Kedia's Travelogue

Güle Güle Turkiye

**Ortakoy Mosque (left) & Hagia Sophia Medallions (right)**

The place where you never know if you’re in Europe, Asia or Dream.

A Turkey trip sounds like just another vacation until it isn’t. It’s early mornings in Cappadocia watching balloons go up, not just ticking it off a list. It’s evenings in Istanbul where you don’t rush sunsets. It’s ruins in Ephesus that still feel lived in, Mediterranean cafés that don’t try too hard, and long drives along the coast that feels like therapy to ones eyes.

This blog post is about our 14N/15D trip to Istanbul, Cappadocia, Pamukkale, Kaş, Fethiye and Selcuk in the month of June 2026. We’ve done enough complex itineraries to usually trust ourselves. This time, we weren’t fully sure.

There was uncertainty around the Middle East situation, flight reroutes, and visa paperwork that wasn’t straightforward. Things didn’t start well either. At check-in, a small discrepancy in my e-visa meant I was denied boarding. Soon after, Nikita’s phone stopped working. With two red eyed kids, the night was mostly spent managing things rather than sleeping.

But once we got past that, things started falling into place. And what followed was easily one of the most memorable trips we’ve had.

Vietnam & Cambodia — Winter Sojourn

**Floating through Vietnam (Left) / New Year First Sunrise at Angkor Wat Cambodia (right)**

Two countries, one unforgettable journey — from cosmopolitan streets and emerald bays of Vietnam to the timeless temple plains of Cambodia.

Bustling Hanoi, drifting bays, and sacred Angkor stones — this is why Vietnam and Cambodia are best experienced together. This blog post spans 13D/12N itinerary across Hanoi, DaNang, Hoi An, Ho Chi Minh City and Siem Reap.

Sumit and Vinita Dubey, our usual partners in adventure, joined us on the trip with their kids. We kicked off late evening, boarding Vietnam Airlines from Bangalore around midnight. Excitement was high; sleep was tenuous. Vietnam, here we come!

Nepal – Rugged Trails and Epic Tales

**Machapuchare (Fish Tail) Peak as seen from Pokhara Airport**

A Taste of the Himalayas: Our Family Trip to Nepal

There’s a certain magic to Nepal that calls to you, a blend of spiritual serenity and breathtaking mountain grandeur. This April 2025, we decided to answer that call, swapping the familiar hum of Bangalore for the prayer flags and ancient wonders of Kathmandu and Pokhara. This blog post spans 9D/8N itinerary which has a mix of temple runs, adventures, local markets and sampling lots of local delicacies. We had a full pack with my parents and in-laws both part of the trip.

Malaysia – Truly Asia

**Customary shot in front of Petronas Twin tower, Kuala Lumpur**

Malaysia, where the jungle meets the sea

This blog post spans 11D/10N across Malaysian cities Langkawi, Kuala Lumpur and Malacca, in the month of Dec 2024. Our usual partners in crime, Sumit and Vinita Dubey accompanied us on the trip. The adventure began with us boarding our red eye Singapore Airlines flight from Bangalore to KualaLumpur (via Singapore) and then a domestic flight from KL to Langkawi (Air Asia). Yes, we could have been smarter and booked a direct flight from Bangalore to Langkawi, but organiser of this trip, which was me, wanted to avoid Malaysian Airlines for some god_knows_what reason!

A Road Trip wid Family – Season 4

**Chaturbuja Temple (Southern Cluster):** **Head** **of Shiva, Body of Vishnu and Legs of Krishna**

From the ancient temples of Ujjain and the architectural marvels of Khajuraho to the vibrant streets of Indore, every corner of this journey unfolds a tale of spiritual heritage, artistic brilliance, and modern-day hustle.

This blog post spans 8D/7N across three cities: Indore, Ujjain and Khajuraho, in the month of Oct 2024. This trip is a continuation to our yearly family road trip ritual through mystical mythological corridors of India. Previous road trips can be viewed here: Season 3, Season 2, Season 1. We made Indore as the base for majority of this itinerary and took short road trips to Ujjain and Maheshwar. We reached Khajuraho from Indore by taking a train and returned back to Indore to take return flight back to Bangalore.

Vacation Marathon – Fiji, NZ, Australia

**Sunset at Natadola (Fiji), Alpacas in Auckland (NZ) and Sun rising in Gold Coast (Australia) (From left to right)**

A journey where the warmth of Fiji, the adventure of New Zealand, and the vastness of Australia blend into an unforgettable tapestry of travel

This blog post spans 22D/21N across three countries and seven cities which we traveled in the month of Apr-May 2024. From Bangalore, we landed in Fiji, went to New Zealand, then to Gold Coast and flew back from Sydney. We spent almost around a week in each of these countries. This itinerary can be looked as multiple sub itineraries and depending on how much time one wishes to spend in these locations, they can customise it.

Vaishno Devi Yatra

This is a short post on our yatra to Vaishno Devi Shrine, situated in Katra, near Jammu. There are multiple posts on internet available which can give you a detailed and probably better itinerary of this yatra, however, from my experience, I couldn’t find a single post detailing do’s and dont’s and giving practical pointers and hence this post.

Generously Mauritius

Mauritius was made first and then heaven; and heaven was copied after it

This blog post is about our 7D/6N trip to the island of Mauritius around Christmas and New year eve 2023. I am trying a different style of writing in this post where rather than covering day wise itinerary, I will cover it place wise. I feel there is no particular order or connectedness in these places and hence they can be covered likewise in any order.

A Road Trip wid Family – Season 3

This blog post is about our 10D/9N roadtrip including us, my parents, in-laws and my brother’s family. We chose Saurastra region for this trip and covered Dwarkadheesh Temple, Somnath and Nageshwar Jyotirlingas, Diu and Gir forests.

This has started to become our yearly ritual where all of us do temple run and explore places nearby. Readers interested can go over our Season 2 and Season 1 as well.

Japan – Ichigo Ichie

Money can’t buy you happiness, but it can buy a ticket to Japan

One Life, One Encounter – true to its spirit, this blog post is about our 10N/11D visit to bustling Tokyo to Zen-like Kyoto and laid back Hiroshima during the all famous Cherry Blossom time of the year (March end 2023)! Japan is a high tech world mixed with a lot of respect and politeness of their past and towards us visitors.