Trip to Dali Museum and Chihuly Collection

Salvador Dali Museum, Chihuly Collection, and Hotshop

Saint Petersburg, FL

Thursday, December 26, 2013

We woke up and got some continental breakfast at La Quinta Inn and drove to Salvador Dali Museum in downtown Saint Petersburg, FL. The traffic was light and there were not many people at the parking lot when we arrived at 10 AM. We bought the tickets and went through the museum in few hours. We perused the gift shop and bought some posters.

Then we drove to Chihuly Collection at 400 Beach Drive. We bought the combination tickets for the Chihuly collection and the Hotshop. The parking was difficult to find. We had to park on the road with parking meters running $0.25/15 minutes. We went through the collection as part of a guided tour that took about 1 1/2 hour. We then drove to nearby fast food restaurant (most of the food near Chihuly Collection featured lots of seafood).

From the fast food place we drove directly to the Glass Shop and Hot Shop in Central Avenue for our 3 PM appointment (we had the option of visiting Hot Shop at 1, 2, 3, and 4 PM; we choose the 3 PM; no need to pre-book time). Mr Doug showed us how to make a glass art piece. We were able to chat with him bit more after the end of the show.

We then traveled to International Plaza and Bay Street shopping mall for some purchase. We then grabbed some food on the way and stopped by some other stores before heading to our hotel for the night.

Trip to Tampa

Hindu Temple of Florida, Tampa

5099 Lynn Road, Tampa

Wednesday, Dec 25, 2013

We left in the late morning from home and drove via I-10E and then I-75S and via I-275S to reach the Hindu temple of Florida, Tampa. On the way we stopped and ate some lunch that we brought with us since finding places to eat on Christmas Day is difficult.

By the time we arrived at the temple it was almost 3 PM. Fortunately, the temple was open and we spend about an hour at the temple, doing archana, and looking at the idols and other new features since we haven't been here for years.

Then we went to the canteen on the NE corner of the temple premises. Fortunately, they had masala dosa and tea. We ate at the canteen and spend some more time in the temple before going to our hotel La Quinta Inn in nearby road.

Athens To Tallahassee

Athens To Tallahassee

Saturday, June 15, 2013

 

 

Today I finished my SEASR meeting and drove back to Tallahassee from Athens, Ga. I left around 1:30 PM in Athens and took US129/GA44 S this time (like onward trip) and in about two hours I arrived at I-75 at Macon, GA.

 

I drove in I-75S for about an hour and half (there were construction delays) and took Exit for GA-FL Parkway US300S (instead of US319).

 

I drove through Albany, GA and stopped for coffee and gas. Then I drove through Camilla,  Pelham, and Thomasville, GA and took US319S to Tallahassee. The distance was about 285 miles. I arrived around 7:15 PM.



SEASR Meeting

SEASR Meeting

University of Georgia, Athens, GA

Friday, June 14, 2013, 5:00 AM

 

I left this morning from Tallahassee on my way to University of Georgia, Athens, GA for the first Southeastern Association of Shared Resources. I decided to drive to Athens rather than fly since I had to fly to Atlanta and drive to Athens anyway. The Google Map calculated that the drive would be about 5 1/2 hours long provided I took US319 N, I-75N, US129N. I left around 5 AM in Tallahassee and stopped only at Madison, GA for light breakfast and by the time I arrived in Athens, it was around 11 AM (~6 hours).

I attended the meeting from 11 AM until 2 PM and went to my hotel room to check-in. Then I cam back to be one of the panelist for the session on "Effective Communication in the World of Shared Resources" between 4:45 and 6:15 PM. The session went very well.

 

We then had dinner and I went back to my hotel to rest for the day.



Travel Back home

MAA FRA IAD

Wednesday, May 01, 2013

I traveled back home on early Wednesday morning from Chennai (MAA) taking the LH 759 flight to Frankfurt, Germany. I arrived early in the airport around 10:30 PM and the LH people were asking me whether I could stay one more day but I politely rejected the offer as I needed to get back home in time. The flight left around 1:45 AM and arrived at Frankfurt same day 8:20 AM with about an hour to spare between my next flight to Washington DC. In the flight I had aisle seat and food was barely okay; they have definitely reduced the amount of the food.

I ran through the airport security and finally arriving at another part of the terminal Z to catch my flight to IAD. The flight IAD was bit shorter 8 hours rather than the 9 hours 45 minutes flight to FRA. There were two meals and once again it was barely good. I did manage to sleep little bit on the second flight and I arrived around 12:10 PM at IAD to a cooler weather. I went through the immigration and customs.

My next flight to JAX was several hours away and I took the giant bus to the local terminal and laid down in the terminal. The flight to JAX was delayed for another 30 minutes since the personnel (both pilots and bursars were reassigned to our flights late. When I arrived at JAX it was almost 7 PM.

Travel to TPA, IAD, and FRA

Journey to India

Monday, April 15, 2013

Tallahassee to Frankfurt

We called the taxi cab company and the cab came by 9:15 AM and I said goodbye to Bhanu and left for airport. I paid the cab, checked the bag into United (Silver airlines) and TSA and got all boarding passes. I went to Terminal A7 and checked my e-mail and Skyped Nivi and Bhanu. My flight UA3993 left at 10:35 and arrived in Tampa by 11:25 AM via Terminal A1.

My next flight UA312 to IAD was at 1:32 PM and so I had some donuts and checked my e-mail, skyped Bhanu again, used the restroom and got ready for the flight.The flight UA 312 was ready and left from A9 at 1:35 PM and took off by 1:45 PM onwards to IAD. The weather was perfect. I arrived in Washington DC around 4:15 PM. I then went from the domestic terminal to the International Terminal for my flight to Frankfurt, Germany.

I took the giant bus from the domestic terminal to the international terminal and the free WiFi was NOT working at that terminal. The flight was at 6:10 PM and so I had some coffee and waited to board the plane. Finally, I boarded the ~8 hour flight to Frankfurt, Germany a Lufthansa LH 419 and arrived early morning on Tuesday, April 16, 2013 at Frankfurt in time for breakfast.

Nassau, New Providence , The Bahamas

Nassau, New Providence

The Bahamas

Thursday, March 21, 2013

We woke up around 6 AM and there was some water problem. However, I managed to have shower and we both went downstairs for breakfast. Surprisingly, there was free complimentary breakfast in addition to the paid one. We sat down and had breakfast while VTS was still asleep.

VTS came down and had some coffee. It was almost 9 AM. Then we headed to downtown via the beach. We walked all the way to Charlotte Street and bought some souvenirs at the straw market. Then we went a shop and got some post cards and went the pharmacy and bought some stamps (Bahamian 50cents). We then went to Nassau Starbucks and bought some sandwiches. While eating the food I filled out the post-cards and stamped them.

We then walked up Charlotte Street and headed to the Post Office. There we bought several stamps (Philatelic Store) and posted the post cards. While we were waiting at the Bay Street Main Post Office a parade came along and we the school band perform.

Slowly we came down the Parliament Street and saw the Nassau Public Library and other buildings in the town square. Then we went to Nassau Subway and got some sandwiches for us and ate there. Then we went Burger King and got food for VTS. He ate the food there.

Then we slowly walked along the shore arriving finally at Junkano Beach where we had some coconut water. We then went to Nassau Palm Hotel got our boarding passes printed and got our luggage out. We packed our bags and hailed taxi from outside the hotel and arrived at the airport by 3:30 PM. Our flight is at 6:15 PM we then waited until the departure.

We quickly arrived in Miami (MIA; Miami International Airport). We had some dinner. But our return flight to Tallahassee was delayed by more than hour. By the time we came home it was almost 12:30 AM

In Nassau

In Naaasu

The Bahamas

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

We woke up at 5 AM in Miami, showered and checked out of the Days Inn Miami Airport North and drove to the Rental Car Center. There we dropped off our rental car at Avis rental. 6:30 AM

Then we went into the American Airlines counter and checked two bags to Nassau Bahamas. We then went through Checkpoint 4 and got into the terminal 7:40 AM. We grabbed some pastries at Au Bon Pain and boarded the flight American Eagle 3495 from D53 at 9:20 AM we left by 9:30 AM and started to decent by 9:55 AM.

We filled the immigration paper work (1/person) and finished out customs check and got out. One of the airport people directed us to a taxi and we took a ride to Nassau Palm Hotel. The charge for three of us was $34 (they accept both US Dollars and/or Bahamian Dollars; they are kept at one to one equivalent. One rarely sees Bahamian Dollar used though).

We checked into the Hotel and went to the room. It was okay but the shower was not good. Soon we changed our cloths and hit the beach right in front of the Hotel.We were there for quite a while and walked slowly toward downtown and ate at the McDonalds.

We ran into a couple who suggested an Indian Restaurant. We went back to the room and changed our cloths and walked toward the Ferry station. We took the 2:15 PM ferry and arrived at the Paradise Island and we spent about 1 ½ hour there. That place looked too commercial and we walked back to the main island and took a taxi back to the hotel

Then we hit the beaches again until about 5 PM. Then we came back to the room changed and walked back to the downtown looking for the Indian Café and found it in Charlotte Street in front of Hard Rock Café. We ate there and met the Indian family from Bombay who owns the place.

We then walked back to the room spending some time at the beach

Bahia Honda State Park

Bahia Honda State Park

Bahia Honda Key, FL

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

We arrived around 11:30 AM and spend the rest of the day at the beach. Bhanu took bath in the water so did VTS. I generally stayed dry except for my pants got wet. There was a fresh water shower and changing station. We all used it to get dry.

From the left hand side of park we went to the right hand side of the park which is the old Bahia Honda Park. We went to the butterfly garden (none were there since it was still winter). We then looked around the sailing section.

We went to the bridge access in Bahia Honda Park and went to the gift shop. We left Bahia Honda State Park around 4 PM

We had dinner at McD in Tavernier around 5 PM and started to drive toward Miami via Route 1 North. It took us about 1 ½ hour to get there.

We arrived at Days Inn Miami North by 6:45 PM. Checked in and put the luggage in our room 311. We got a parking pass and two door keys.

Soon we put the Rental Car Center location in my smartphone and drove to the location. It was about 6 minutes to the location. After checking out the location

We went to bed by 9:30 PM.