Leilani - Thats My Girl Friend

Hold on Hold On, I am not that dumb to post my girl friend photo here, My fiancee would very well see this post too...

Atlast I happen to download some photos from my BlackBerry. One photo which will captures everyone's attention was my Girl Friend's photo. Her name is Leilani and she is from Hawaii... She is Prety as well as Hot :)-

So far, Leilani was giving me good company while driving, it was even nice when Leilani was dancing in front of me while driving LOL :)-

That was a nice and pleasent gift from DK, Seattle. They got Leilani for me from Hawaii, Probably I would say after Leilani's entry I got my real girl of my life :)-

Now I doubt Leilani's presence in my life after marriage :)-

Rainy, Sunny, Chilly, Windy and Snowy !!!

Morning, it rained heavily
Afternoon, it was bright and sunny



Evening, it was windy and chilly
Morning, there were mild snow showers




If you want to experience this type of weather then you should be here @ Chicago.

Chicago is very dynamic in weather :)-

You will never know what type of costumes you need to be prepared before going out :)-

I witnessed the same type of climate once in Seattle before during december 06.

Have you come across any such diversified climate, feel free to share your interesting moments.

Yet Another Move….East West and Now MidWest

Recently, got moved to Chicago area from Seattle area…

Each and Every city has lots of memories to carry with when you move ahead…

Though I have been traveling around various places, My Stay @ Seattle was memorable and has got lot of pleasant memories. Definitely Year 2006 and my stay @ Seattle will be a good remembrance. Life changing experience happened when I was @ Seattle; I finalized my life partner during this time. Though it was a remote decision, it was a glad & good decision, lots of experienced people (Dears & Nears) behind the scene has helped me in finalizing my life partner. Thanks to my Dears and Nears :)

14 Months in Seattle, that was one of the considerable longer stay after Chennai. Probably Mysore duration was closer to that. I had good times at Chennai, London, Mysore, Bangalore, Toronto, New Jersey / New York & Seattle. Out of which, Definitely Seattle will remind me the quality and pleasant time that I had with my friends.

Been lived in many cities, I would recommend Seattle as a destination to have a peaceful life in Northern part of North America. Washington State was called as depressing state of USA, it rains atleast 8 months, Due to this during initial times I wasn’t having much liking towards Seattle. I Still remember my initial days where I used to share my frustration about Seattle to my friends, but later I started liking this place because of my friends @ Seattle.

Luckily I got my classmate & Good Friend Mala @ Redmond, Ex-Collegue Pandiaraj & Co presence at Bellevue & Infy Mates Dhivya & Kannan @ Renton. Good food is common across all homes. Homely & tasty food @ Mala’s house, luxury of tasting 1 week food varieties @ Pandiaraj’s home (Thanks to Josephine) and good company with cute little girl Adharshini & exceptional Mutton Biryani on every Friday @ Dhivya Kannan’s home (My another home @ Seattle).

Rain is always better than snow, Washington as a state has good amount of scenic destinations. If you are nature and scenic enthusiast then definitely do plan a trip to Pacific North West region, it has got lot more to offer. Blue, Green & White that’s what Pacific NW is all about, I witnessed all 3 colors only in this area. Tulip Festival is another note able colorful season in this area. April is the only month where you can witness acres of land covered with varieties of colors. I have been to Tulip Festival all 4 weeks during last April. It was Amazing…










Cost of living in near by suburbs is definitely far better than NE, SW & MW regions of USA. My Apartment @ Kent needs a special mention here. 3 Bedroom 2 Bath for just 925$, luckily I got good room mates too (Amit G & Amit D), though my room mates complain that I don’t stay at home most of the time :)-. Often we used have group discussion on diversified topics. That was a pleasent stay.

Being spent most of the time in my car, the only part which I hated most in Seattle area is the traffic, during week days and peek time, it’s even comparable to Hosur Road in Bangalore. Me, Myself and My Car…oh boy I have got lot more memories with my car too. I can write a separate blog on that...










When it comes to IT Job opportunities Seattle has good amount of well known companies like Microsoft, Google, Boeing, Starbucks, T-Mobile, Northdrom, Amazon and Weyerhaeuser to name few.

University of Washington is listed in Top 30 ranking for Part time MBA.

Well I am not doing any marketing for Seattle; this is all about my experience in that area. I am sure I haven’t explored this area to its fullest. Some of the things which I missed to visit are Hwy 101 Oregon coastal drive, St Helens, Hiking on Mt Rainier, Alaska, Bunky Jumping @ Whistler, Canada & RV trip to Yellowstone.

Folks, do include a trip to Pacific Northwest region and Alaska, its worth visiting during Summer time.

Soon, I will be sharing my experience about Chicago too. Already I started hearing that summer in Chicago area will be pretty good, only thing is you need an AC to survive hot summer :)- Since Lake Michigan is nearby, there is lot more on water sports to be explored, Niagara, Murugan Temple @ Pittsburg are nearby.

Within 10-15 hours of drive one can cover any one of place like Toronto, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Charlotte, Atlanta, Houston, San Antonio & Dallas from Chicago or vice versa. And from west coast it is hardly 4-5 hours air travel :)

Journey Continues…..

Vacation in India & Abroad ?!

I started this blog based on my own comment on my blog "My Voyage"

Preamble: My Friend Seeni asked this question to my previous blog My Voyage “When in India we don’t worry or plan much about visiting various places. But when in abroad or any foreign country we tend to plan to visit various places. Why?

Seeni, Your question doesn’t have one single line answer. Multiple factor decides a person to go for vacation irrespective of India or Abroad.

1. In India, When ever there is a long week end, I prefer to make visit to my home, since most of the time I worked outside my home town. The same situation applicable to most of us. (Overnight journey will make me to reach my home). But of course I have done lots of one day trip to nearby localities, but not like a trip that one can plan in abroad.

2. When you stay outside your home town, you are totally isolated from your family, so you have left with two options, stay home and watch TV, cinema, house keeping or go out for a vacation. So going out for a vacation is predominantly common when you are away from home. (Probably travel time greater than overnight journey). When I was at Bombay, I was planning for lonawala, kandala, matherang but dropped because of weather condition. The only long distance trip which I made in India is Trip to Goa. (That was awesome, I am still longing for such trip)

3. Travel cost, Safety& affordability factor also plays a crucial role. I think US; Canada & Europe are pretty safe which makes visitors to feel they are safe.

4. Infrastructure of a country plays a vital role. Europe is well connected by trains and US/Canada is well connected by Air and Roads. Driving in US/Canada is easy which makes planning a trip easier. You get cheap tickets if you have patience and book in advance. Now India is catching up on this.

5. In Abroad, One can plan a trip in <10 minutes due to online booking system. All
hotels, rentals, airlines, destinations are well integrated and one can shop all @ one place.

6. In Abroad, we get holidays on Thanks Giving, Christmas, Labor day, Independence Day etc we don’t celebrate any of these occasions, so we make these holidays for vacation but back in India Pongal and Diwali are major festival and we prefer celebrating the occasion at home rather visiting places.

7. Most influencing factor is holidays and week ends are completely yours @ abroad.Convenience, Infrastructure, Affordability, Safety, One source information, Economics, Tourism Infrastructure and Individual Mental/Energy Level etc decides a person to go on for a vacation irrespective of India or Abroad.

Is this true, what’s your say ?

My Voyage ...

When it comes to traveling and visiting places, 2006 will become a year for Remembrance. Though I have lived in UK, Toronto and Jersey, my stay at Seattle has changed my idea of making trips.

Following is the list of places I have visited during 2006.

1. Honolulu, Hawaii (May)
2. Vancouver, BC, Canada (August)
3. Las Vegas, Grand Canyon (September)
4. Los Angeles & San Diego, CA (November)
5. Houston, Atlanta, NJ & New York (December)
(Trip was to visit Dear one's rather places :)-)

2005 – New Jersey, New York, Washington DC, Maine, Massachusetts
2004 – Canada => Toronto, Niagara Falls, Kingston, Ottawa, Montreal & Quebec
2002 – UK => London, Edinburgh, Glasgow























That’s a pretty good list though. Just created my voyage map in North America so far.

Oh man, I can see lot of empty spaces in the map. Probably few more places will be added during 2007.

Places to visit in future :-

1. Miami, Florida.
2. Cancun Island, Mexico.
3. Bahamas, Caribbean Islands.
4. Alaska
5. Whistler, BC, Canada.
6. SFO, CA
7. Chicago, IL

Apart from North America I wanted to visit South America too probably Brazil. Love to do a Euro Trip too.

That’s pretty exhaustive list, Oops lets c.