11 days visit to New Zealand - South Island

Recommendation

1. Choose good AirBnBs (which are a bit high on a hill, we chose at Fernhill and Frankton (both in opposite direction to get diff views) in Queenstown. You will not regret it
2. If taking helicopter ride on Franz Joseph, chose the one which drops you higher (HeliHike) for further hiking. Glaciers are receding.
3. Lake Tekapo and Lake Pukaki offer unbelievable views. It should be there in your trip.
4. Going to Puzzling World (in Wanaka) on a hot day could lead you to frustration when searching for routes in the maze.
5. You should book a good car (higher power) as many drives pass through mountains.
6. Accommodation in Milford Sound (only one lodge) gets filled up pretty fast, so book them early if planning to go during festive season.
7. There are lot of scenic routes in South Island, so you would want to stop at every point to take pics. At most places, you would find look out point which will anyway offer spectacular views. So follow the signboards.

New Zealand South Island journey has been the most spectacular journey thus far. Routes are most scenic, first time on glacier - hiking, different color lakes, milford sound, seals, beautiful views of queenstown, gorges etc etc. We avoided Sky Diving and Bungee as we have done it before. But in all, driving south island is a ggreat package. I'm listing down my journey route, nights we spent at different places and costs etc to plan your own trip. We landed in Christchurch and decided to go anticlockwise as shown in figure below. From my research, it didn't appear that we should be spending anytime in ChristChurch so we left directly from airport and stayed at Hokitika.

Click on read below for more information

Finding a Job

I have been contacted by many NUS graduates for some time now for advice on career in Singapore, finding about how job market works and others. And more often than not, I feel that students today are lacking the key abilities to position themselves in front of recruiters. I, during my MBA, also committed same mistakes and had a tough time to find a job where I fit well. I did commit serious mistakes, such as - I had more or less same resume floating everywhere for different kinds of job roles, I gave just one read to understand the job requirement, and many others.

Having met few candidates earlier, I see same issues again this and, hence, this is my attempt to explain -

• how important it is to understand a job description
• how important it is to position and up sell yourself according to the job requirement
• how important it is to network with industry people and alumni

I believe I can explain all the above points through a small story, which is quite powerful. I had attempted this on few candidates earlier and found same answers from everybody.

Click on Read More link below.

New Zealand Tourist Visa in Singapore (for Indians)

Getting a New Zealand tourist visa in Singapore is pretty straightforward (compared to the Schengen visa). You should be careful of few things though which might be tough for people working in Singapore in a regional role.

1. Total Visa fees including the Visa Application Center fees is S$202 per application. An application can have multiple members. So, apply together to save money.
2. The time taken to process tourist visa is 15 working days. However, they returned my application in 7 working days.
3. There is no appointment system at the moment, but this can change in future; so advise to apply one and a half months in advance.
4. All related links can be found here.

EuroTrip - 14 days Trip to Switzerland, Italy and Austria (Part 3)

Part 1
Part 2

So finally got the time to write about the third leg of our Eurotrip - first being Switzerland and second Italy. Our last 4 days were spent in musical cities of Austria - Vienna and Salzburg. Here are my recommendations and tips -

Recommendation/Tips

1. Use Rick Steves audio guide to tour Vienna. They are good
2. Most of the things to see in Vienna is around St Stephens Cathedral, so you may want to look out hotel for rent closer to this area
3. There are lots of people (dressed properly) outside the Opera House selling tickets. Do not get tricked into their sweet talks as they sell for more and gives you seat which may not be good to view the stage
4. You should have legendary Sacher tart at Sacher Cafe near Opera House, Vienna
5. In Salzburg - go to Wolfgangsee lake (via bus) and hire an electric boat. You can then visit the entire lake on your own. Shop closes before 6pm
6. Ride a bicycle in Salzburg to visit places like Hellbrunn palace and the fort. You will enjoy the ride

Click on Read More link below

Good Mobile App to learn Spanish (and many others)

Last few weeks I have been teaching my cousin English over phone. He could speak Hindi but has problem converting sentences in English. I believe it is tough to learn another language. The main problem is that one first thinks in Hindi and then translate in English. But as a kid, we always think and speak in a particular language. That's why I realized it takes a bit of time to speak and, hence, lots of practice is needed to learn the second language.

To realize this change and challenge myself (perhaps recharge my brain power), I decided to learn a new language (along with continue my efforts to teach English to my cousin). I wanted to learn Spanish, so started looking for mobile apps as I can then learn it at my disposal. After trying lots of different apps, I found Duolingo application very useful. Starts from Basic level and then logically moves to advanced ones. After completing couple of levels, I immediately realized the pain that I first think of any sentence in English and then translate it to Spanish. Guess, lots of reading and practice is needed to come to a level where I think in Spanish. Speaking will naturally follow then.

EuroTrip - 14 days Trip to Switzerland, Italy and Austria (Part 2)

Part 1
Part 3

This post covers 5 days trip itinerary to Italy that includes 2 days in Rome, 1 day in Florence and 2 days in Venice.

Recommendations/Tips

1. Follow Rick Steves Guide for monuments visit in Italy. They are good and free to download
2. Buy entry tickets online to avoid queuing in the lines
3. Stay close to Pantheon area in Rome to enjoy  wonderful street lane experience
4. While booking a hotel in Venice, see if you could get a room facing a canal. You will get a good experience of Gondolas passing by
5. When you (as a couple) take a Gondola, prefer sharing it with 2 more people; otherwise it is difficult to take pictures of yours as a couple
6. Have Gelato ice cream every day :-)

We had earlier planned to stay in Rome for 3 days and rest in Venice. But many of my friends told me later to not miss Florence, so I shortened Rome by one day and gave half day to Florence. We used AirBnB and chose a place close to Termini station. Owner of the house was an old Italian lady and she made sure that our stay was as comfortable as it could be. On the first day we visited a lot of places because of our shortened trip. We followed Colosseum > Palantine Hill > Roma Forum > Venezia Palace > Piazza Navona > Pantheon > Trevi Fountain > Spanish Steps > Colosseum (in Night).  You could avoid Palantine Hill and Spanish Steps if you are in a hurry. All others are just masterpieces which cannot be avoided at all.

EuroTrip - 14 days Trip to Switzerland, Italy and Austria (Part 1)

Part 2
Part 3

The Eurotrip has ended and, gosh, what a splendid trip it was. 14 days trip to the serene natural beauty, magnificent historical architectures, lakes and monuments that you attach with your childhood memories passed so quickly that two weeks of vacation felt less. We visited Switzerland, Italy and Austria on our debut Europe tour. Choosing countries/cities in Europe is always difficult and the foremost thought behind our planning was to have a mix of few things. So we started off with a visit to Switzerland to see the natural snow-capped mountains, followed by visiting architectural monuments in Italy and, finally, ending the trip with visiting the musical cities in Austria. In all, I was very happy with my planning as we found that just doing one thing, such as visiting monuments, churches, etc, would become utterly boring. After seeing so many beautiful churches in Italy, I doubt if I can go and see another beautiful church which is just across the street in Paris. So, in that way we never got bored and always looked forward to what the next city has to offer.

Planning was done entirely by us which took a bit of time, lot of reading, however, it was a great experience as I read a lot about what to visit and not visit and filter out unimportant things. We visited Interlaken, Jungfraujoch (Switzerland), Rome, Florence and Venice (Italy) and Vienna, Salzburg (Austria). Wonderful experience it was. I’m helping out with our itinerary (click Read More below) and places to visit, our experience, fares to visit monuments and few tips that may help you with your planning.