Trip to Atlanta, GA

Trip to Atalnta, GA

Fri/Sat, Mar 14/15, 2014

We drove to Atlanta, Ga on Friday, Mar 14, 2014. We left around 10 AM and drove to Atlanta Hindu Temple and arrived around 2:30 PM. Then we went a Atlanta airport area hotel and checked in. Then we went to the concert hall in downtown and had dinner. We attended the concert and left for the hotel.

We woke up and drove back to Tallahassee in the afternoon. During the trip VtS drove a significant portion of the rural route US319.

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.