My Blog: 2015

Tuesday, 15 September 2015

London to Scotland Trip (3 day trip)

Hi All,

In this blog I'm sharing my experience and providing some guidance on my travel from London to Scotland during May 2015.

I planned to visit Scotland on 2014 but couldn't make it somehow, this time I don't want to miss it. I was initially planning to go through Tours as they provide Veg food and also they will plan everything but after looking into itinerary it seems not so good as half of the time operated by tours is lost on bus travel from London.

Hence I was looking for some other option and then my friend recommend the site call superbreak.com they are leading providers of Hotel Rooms at decent price apart from that they do provide train tickets and other sight seeing tickets as well.

Considering travel time we planned for 3 day trips (Starting Friday morning and returning on Sunday Evening).

For 2 Adults & 2 kids, SuperBreak offered me package for £632 which includes Train Tickets, 2 Nights & 3 day stay and Sight seeing

To & Fro tickets from London Kings Cross to Edinburgh Waverley station through Virgin Trains (more details below)
2 Days & 3 Night stay at Holiday Inn with Break fast along one day compliment dinner.
Timberbush tours

Over view of Train tickets

To & Fro tickets from London Kings Cross to Edinburgh Waverley station
SuperBreak sends confirmed train tickets via First class mail delivery, still no online delivery not available
Waverley station is the main station in Edinburgh, the station is at center of the city similar to Kings cross
These trains are operated by Virgin Trains
The tickets with open return tickets (except non peak hours). You can book tickets during peak hours as well with additional charge.
The return ticket is valid for return within 30 days
They do provide reservation option during booking but its not necessary you need to travel on booked train (unless you have chosen fixed ticket)
Usual journey times is 4 hours with train operating for every half-hour.
If your boarding for final destination then you can handover luggage at the beginning of train
Also superbreak provides tour document along the tickets. These tickets are valid only with tour documents. So keep them along the tickets.

Day 1:
We started around 7:30am from our house in Ilford and reached King Cross Stations around 8:30am. There was long walk inside the King Cross station from TFL to National services. And Kings Cross is quite big station and very nice old architecture. Also kings cross hosts 8 3/4 platform from Harry Potters. After reaching to platform, at the beginning of train Virgin staff asked us whether we are for Edinburgh when we said they offered to collect baggage and hand over at Edinburgh station (like Airports). We were not sure but we handover the luggage (mistakenly the luggage contains ready to eat food which we missed, but it was quite handy after reaching to Edinburgh). The train was full but as we already booked seats we need not to find the free seats. Train started on time at 9:00am and reached Edinburgh at 13:30.

After coming out of station I wasn't sure where should I board bus for the Hotel, we walked wrong route initially for 10 minutes but bus operator suggested us the right place to board. After little walk we found there bus operating company and they provided details guide and map. And then we walked further for bus stop but we are not sure which side we need to board. We actually standing on wrong side but as soon as bus we have to run :-( which didn't look good. But the bus actually stopped just before the hotel which was good. We checked in hotel around 2:30pm and we have asked hotel staff whether we can move the compliment dinner from Friday Night to Saturday night they said fine. This was useful as we already have some food with us which we ate at night.

Holiday Inn City west was not as good as Marriot which we stayed in Birmingham. They don't offer free wifi service, when we enquired they suggested to be membership (which was free) and got subscribed. Even after subscription it didn't work easily have to call reception and they need to call support to fix it.

After check in and we took little rest for hour are so and then we are back to Edinburgh town (bus is for every 10 minutes and travel time was around 15 minutes. I initially wanted to start with Royal Mile but my wife was not interested but we went to castle and then to Camera Obscura (near beginning of Castle). It was worth visit both my wife and kids enjoyed really lot. Don't miss it. Please carry train tickets as they offer bargain for tickets if you have traveled via trains. Luckily I had tickets in my pocket they give tickets at discounted price. Also at the top of Camera Obscura you can see almost entire Edinburgh and they provided various binoculars to view it for free. After camera Obscura we had little walk around the castle and took our bus back to room. Was really long long day and very tired.

I will try to cover my day 2 in my next blog.

Day 3: We were tired again with our timberbush tours and had very good sleep. We went for breakfast had good food and then back to room and took some rest. Initially we planned to check out early and keep luggage at reception, but it don't sound well for me as we need to again comeback to hotel to pick our luggage. Hence we took some rest and checked out around 12:00pm. As we already having day bus pass, we went around the city, took my first tram journey in life, we went up and down on trams (you can use same pass for trams except for Airport drops). Then we gone through some high street shopping market and then to Royal mile. At the end of the Royal mile took wrong bus and went to the end of the city (but good sight seeing) then took bus and reached to Waverley station around 3:00pm. Then took train for London and that's the end of the trip.

Websites
Tour - http://www.superbreak.com/
Scotland 1 day tour - http://www.timberbush-tours.co.uk/
Local bus in Edinburgh - http://lothianbuses.com/ (multi vendor operated you can't board different vendor operated bus not like London).

Sunday, 13 September 2015

Jet Airways - Mumbai / Bombay Transit (International to national) and vice versa

I'm writing this blog to share my recent transit experience in Mumbai airport. I recently traveled from London to Hyderabad (India) through Jet Airways. Mumbai and Delhi is common transit airport for Jet Airways in India.

While travelling from London to Hyderabad (Transfer from International to Domestic Airport)

Reached Mumbai at 11:15 AM
From terminal to Immigration its really long walk (almost 500m walk, but there will help cars available) (10 minutes walk)
Immigration 10 minutes (you need to fill form if you are Indian Passport holder
After Immigration we need to collect our baggage (Check In Baggage), this is the most time consuming. I have to wait for almost 25 minutes at baggage counter to get my suitcases.
After collecting check-in suitcases there will be security check for Hand luggage only. (5-10 mts)
After that customs clearance. We need to hand over the form which was filled with Immigration Authorities stamp on it. (< 1 minute)
As soon as customs is done, immediately on right side you can handover the Check in luggage to Jet Airways counter for Internal Transit. Note: Liquor is not allowed as hand luggage in domestic flights, hence if you have purchased any liquor in Duty Free shop try to adjust the same in your check in luggage. (10 minutes)
If the transit time is less than 2 hours usually you don't go to domestic airport. You will directly get into Domestic flight via steps.
After handing over the check-in luggage at Jet Airways transfer counter there will be another security check this is for Domestic flights check-in (10 minutes)
After security check for transfer to Domestic flight, Jet Airways as asked us to wait for few minutes at specific place. Then they arranged bus which will take only Hyderabad passengers. They are arranging separate buses for each destination.
The bus dropped directly outside where the domestic flight is located and we get inside the flight via steps (didn't went inside the domestic airport) (10 minutes).

So key points - Immigration, collect check-in luggage, customs, transfer desk to handover check in luggage, security check and flight. Minimum time required 1 hour.

By the time I get in to Hyderabad flight is almost 1:00pm (This is because all of the Hyderabad transfer were asked to wait). So it almost took me around 75 minutes from getting out from International flight to domestic flight. But what I found out is that if the time gap is less, then Jet Airways will try to fasten the steps as they will be available at every step to expedite (only for those who have less time on connecting flight). In general if you have transit time anywhere between 90 minutes and above that would be sufficient. (This is based on my experience twice).

Update on Aug 2016: I travelled again from London to Hyderabad via Mumbai through Jet airways on July 2016, with recent update there is no need to travel between International to domestic airport. After custom exit within internal stair case or lift you can connect to main airport again and from there you go for domestic security. No need to travel between airports as state above.

While travelling from Hyderabad to London (Transfer from Domestic to International Airport)

On return flight to London, Mumbai was transit point again and this time I reached Mumbai at 23:15 and my flight to London was at 1:45am

You handover Check-in Luggage at starting point. In my case handover at Hyderabad and collect in London, no need to collect and transfer manually in Mumbai
After arriving in Mumbai, while getting down from flight staff asked to wait all the transfer separately. Didn't get inside the domestic airport again.
They arranged bus which goes to International airport. This time though your will be completely come out of airport and get into main entrance of International Airport
Bus will drop outside the entrance counter
You need to show tickets & Passport to security to get inside the Airport (Either e-ticket in mobile or paper tickets, they will check ticket name and passport name matches).
After getting inside the Airport you don't need to get into check-in counter, Jet Airways staff will check your passport, ticket and valid visa and put a sticker with signature that they validated (will be used later)
After that security check (really very long queue), there are too many flights from Mumbai and the queue is considerable long (again if there is no enough time staff arrange separate line for those people).
Then Immigration again long queue (but quite fast)
Then to gates (again long walk).
In general it took me 45 minutes for me from getting to Mumbai and reaching to international departure gates.

Overall Jet Airways review:

I'm not great reviewer, but in my experience Jet AIrways offers less price (atleast difference in 100 quids) compare to leading airways like Emirates, BA & Other leading companies from Middle East. In past I traveled via BA & Emirates more often.

Staff - They are friendly and helpful
Luggage - Very decent allowance from London it was

2 bags x 23 Kgs check-in luggage
1 Hand luggage upto 8 kgs &
1 Laptop bag or Hand bag

Food - Since I was veg it was quite good Indian food (in other ways I need to explicitly insist for Veg, here its easy to get). Food was good
Seat space - Its ok as any other economy class

Overall it was good experience on my travel with Jet Airways, nothing to complain.

Monday, 31 August 2015

Tirumala Pavithrotsavam

Om Namo Ramanujasaya Saranam

In this blog I'm sharing overview of Tirumala Pavithrotsavam based on my experience this year.

Pavithrostavam pooja main objective is to get rid of the evil that might have been caused due to omissions and commissions in the performance of various rituals throughout the year. The pooja is conducted for 4 days where in ticket holders are allowed for 3 days. Pooja begins in Tirumala during Sravana (Avani) Shukla Paksha Dasami and ticket holders are allowed on Ekadasi, Dwadashi and Thrayodashi.

Approx 300 tickets are issued per year, ticket holders pairs get approx 5 darshan's

General Darshan at 3:30 AM on Day 1 or 2 depending upon ticket no's. First 150 ticket holders are allowed on Day 1 and and remaining 150 ticket holders are allowed on day 2 at Vaikuntam Queue Complex - I (VQC -1), 2 persons are allowed for Darshan and children less than 12 years are allowed as well with the main ticket holders. This is normal darshan, the queue will be mixed later to same queue as Rs.300 ticket holders. Approx darshan timing will be around 60 minutes to 90 minutes as ticket holders have to come for Pooja again at 7:00am.
Snapana Thirumanjanam pooja starts at 8:00AM, its recommended ticket holders report at 7:00am at Supatham Counter (place from where Kalayna ticket holders enter). The pooja will be end by 10:45am and after that both the ticket holders are allowed for General Darshan. Children below 12 years are allowed in addition to ticket holders. Kindly keep age proof as evidence if the kid is 10+ years. The same pooja will be conducted for 3 days and ticket holders report on all 3 days. Every ticket holder will have serial no and will be asked to sit on the same no at Sampangi Prakaram, For this non ticket holders are also allowed.
On day 3 at 3:30 pm procession is held and ticket holders report at Kolimi Mandapam, this next to where shasara deepa alankaram conducted. Approx it will take 60 minutes for entire procession on all 4 mada streets.
On day 3 at 7:00pm Poornahuti is conducted. The pooja is very important as homam is conducted. After the pooja the Pavitrostavam is concluded, the pooja will over by 10:00pm and after that pooja tirtam is offered to Mulavar. After offering to Mulavar then Ticket holders are allowed for Darshan to Uchavar, in this year we were allowed to pass beyond Jayan & Vijayan dawaram.

It is recommended to keep proof of Photo Identity of ticket holders.
2 people are allowed per main ticket.
For all darshans its mandatory hindu traditional dress like Dhoti for Men and saree for Women, for girls Punjabi dress with dupata and for boys Payjama.
For the advance ticket holders who booked earlier and one with ticket can visit, in my case for all 3days 3 different couples visited for Snapana Thirumanjanam.
Prasadam is given on 3 day after Snapana Thirumanjanam (5 laddus, 5 vadas, blouse, Angavasthram & Pavitram is given). In case if you are not staying till 3rd day of pooja you can collect prasadam on day 1 or 2 but after taking Prasadam, darshan is not allowed for remaining days. Hence make sure you take prasdam on last day incase if you want to visit all 3 days to temple.

Dell 7537 - Windows 10 Upgrade issue (reboot loop) and how to rebuild without Recovery disk, create Dell recovery disk yourselves

Reboot loop after upgrading to Windows 10 & Rebuild Dell machine from scratch without recovery disk.

Even though I'm writing this blog little bit late but I think it might be useful to others. With Windows 10 release I started upgrading my Dell 7537 laptop to Windows 10 on first day itself, I did created Dell recovery disk as I was was confident that upgrade will go smooth, but it didn't happen :(.

After upgrading to Windows 10 my laptop was on continuous reboot loop and I tried various options from Boot such as changing to GPT, UEFI and it didn't help at all. Now I'm stuck as there was no option to go back to Windows 8.1 and I don't have recovery disc, I tried searching media all over WEB but I couldn't find source anywhere. Then I contacted Dell UK Support and they informed me that Dell Recovery Disks costs around £29/- which I was not ready to pay. Moreover they can only provide disks but the model doesn't have CD/DVD Drive, hence recovery disks from DELL is not solution at all, when I asked support engineer how to recover with disks he don't have answer, what he mentioned was I need to use another computer to convert disks into bootable USB Disk. After getting escalated to his line manager he offered to provide disks for free but he mentioned it takes 5 business days to receive (I actually received after 10 days). Also I can't install OS without Product Key, at least in my model I don't have Product Key sticker its embedded in hardware.

As my machine was no use and didn't have recovery disks yet from Dell, I have started searching various other options by going through various blogs. I came across this wonderful & very helpful sites for Dell - http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/ by Philip Yip.

What I understand is that we cannot directly build Windows 10 even if you have Product Key, the option is to upgrade Activated version of Windows 7 or 8 to Windows 10.

Note by performing below steps you will lose the data as we are formatting so I suggest you to take backup on another disk.

Requirements

A working machine with internet connectivity
USB Disk with at least 8GB

Since my machine is not bootable I followed the below steps

Downloaded Windows 8.1 media creation tool
Downloaded Windows 8.1 x64 ISO
Using Rufus-2.2 created bootable version of 8.1
Make sure Dell Laptop is configured with UEFI Partition & GPT disks (this is default settings for Dell laptop)
Boot from USB Stick it will automatically build the machine with Windows 8.1
After installation, Windows 8 is activated
I didn't install NVIDIA GEFORCE drivers as many said the reboot loop might be because of nvidia display
Download Windows 10 using media creation tool
copied the ISO to bootable USB media using Rufus
From windows 8 itself launched setup.exe and it upgraded windows 10 without any issue.