Of glamour, tour and settlement!

Touring has always been one of my weak (and strong points), and writing about them a side-business. As a kid, my Dad used to maintain journals of our numerous tours and I believe the habit of travelogue is more of an inheritance than fate.

The recent transition of tours, from Indian locales to LA has been tad of a shift culturally. Well, who doesn't dream of visiting Hollywood, but to live here was far away from my deepest desires. Beginning of 2011, all I was thinking of was visiting home, new role in office, possible job shift, and changing houses. Mundane dreams of an office-goer, a kind of settled life, with day-to-day trifles that keeps you alive.

Come July and the entire scenario changed. Excitement, apprehension, nervousness, planning (and un-planning), decisions, and most importantly the tensions - there were emotions galore, and the funnier thing is, the mixed feelings still exist. The concomitant events were as stressful. To say the least, somehow we pulled through the section of life, where finally the visa got approved and Anirban moved to LA in December. I tailgated in January 2012.

And hence follows the constant state of awe and wonderment - did we take the right decision? Mind you, we are still fixated at that thought. Most of us, as kids, have tried to stand in the center portion of a see-saw, and balance yourself with the momentum. Either ways, there is a high risk of injury by a bad fall. We are yet to figure out the stronger momentum - do we miss Bangalore (and our friends), or do we hate being here more?

On to something positive - and to the theme of this prose. Traveling was a major incentive for us to seriously consider this country shift. As I already said, who wouldn't want to hitch-hike to Hollywood! Ah well, even though public transportation seems to be at a loss on the west coast, we did manage to check out the key places.

Griffith Park, Universal Studios, Walk of Fame, Santa Monica & Santa Barbara beaches and a brief tour to San Francisco in a matter of 5 months. I do consider it a small feat. :) The facts surrounding the locales, and a few supporting pictures are what we go after. So far, our record in India tours has been that wherever we head to, we always promise to revisit with a better game-plan. It is no different here.

The exploration so far has been limited due to lack of a vehicle. Once that is accomplished, the tours hopefully will know no bounds. Looking forward to settling down further, an exciting rest-of-2012 and more travelogues!