~~ Six Places ~~

So, here comes the fifth post of the ten day you challenge! It's to write about six places... 

Here goes my six favourites...

1. The first place that comes to my mind, is, of course, my hometown, Udupi. A place where we used to come for summer vacation every single time and never wanted to be anywhere else  :-p 

2. Initial years of my childhood had been in Mysore. I love the city for its calm and peaceful atmosphere. It still is how Bangalore used to be ages ago. I have beautiful memories of this city. One of which is going to Mysore Palace on Sunday evenings -  find some space to sit in the palace garden and munch on roasted peanuts savoring the sight of the well lit palace - that was like a family tradition of sorts. 

3. Most of my teenage years were spent in Tamilnadu. I absolutely have great memories of growing up here. I dont feel much nostalgic as such when I visit Mysore. But I sure feel a lot nostalgic when I visit the places I have lived or travelled in Tamilnadu. I also know that the person I am now, the core of my personality, is strongly and mainly influenced by the most empathetic and "giving" environment in which I grew up when here. My best friend is from this place and we still are in touch. Miss it. 

4. Even before I could properly explore India, (Thanks to the standard summer vacation destination during  childhood and later of course our own financial conditions) - I went to US of A. Absolutely a time I cherish. It helped me grow financially, of course, but it also helped me grow as a person. I know, I changed heaps during my stay here. I pushed myself out of my comfort zones and the stay brought in a lot many changes in my way of thinking. If I am open minded about a lot of things now, somewhere, this 2 year onsite stint would be the major contributor to it.  I travelled and covered all the coasts in that 2 year stint and even managed to win a jackpot in Las Vegas :-p.. but if I have to pick a place that I absolutely loved, it'd be New York, just for the fact that it reminded me so much of home. I must say, I am very glad that I travelled and stayed in USA before marriage. I know now that my husband is not much of an "exploring new places" kinda person :-p  ...The only regret I have is that I couldn't make my parents agree to visit USA during my stint there. They did not agree. I begged them to come and stay with me, but it never materialized :-(.. Like any middle class families of those years, the first priority for them, was to ensure that I saved that expense for my future and never be dependent on any one. It's to that and many more such sacrifices that I owe that house I managed to buy even before I got married.  

5. Europe: My brother is in Europe and we visited him recently. The trip to his place and rest of Europe is one of the most memorable family trips. Every single place that we covered in that month long trip is still fresh in my memory and it's difficult to pick just one place. I would strongly recommend exploring Europe on your own than opting  for package trips, especially if you can plan the whole thing and dont have fussy eaters with you.  Believe me, the experience of exploring on your own is worth it (Of course,  you just need to be wary of limited food options if you are vegetarian)

6. Australia: My most recent visit was to Australia. It was a short time assignment and as luck might have it, it was during my daughter's summer vacation. I have never lived without her and though company wouldn't sponsor her or family expenses due to short term assignment(which is fair), I still wanted to take her for the odd 3 months - I couldn't  imagine staying away from her for so long. I also forced my parents to join me this time. My parents again sang me the saving for future song, but I didnt budge, nor did I care. I had to travel first, but had applied for their visas through a travel agent before leaving. Booked their tickets online after their visitor visas were processed and finally they arrived.  The whole process till they arrived was quite nerve wracking as tracking progress of Australian visitor visas is nothing less than a nightmare. The void of not being able to get my parents to come visit and stay with me when I was in USA was finally filled this time. Of all the places we managed to visit when we were in Australia, our absolute favorite was the Great Ocean Road stretch. If you ever go to Australia, make sure you have this on your itinerary. You'll not regret it. 

So there you go, my six favourites. How about you?