What do people look forward to, at a vacation resort?

To find out more, we reached out to a group of professionals who are roughly between 30 and 40 years old – these are people who are active on the travel and vacation front. And as we mentioned in our previous interview, this demographic is useful to us – and relevant, in terms of vacation interests and feedback. (Where they go, what they do, and what they look for at a vacation resort.)

(Here’s one young professional we spoke to.) For us, a swimming pool comes first at a vacation resort. We’re not club members in the city that we live in, and do look forward to just hanging around in a pool setting. All resorts have pools these days, and many of them also have a junior pool which is extremely useful, according to me. The little ones can be reasonably safe out here.

I must add here that the pool needs to be safe to swim in when it comes to water quality. Some of them overdose on chlorine, which is not exactly desirable. We also look forward to clean changing rooms, shower heads that work, and a good supply of well-laundered towels and accessories.

What else? Resort pools these days don’t have a lifeguard at the pool location, and I wonder if this is too much to ask because it gives you some reassurance. Even if a guest in the pool can do a rescue job, you need someone from the assigned pool staff to know and administer first aid procedures.

There’s more on this story at this link > World of Airda / September 2022

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Mina Tilakraj takes us to the Taj

You can sit for hours, watching the Taj change its moods with every change of complexion in the skies. Interestingly, the vision of the Taj is framed differently from each window of the fort across the river Yamuna. And from what I have experienced, something magical happens when you come within sighting distance of the Taj. You see a landscape of greenery, with the river around leading you gently towards a point where the Taj rises majestically into the frame.

The magic starts even before you get there, with eager anticipation. As we are nearing it, crowds and long lines of visitors build up momentum. And when you enter the big gate, the monument stands majestically before you. The first glimpse of a demure, ivory-white dome set against the blue skies is a sight to behold. It beckons the visitor to go closer and closer, and get a view of the Taj in all its glory.

And when you get closer, you rub your eyes in disbelief and say to yourself: am I really in front of the Taj, or is this a dream?

There’s more on this story at this link > World of Travel / September 2022

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World of AIRDA – P Ramakrishnan

I am a member of Sterling’s Ooty resort in Tamilnadu. And I am really happy I picked a timeshare plan with them a little over twenty years ago.

And as you can see, that is a long time in terms of my member relationship with Sterling. I have seen them grow, expand, modernize and widen their footprint in the country – and of course world wide as well through the exchange companies they are associated with.

Sterling was one of the early entrants in the timeshare space in India, and what you see evolving today is the result of a lot of groundwork done by them. In those days, timeshare was a concept that was new to India and lead players like Sterling did a good job of adapting a global trend to the travel and vacation needs of Indian prospects. The timeshare blueprint is largely the same, but the spinoffs were appealing to Indian customers such as me.

There’s more on this interview with Mr P. Ramakrishnan at this link >
World of Airda / July 2021

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World of Travel – Joanna Lobo

I’ve been travelling ever since I moved to Mumbai, 13 years back. Initially it was locally, between states and once I got my passport, abroad. I sometimes travelled as part of my work, going to cover events and spending hours just in transit to reach remote locations. But, those trips gave me as much joy as a well-planned vacation in a cold, hilly town.

As a travel writer, I am often invited on sponsored trips and though hectic, they are still enjoyable. I often extend my stay in these places, so I can explore them my way. Now, as a freelance writer, I travel whenever I can (responsibilities permitting). I have savings that are in place mainly to fund my trips, because the INR is still very weak.  The advantage of being a freelance writer is you need just a stable internet connection and your laptop – and you can work from anywhere.

In this year, my goal is to explore my home (Goa) and discover all its hidden beauty.

There’s more on this story at this link >
World of Travel / July 2021

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Some interesting angles to shooting videos on a holiday

This is an interview with “mobile” film maker from Mumbai, Shiva Prasad – in our Message of the Month section.

How can lay people on a vacation take better pictures using their mobile phones?

People love to capture their travel and adventure photos and look forward to preserving them as fond memories for the rest of their lives. That’s where the mobile phone comes in to capture beautiful imagery and footage on your vacation.

Many of the recently launched mobile phones have interesting creative presets such as slow motion videos, time-lapse (passage of time) giving you the ability to film in variable frame rates like 30 and 60 frames – and going right up to 970 frames on some phones. The latest Samsung Galaxy S 20 allows you to capture footage in true cinematic 24 frames in 8k resolution – the only mobile phone which offers this feature till date.

More on our interview with Shiva Prasad at this link >
Message of the Month Interview / May 2020

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In and around Club Mahindra Virajpet

This is an interview with James George from Dubai, in our Q&A section.

How hard does it become to take a break for a vacation?
My brother Joel and I look forward to the great outdoors, together – because I live and work in Dubai and he is based in Bangalore. Oftentimes, life gets in the way and the time we do eventually spend when we meet is with other family members at home. When I came down this time, he had planned this trip so we could spend some quality time together and really unwind. Naturally we wanted the quality of our destination to be enhanced by the locale of our stay.

But, taking a break isn’t easy – you need to align calendars and make concrete plans that you can stay with. I am glad we were able to make this trip in the beginning of February – before more than half of the world’s population went into lockdown due to Covid19. Since the experience is recent, I have fond memories at our resort in Virajpet, of the Club Mahindra experience.

More on our interview with James George at this link >
Q&A Interviews / May 2020

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Putting your vacation on hold . . .

In the last months of 2019, people looked at 2020 as the turnaround year for business and enterprise, building up to a year of strong consolidation. The anticipation was short-lived as Covid-19 literally took the world by storm. As we present this story, the world is no longer the same – but we always have tomorrow to look forward to. (We do.)

This month’s Q&A session reflects the thoughts, feelings and emotions of people who actually planned to go on vacation during March / April this year. With bookings made, all they needed to do was pack their bags.

However, these conversations also reflect an understanding of the current situation. People are overcoming their initial disappointment with responsible thinking.

More on this story at this link >
Q&A Interviews / April 2020

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How do you tackle post-vacation blues?

What are your feelings like when you’re heading back home, after a really nice vacation?
A good vacation rejuvenates me as nothing else does. No spa, no mall can come close to the feeling of absolute contentment I feel when I am away from the city and when I am one with nature. Of course, the moment I touch city limits after a good holiday, it’s a sinking feeling. The stress sets in immediately, and I know that until my next vacation I have to wake up to the sounds of incessant honking and traffic – rather than the melodious bird sounds and the pollution-free air that I miss so much. I call it the holiday hangover, and the only ‘fix’ that can help me get over it is another holiday. Most of the times, I cannot wait to simply pack my bags, load the camera, and leave.

 

Q&A: In conversation with Travel Blogger Shama Ahmed

More on this story at the link below >
Q&A – May 2019

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What does a vacation mean to you? Here is Jayashree Bhat’s story . . .

Jayashree Bhat works as a Senior Manager, Data Management, at Syneos Health Limited. Currently single, she enjoys travelling and connecting with new people. On a vacation she particularly likes to understand and experience the culture, the customs and local flavors – yes, that combo can make things really special for her.

Jayashree has a Club Mahindra membership that she picked up in 2014, and over these five years she has criss-crossed the country on several vacations – some of them outside of the timeshare platform as well.

Along with her friends, Jayashree has been to some really exotic locations such as Ladakh, Saputara/Hatgad, Odisha, Tadoba-Pench, Egypt and Bandhavgadh. According to her, these vacations largely happened because her friends were doing all the planning and coordination – all she had to do was pack her bags and join the gang.

For the AIRDA content team, it was really interesting chatting with Jayashree, because here was someone who looked at travel as an interesting learning experience.

Talking to Jayashree Bhat of Mumbai
More on this story at the link below >
Q&A – March 2019

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The world of travel through the eyes of Hooma Roy Choudhury and Sudeep Goswami

Hooma & Sudeep are the founders of Travel Jaunts, a travel company based out of Bangalore. They are travellers, bloggers, photographers and tour organizers. This young couple loves to travel family-in-tow, at the slightest opportunity life provides, to create and build an exciting bank of memories. They have been traveling for the last 14 years – extensively within India, and to over 25 countries across the globe.

From a background perspective, both Hooma and Sudeep are management graduates. Hooma has worked in Banking & Insurance, and has managed an online art gallery before starting Travel Jaunts. Sudeep works with Dell as India Sales Director.

We talk to this young couple about their travel interests and the travel opportunities they offer through Travel Jaunts.

More on this story at the link below >
Q&A – November 2018

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