when yeast is added, when it is a few weeks old, a few months old and finally straight out of the barrel. We tasted them all! The best wine that I had was the award winning Ritu which means 'season' in Sanskrit. Ritu is not yet available in India and is their export quality wine styled to suit the international palette. It is made from French varieties of grapes grown in Baramati and is currently exported to the UK, France and Japan. Four Seasons does plan to introduce this gourmet wine to the Indian market in the near future and I hope they do it soon because the quality is excellent specially the premium Barrique reserve wines. 

Mr Bala talking about the fermentation process

Sorting out grapes

We had wine straight out of these tankers!

And these barrels

Ladies Special

Effect after an hour of tasting wines!

Moi!

After the tour, we all headed for a wine and food pairing lunch specially created for us by chef  Hitesh of the Hyatt Bangalore. It was fusion food, delicious, well planned and very well paired with the various Four Seasons Wines. 

After a quick siesta, it was again time for more food and wine. A barbeque was set up by the swimming pool and to make the evening even more magical, two musicians had come down from Mumbai to play for us. It was an evening that I will not forget for a very long time. The ambience was so beautiful. A clear moonlit sky with thousands of stars twinkling above. The sound of the cello, company of friends, excellent wine and delicious food. I just did not want that night to end but we all had to catch an early morning flight back home so reluctantly had to come back to our rooms.

We left the vineyard at 7 am the next morning and it was with a heavy heart that we waved goodbye to Mr Bala, Anu, everyone at the vineyard and the Ginger Claps team. Four Seasons was the perfect host and I can’t them enough for inviting me. I have come back with very fond memories of those two days and definitely with much more knowledge and appreciation of wine. I sincerely hope that the vineyard is open to the public soon. It is too beautiful a place to not share with everyone! 

Glimpses of my trip to Delhi and Agra

So earlier this month, I visited Delhi and Agra with a few of my closest friends and it was 5 days of full on masti. I've been to these places a number of times before but their magic never fails to enthrall me. Visiting old monuments, taking long walks through old Delhi, eating at Karim's, visiting the majestic Taj Mahal, praying at the dargah of Salim Chishti at Fatehpur Sikri, I did all of that. Couldn't shop as much as I would have liked to because there wasn't enough time but I did manage to visit Sephora though :)..Would have also liked to meet some of my blogger friends in Delhi and will surely do next time. Sorry Phil :(..

Take a look at what those five days were spent doing..(Picture Heavy)

This is not my name Starbucks!

Benefit Counter at Sephora

New shades from Aldo

Lodhi Gardens

At Vrindavan

No caption needed!

Agra Fort

Pout Pretty at Pout Cafe!

Fatehpur Sikri

Red Fort

Banke Bihari Temple, Vrindavan

 Have you been on a holiday recently?

Travel Diaries - Glimpses of my trip to Rajasthan

Hiya Pretties

This post has nothing to do with either beauty or makeup. Instead, it has to do with one of my other major love in life - travel. Last week I was in Rajasthan, enjoying the beautiful city of Jaipur, the serene Pushkar, the spiritual Ajmer and the supposedly haunted Bhangarh. All of us friends had a whale of a time and we were really sad when it was time to come back. What was very surprising was the weather in Rajasthan...it was so hot! I had packed on mufflers, scarves, coats, jackets and what not but all I wore was a pullover. Dunno about you but once I'm travelling, I hardly wear makeup and this time it was no different. My trusted companions for the 4 days were the Garnier BB cream, Maybelline Colossal kajal, MAC Desert Rose Blush and the Baby Lips balm in Coral Flush. Didn't even feel like wearing lipstick!

Here are some pics of my trip..Happy Viewing!

Trident Jaipur...where I stayed

The garden outside my room

This coffee chocolate cake was yummy!

The Buffet Table

The Queen of Jaipur

Lotsa stones at Chameli Bazar

Lapiz Lazuli & Rose Quartz

More Stones

Bling Bling

Bonfire at Nahargarh Fort

India's Most Haunted?

The Bhangarh Fort

Entrance to Bhangarh

 

The Bhangarh Landscape

Highway on my Plate!

Hotel at Pushkar

Mind Your Head!

View of the Pushkar Lake from the room

 

So Serene and Peaceful

My Room!

Loved the bed

That's all I have in this edition of my Travel Diaries. Till next time...Tatas

Do share your experiences if you have been to these places.

Love

D