24 hours in Edinburgh, Scotland

Traveling from Newcastle to Edinburgh is simple enough, as there is a high speed train service from newcastle central to Waverley station, and it takes just 2 hours. I arrived in Edinburgh around 9am.When coming out of  Waverley, the main train station in Edinburgh,  you can see the castle sitting up on a rock above the city centre

I walked up the Royal Mile, the main street leading up through the old town directly to Edinburgh castle.The Royal Mile is the main thoroughfare through Old Town, and consists of streets that existed since the 16th century where various Edinburgh landmarks can be seen such as the High Kirk of St. Giles, John Knox’s House, Scottish Parliament and Palace of Holyrood house. All the streets in the old city are cobbled, giving a real sense of what it would have been like.

I finally made my way up to Edinburgh Castle. The Castle is huge and was crowded, but worth seeing. The views from the top were amazing

Streets in Old Town

Statue of the economist Adam Smith,

St. Giles Cathedral

Next stop, naturally - when in Scotland  is to do The Scotch Whisky Experience. The Whisky Experience is just down the road from the castle. It has the world's largest collection of scotch.Unfortunately it wasn't open yet, so I had to skip it.   Along the  Royal Mile leading upto Edinburgh Castle there are numerous 'closes' which are kinda like alleyways that often lead to steps going down to the next 'level' of the town. There are multiple levels to the city .

Then I walked downhill towards the bottom of the Royal Mile to Holyrood Palace. This is where the Queen stays when she is in town. Also along the mile are the souvenir shops, cafes and bars and tailors ready to make a kilt for you.

Scotch Whiskey Experience

Next I walked across the other side, to the New Town, making my way to Princes street, which is one of the main thoroughfares in Edinburgh and the main shopping street, there are some nice views of the Edinburgh castle. Wandering down into the Princes street gardens is a nicer walk away from the traffic. These large and beautiful gardens form the barrier between the Old Town and New Town

There are no shortages of pubs in Edinburgh. Lotz of traditional looking pubs

I spent the entire day walking through Edinburgh and visiting as many nooks and crannies of the city as I could. Edinburgh is beautiful, it somehow manages to seem huge and compact at the same time. It is filled with well-maintained old sandstone buildings and every other building looks like a castle or some such. 

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Durham, North East England

Durham is a small university town in north-east England near Newcastle. It is home of the University of Durham, one of the ancient universities in England. On any train along the north east railway line running from London to Edinburgh, the train pulls into the small Durham station to the view of the splendid Durham cathedral and castle. Both castle and cathedral are on the Unesco World Heritage list. Durham has a beautiful medieval charm with a famous cathedral, castle and a cozy city center.

Durham Castle & Durham Cathedral 

The Durham Castle sits atop the hill adjacent to the Cathedral. It is both an ancient castle and student accommodation.The Castle is a university student residence during the time Durham University is in session, but functions as a B&B when the  university is on break with rooms available for anyone to stay. It is very cool and quite an experience to actually stay in an ancient castle which is about 1000 years old. Apparently one of the Harry Potter film was filmed in the Castle's Dinning Hall. I am not a Harry Potter fan, so no idea which movie it was. The downside of Durham castle is that you can't just explore it by yourself, as it is a fully functioning part of the  university.

View of the castle as you approach

River Wear

Narrow cobblestone street around the Durham Castle

Durham Cathedral and the Palace Green

The center of Durham is very, very small and surrounded by the wear river on the three sides forming a peninsula with the Romanesque Durham cathedral sitting on the top dominating the view. Durham is very hilly, so be prepared for inclines and cobbles. There are many small stairs and shortcuts to take to get to the top. The majority of the city center along with the castle is part of the ancient University of Durham.It is made up of magnificent cobbled streets that run between Georgian houses, most of them are now university student halls, and ancient bridges crossing over the river.   They house the university library. The students take classes in the castle, so sometimes the castle is closed for visitors. Although small, still very enjoyable to wander around and relax. 

Durham Market square

The other significant point of interest is the Durham Market Square. Just off the square is the Town Hall, and some sort of open air market . The city itself is doesn't have a lot of people, except for the the university students who tend to stay around the center.The small streets around the market square has lots of shops and cafes.There are lot of good pubs and restaurants that are frequented by students. 

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London in 48 hours

London is an amazing city with staggeringly beautiful sights ranging in world landmarks, museums, theaters, shopping, restaurants and pubs. There really is no right or wrong time to visit London. If you make the most of your days, a 2-day weekend can be enough to get a great feel for what the city has to offer.

The Trans-Atlantic flights from San Francisco typically arrives to London Heathrow in early afternoons.Once landed, getting to London is easy on the Heathrow Express which takes about 15-20 mins to reach London Paddington station or you can take the  Piccadilly Line from the airport terminal which takes about 45mins to reach Earl's court tube station, but costing 1/3 of what Heathrow express will cost. Since our 7 month old daughter was traveling with us this time, we took a taxi to our hotel in Chelsea. 

We tend to stay in the Kensington-Chelsea district as the location is ideal to explore some of the must-see landmarks in London.  London is big and there is so much to see and do. Remember that you can’t cover all of London in a couple of days so you have to make sacrifices. But if you are going to London stay there for as many days as you can so you can see it all without having to rush through it all. It will be expensive but it is worth it.Since we have been to London many times before, we had the pleasure of taking it “easy”.  

We took a taxi to the London Eye. London Eye costs around GBP 20 admission for this 30 minute ride on the one of the largest observation wheels in the world.  This is a unique experience, but unfortunately I have never experienced it. The lines are always long and takes at least 20-30 mins to get into the capsule, even when you buy tickets online 

You can checkout and take pictures of the Tower Bridge when you stroll around London Eye. Well, it's just it - the Tower Bridge, a must see in London

We did our share of walking in London . We walked from the London Eye to the parliament,  to Trafalgar square, onto to Buckingham Palace,and to Piccadilly Circus . 

Houses of Parliament : The architecture is amazing, and the size is just breathtaking. You can take an inside tour of the parliament. 

Buckingham  Palace: One of the most popular attraction in Buckingham palace is the changing of the guards. But the place gets just packed with tourists so we never experienced it.

Trafalgar Square:  Come here and take some pictures as well as visit the National Gallery. Its  all free. There's always something going here, event, concert, some protest, what not.

In the evenings, we walked around the areas of Soho , Leicester Square and Covent Garden which are best known for its theaters, entertainment and shopping. The cozy streets are lined with shops, restaurants and pubs bars.Regent Street & Oxford Street which are the main shopping districts of London can be reached by foot.  You can never get bored of this part of city  and I come back here every time I am in London. 

Piccadilly Circus is another block or two from here. Piccadilly Circus, is a major intersection, known for its neon displays similar to Time square, connects the shopping district with the theater district . It is a nice stop in but nothing to be blown away by.

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Threadneedles Hotel, London

Stayed at the Threadneedles Hotel overnight before my flight to Paris the next morning. Threadneedles is an excellent and impressive hotel in the city. It is a very nice boutique hotel converted from what used to be a old bank headquarters . The unassuming front door on Threadneedles street leads into the impressive main lobby area (the old banking hall) taking in the amazing period detail in the grand glass dome. 

The location is good with Bank and Liverpool Street tube stations located nearby, so its easy to get to the West End.You are also very close to the royal exchange in case you want to indulge in some luxury shopping

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Eating in London - Wagamama & Masala Zone

I have visited London many times and my trips to London tend to be rather spontaneous and pressed for time. Still,  when in London, nothing beats a great meal. This post is about my two favorite restaurant chains in London - Wagamama & Masala Zone!

The restaurant scene in London can be overwhelming, especially for a visitor. These two restaurants,  with a casual vibe and service will make you feel relaxed and content.

Wagamama is a popular noodle bar chain in London serving pan-asian dishes. The food is amazing, the service is spot on and the price is resonable (ofcourse only if you are earning in pounds, but still reasonable compared to London standards) . Anyways I just love this restaurant and would eat here every night if I were living in London.

If you are looking for fine dining this is defenitely not the place for you. Its a casual restaurant with a real buzz about it. We have been to the Wagamamas in Soho, Kensington & Earl's court and they are all very contemporary and bright with long tables and wooden benches where people sit together. As there are no smaller tables, the seating could be a problem if you like your privacy, but if you are nosey and wondering what everyone else has ordered and what else looks good then I think the concept is brilliant !! The restaurant tends to be packed during lunch hours with business people and tourists alike and you may have to wait in line to be seated.

The menu is laid out in categories such as noodles, soups, rice dishes ,etc and clearly explains the dishes which is helpful if you are a new customers. The service is great, and the waiters always help you with the menu and make sure to come by your table to check that you are satisfied with your food. The only complain I have is that each dish is brought to the table as soon as it is cooked. While this is great for the freshness of the food, but if you are in a group and your dish is brought out first, then your friends will have to watch you eat while waiting for their food to arrive. Depending upon who your friends are, this situation could be good or bad!


My wife and I love this restaurant so much that we ended up eating here three times during our last visit to London and my wife even has a Wagamama T-shit to prove it. I’d say to anyone you should at least try this place once, cuz you never know, you might just love it as much as we do!!

Our other favourite restaurant is "Masala Zone" in Soho. This is again a casual restaurant chain serving Indian food, the atmosphere and service is similiar to Wagamamas. The Indian food joints in London is amazing and one can find an Indian restaurant in every block. If you're interested in Indian food but not sure where to go, I wouldn't hesitate to steer you to a Masala Zone.

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Chelsea FC StadiumTour

After so many visits to London I finally got the opportunity to do the tour of Chelsea Football Club’s stadium. Chelsea FC, for those who have been living under a rock, is one of the top teams in England’s Premier League and arguably world's most famous football team. Equally famous is "Stamford Bridge", the home of chelsea FC.

If you are in London I highly recommend the Chelsea FC Stadium tour at Stamford Bridge, particularly since most of us can no longer afford to go to games; the cheapest tickets of this much loved team are around 100 pounds. Even if you are a non-football (soccer) fan its still worth going just to see the difference in the Chelsea Team's dressing room and with what they give their opponents to change in.


The stadium (Stamford Bidge) is the most centrally located of all the London football clubs and is easily accessible by the London Bus & the tube (Fulham tube station). The guided tour cost 15 pounds/person which also includes admission to the Chelsea Museum and takes about couple of hours.You start the tour at the Chelsea Museum and go through the press room, Home & Away changing rooms before entering the stadium through the players tunnel.

The team's changing rooms, were surprisingly basic. Each locker in the home changing room was hung with its owner’s shirt. Our tour guide opened the locker of "Ballack" and let us take a peak into it. The lockers are clustered by player's common language.

Next came the moment that was for me the highlight of the visit. You walk out of the players tunnel onto the field to the sound of the roaring crowd. (imagination of course, it was an empty stadium, but still...). I had wondered if a tour of an empty stadium (no crowd, no footballers) would feel a bit, well, empty. But it turned out to be more exciting than the game I had been to last year when Chelsea visited California as part of their US tour.

View from the players tunnel

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London's Borough Market

The weather in London was fantastic. It was cold, cloudy and rainy, a perfect day to go to the Borough Market. The Borough Market is on Borough High Street across the London Bridge tube station. It is London's oldest food market and in terms of London shopping, it’s a foodie paradise.

The market is quite large with buzzing hive of noises, smells, and colors. It was difficult to resist all the stands and stalls which were selling anything from meat & vegetables to chocolates, breads, ice cream ,speciality cheeses, and what not.

The best part about the market were the stands selling chocolate brownies and pies and it’s no coincidence that there’s always a huge gathering of people outside it.

Throughout the market, something is always cooking, whether it’s stew and sizzling meats being grilled or something a little more interesting like ostrich burger.

I tried  the Raclette and the grilled cheese sandwich. Raclette  is  potatoes  topped with melted raclette cheese, which they melt right in front of you and then scrape it over your plate.

Whether you like or don't like markets, you are really missing something if you leave London without walking around the cobblestoned paths of the Borough Market.

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Converting your US currency abroad economically

While introduction of "Euro" has made travelling within Euro zone much easier, exchanging US currency into Foreign currency is still one of the prerequistes (Ofcourse besides having a passport) before planning a trip abroad . If not properly planned, converting your US currency to a foreign currency can be very costly and problematic.

So far rule of thumb has been to charge your credit card as much as possible. Using your credit card does avoid converting a lot of cash, however you cannot use the credit card everywhere. Depending on your card,it may still involve exchange fees, but almost always less than retail exchange rates.

The best deal you can get is by using an ATM card. Using the right ATM card will avoid fees and can get the exact exchange rate. Before blindly using your ATM card, check with your credit union or bank as my experience shows not all fine print is the same!

I have an ATM card from Bank of America which is affliated to the "Global ATM Alliance" and have used at International ATMs listed below without getting charged any sort of transaction/bank fees;

• France - BNP Paribas
• England - Barclays
• Germany - Deutsche Bank
• Australia - Westpac

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