The solo road trip begins

I am a quirky person. My tastes and interests have never been mainstream. My cousin calls me a 'White Elitist' just because I enjoy going to ballets, operas, eating at michelin rated restaurants and reading classics. However I would like to reiterate that a lot of my interests aren't main stream and I am definitely not an elitist. 

I like to travel. A lot. I caught this bug from my parents, who love to travel and explore new places. Like everything in this world group travel has its pro's and cons. The major con of traveling in a group is the lack of flexibility. I don't mind having company but traveling solo has its allure as I can stick to my own timetable, visit off-beat places and activities.

I have done three solo trips so far:

• New York City for christmas and new year of 2010. (this trip wasn't completely solo as I met up with friends in NYC)
• Glacier national park in Montana where I went hiking 100 miles on my own in the wilderness.
• Boston and Acadia national park during fall to do leaf peeping (its a term americans use when they travel to check out the glorious fall colors)

Getting my parents onboard is getting easier with each trip. When I went to NYC on my own my parents were super worried and gave me a call every half hour. Over time they became more supportive of my wanderings. Despite them being supportive in the past, I had, had reservations of their support for my upcoming trip. I waited until I got my visa to inform them which was two days prior departure. Their reaction to this news blew me away. Instead of being cross Dad told me to take care and enjoy and and mom went on chattering about her colleagues going to Europe. I must say I am impressed! I had expected them to flip out but they surprised me by being extremely supportive and dad even offered to send me money to cover the expenses of the trip. Its official! My parents are the coolest!! 

Thus my solo road trip to Europe (the first among many I hope) began on 9th May at 3: 30 AM when the shuttle to the airport came to pick me up. Gone are the days when flight travel excited me. Long flights are extremely tiring and boring thanks to the cramped seats, crappy food and no sleep. I know these are first world problems, but getting assigned to a middle seat next to a snoring guy (I had an aisle seat before) to accommodate a newly married couple puts me in a funny mood. Is it fate's way of mocking at me for being single? Don't I get enough of it already? :(

The first leg from LA to Newark seemed to last forever . The second leg of the journey from Newark to Munich was comfortable, as I got my assigned aisle seat (my prayers got answered thankfully, else I would have killed the couple who took my seat!). I befriended an adorable 3 year old who looked exactly like the girl described in the nursery poem 'chubby cheeks'. She sat on my lap for 3 hours, played with me and cried murder when I gave her back to her dad. Awwww! 

Seven hours later I landed in Munich got my passport stamped, ate lunch at airport, picked up the rental car and got lost in the narrow alleys thanks to road signs in German. Finally I reached the hotel and bought a parking ticket for 28 euro, because I realized I will never find parking on those narrow streets (San Francisco city streets felt huge in comparison and that's something). I spent the whole day curled up in bed instead of exploring Munich because I had gone without sleep for 36 hours. Peace \m/.

Joys of having an Indian Passport

I planned my Europe trip the very last minute. I realized I can go on a solo trip (read as afford) as soon as I got back my tax returns. Hence the planning began two weeks before the intended date of departure (I am very well known for my last minute antics).

I was under the assumption that obtaining Schengen visa will be easy, but my illusion was shattered soon enough. Since my point of entry to the EU was at Munich, I had to apply for a Schengen visa at a German consulate. I started looking through the German consulate websites for the various documents required to obtain a visa. There was no consistency as each consulate in the United states had listed different set of documents required in order to obtain a visa. For e.g SF german consulate needed W2 (tax filing form) for the last three years where as the consulate in LA did not mention anything about needing a W2.

The reason for this inconsistency is because people with american passports can fly to Germany (or 172 countries across the globe) visa free and consulates don't need to worry about having a streamlined visa process in the US much to my annoyance.

The list of documents I needed to obtain a visa seemed endless-- They needed a valid airline ticket, travel insurance (apparently my insurance in the US wont cover for up to $60k on international travel), pre- booked hotel/ hostel reservations, employment verification letter, bank statements for the last three months (to prove that I have sufficient funds), W2, my pay stubs for the last three months, copies of all the visas in my passport, my EAD card and I 20. By the time I got all these documents ready I was pissed off. Because if I did not get my visa on time I would lose a lot of money, thanks to my non refundable pre- bookings. All because of a passport. Sigh.!

Some of the guys I know at my lab who have American passports went hitchhiking and couch- surfing all across Europe with probably 100$ in their pockets. I don't think they had insurance, and some of them worked part time at bars to make money for their onward travel. And here I am subjected to the torture of getting a visa every time I want to travel. By the time I finished taking printouts of the documents needed I was hatching a devious plan. To trap some American citizen guy and make him marry me. That way I can get an American passport in three years. Sounds preposterous I know. But hey-- I was frustrated and coming up with devious ideas kept me sane.

The visa interview went on smoothly. I bonded with the visa officer by talking about Tristan and Isolde and other Wagner's operas. She was impressed with my knowledge of Germany (as I went on talking about why I wanted to visit the places and how it was my childhood dream etc) and assured me that I would get my visa as she wanted help me fulfill my childhood dreams. Reading a lot pays off I guess.

On my way back home, from the consulate I began praying, for the patience needed to go through this process again--Unless I let my devious side take me over. 

The European Odyssey

I know it's been really long since my last post. Beginning of the year I promised myself that I would write one post a week, roughly translating to 4 posts a month. But I have failed to stick to that plan so far and hopefully I can make up for it from here on. 

I had the best 8 days of my life last week. The reason for my happiness? My solo road trip for 8 days in central Europe. Last year in particular has been very hard on me. I discovered that I suffered from ADHD. I had a host of other emotional issues I had to deal with and I was at the lowest point in my life. But I would like to say that, seeking help and trying to fix the issues that have been plaguing me has been a major turning point in my life. I feel like a whole new person, a phoenix born from the ashes. I am really happy I got this second chance from life- To discover how beautiful the world around me is, to get to know how wonderful people are. 

I got support from random people and I truly believe that I am blessed to have all this love, affection and warmth around me. I know life will have its ups and downs and it wont be easy. But I have realized that life is beautiful and the world is a magical place. Good or bad, I have a lot to learn, lot to explore and be extremely thankful for the privileged life I have.

I want to blog about my trip in Europe as I really want to share my happiest experience with everyone. So stay tuned.