Author: Monica

A traveler by mindset and passport, full-time dog mum, part time marketing professional. My motto is to live a life that causes least harm to the environment, animals, and other humans in general. I’m old school in that I still like to blog and document rather than shoot and post. Connect with me on the following channels to get more real-time content that I’m too lazy to blog about.

My First International Trip: A Free Packaged Tour To Singapore, Malaysia And Sri Lanka With 80 College Mates

Monica
Singapore Malaysia Packed tour trip

Almost 17 years ago, my college found an excellent way to lure the freshers into attending college and performing well. At the end of a one year evaluation period, an international trip would be rewarded to those students who proved their mettle by attending classes, scoring good marks, participating in extra curricular activities, and netting a combined top score. (so basically being the uncoolest kid in the college!) So, as it happened, I was one of the 80 people to get the coveted prize of a free trip to Singapore,…

Read More

How A Silly Visa Mistake Had Me Denied Boarding Flight To India And Stranded At Istanbul Airport For 24 Hours

Monica

You’d think as someone who had traveled to 35 countries by then and crossed as many borders, I’d know a thing or two about visas, country borders, and all the immigration protocols. But every once in a while, even “seasoned travelers” like me make faux pas. And this time, I goofed up big time! What happened? So after a happening exciting 10-Day Turkey trip, which I’ve written in detail about, I got back to Istanbul Airport on the last day to catch my flight back to Dubai and then to…

Read More

10 Things To Do In Istanbul (And Turkey In General) From My 4-Day Trip

Monica

While I’ve covered my 10-Day Turkey trip in details in a separate post, Istanbul deserves its own verbiage. One of the most exciting capital cities in the world, Istanbul is like no other. For starters, it’s the only city in the world that falls across two continents – Asia and Europe. While the Asia part of it has overtones of an Islamic culture with mosques, bazaars, spices and a shadows of glorious history of the Ottoman empire, the European side lends itself into cobblestoned alleys, western style cafes, modern dressing…

Read More

A Weekend In The Arty Lanes Of Fort Kochi And The Hippie Cliffside Varkala: Two Gems by The Arabian Sea in India

Monica
A Weekend In Fort Kochi And Varkala_ Backpacker Gems Of South India

Sometimes greatest things are discovered by accident. Having just about 5 days on hand, and having covered most of the weekend getaways like Pondicherry, Araku, Hampi, and Badami in the south of India, we might as well have rolled a dice. The outcome was an impromptu trip to Kochi, a major city in Kerala, about 600kms south of Bangalore, and a side trip to Varkala, a hippie beach town also in Kerala. Here’s my Bangalore to Fort Kochi and Varkala weekend itinerary to help plan and contextualise a short trip.…

Read More

I Got Added To Cypto Scam/Part Time Job Whatsapp Groups And Played Along To Decode The Scam

Monica
Whatsapp Crypto scam group

Everyone from your preteen niece to your 80yr old grandmother is on Whatsapp and from using it from everything to discuss family politics to place requests to get dhaniya to sending good morning forwards, Whatsapp has been a communication boon (or a curse) to billions of people worldwide. Naturally, along have come scammers with a multitude of unscrupulous ways looking to prey on the gullible minds and using it to hunt for their next victim. The latest in the universe of internet based scams seems to be the many Telegram…

Read More

Egypt Beyond The Pyramids: 7-Day Itinerary Across Aswan, Luxor, Cairo, and Alexandria

Monica

In my previous post, I covered the Giza and Aswan leg of my Solo Egypt trip. And while, the pyramids alone can be a good reason to visit Egypt, there’s much more this fascinating country offers to a traveler than an ancient Wonder Of The World. On my second half of my trip, I started retracing my steps back from Southern Egypt, moving back from Aswan to Luxor. Luxor is where the dead lie. It’s where the majestic Pharaos lived, held lavish courts, and established one of the most advanced…

Read More