I went again to India to celebrate Guru Purnima but the difference this time is I had a new portable camera that I was able to take more pictures than I normally do. So I had my new Samsung TL100 camera (it is so cute) and I had a wonderful trip, as always. It was very cloudy and rained on and off while I was there, not ideal shooting conditions. I did not mind the cloudy weather though, it calms down the extreme heat. Still unnaturally hot to me though!

A little about my trip…

Every time I have traveled to India in the past I have come from Oslo, Norway. The trip from Oslo to Bangalore varies a little bit, you have to go from Oslo to some other major airport in Europe then it is usually a 9-10 hour trip from somewhere like London. That is a pretty long trip in itself. BUT this time my husband and I were coming from California.

Now let me tell you, I do not suggest this for anyone EVER. In my opinion, unless you are lucky enough to be flying business or first class, this is inhumane. Basically you are on a plane for almost 24 hours with a slight pause to stand in lines in a European airport, go through customs and security check again and get back on the plane.

The other thing for us was that when we get to India, we have about a 3 hour car ride from the airport to our final destination. Thankfully about half of that road is paved now which makes it a little better, but man, this kind of traveling is not right!

Anyways, I survived and enjoyed my trip. I am just thankful that any future trips to India will be from Europe and not from California.

So, the trip TO India was not that bad for me since I did get upgraded to business class on both flights. On the first flight, from LAX to London I was on a United Airlines plane (they were awful, and the plane I was on looked like it was a ‘vintage’ plane, it worried me a little….I am not liking United - they made British Airways look like a luxury airline, and if you have been following my blog you will know I have not been a big fan of BA in the past).

On the LAX to London flight, I got upgraded to business class. On United though, business class is like BA’s ‘premium economy’. I don’t know if any of you know what that means, but what that means is that the seats are much bigger, more comfortable and it is a little less painful to sit there for the 10 hours.

Then, the best thing ever happened. When I changed planes in London, they upgraded me to business class again. But business class on British Airways its totally different than business class on United. On BA, you have your own little ‘pod’. There is a divider wall between you and the person next to you, you have a foot rest and the seat lays all the way flat so you can actually sleep for real. It was amazing. I was next to a window, so I did not just have a window seat, I had 4 windows all to myself. Its almost like being in your own little room. It was awesome.

Anytime I get upgraded like this I have such an internal conflict about what to do. I feel like I should ‘enjoy’ all the perks of the upgrade (you know…like real silverware and better service :)) but I was soooo tired then and knew it was going to be a long way to my final destination. So I decided to enjoy the perk of actually being able to TRULY sleep on a plane! Oh, it was more than amazing. I actually slept for over 8 hours comfortably and woke up right before landing to have breakfast. I never want to travel again any other way :) (CLICK ON IMAGES TO SEE THEM LARGER)

But then I had to pay my ‘travelers karma’ on the trip back to California. Not horrible, but not that great of seats from Bangalore to London. I at least had a window. That was good. But back to reality in economy…. Then my good traveling karma was up, from London to LAX. I was stuck in the middle row of 5 people in the middle of a packed plane for 11 hours. That was awful.

Anyways, I am back in California again (I will be here for a little while, but am going back to Europe VERY soon…and looking forward to it!). Finally I have some time to share my pictures I took with my new camera (the cutest ever, you should get one - Samsung TL100….). I just have a dilemma on what the best way to present these pictures to you is.

I dont want my hompage to take too long to load because I have so many pictures I want to show you so just click on the more button to see the rest of the article! Enjoy my pics from my most recent trip to India!

Here are some pictures taken on the way to Penukonda after leaving the airport (warning, these were taken from a moving vehicle…I tried!).

Here are some pictures from the asharm. I do not have that many from where we were staying, just a couple.

Okay, now I have decided to make this two posts. This is too much to do at once. So I will stop here and put the rest up very soon. I hope you enjoyed them!

Please tell me what you think about my pictures in a comment below!