CRIScom travel experience flow – The personal website of Christoph Potzinger

After a night in the City Palace hotel, which, honestly, doesn’t have much in common with a palace at all, but which is conveniently situated opposite of Victoria Station, we boarded the train headed towards Goa. We arrived in darkness at the terminal in a spooky atmosphere. On our way we saw many people sleeping on or beside the side walks and in ditches, covered solely with a sheet of plastic or canvas, and were again reminded of the sad fact that 55 % of Bombay’s population lived in slums. Bombay has a current population of about 8 million…
We were lucky enough to get seats in 3rd class on the morning train, not the most comfortable way to travel by any means. There were 8 people in our compartment with 8 convertible beds attached to the walls. It was even narrower in there than on the airplane.
After 12 hours and a trip that turned out to be more comfortable than expected, at dusk, we finally arrived in Old Goa . We had seen quite a bit of India on our train ride and the landscape turned out to be a different picture from the garbage, traffic and smog dominated metropolis that we had just left behind. India is a vast, (more…)

On Saturay, shortly before midnight, we set foot on Indian soil after an eight hours flight from Vienna. An ancient looking taxi driver in an even more ancient looking taxi, which can be considered quite an achievement, brought us to our hotel. The trip was a first taste of what we should experience in the next days on the street of Bombay.
Well, officially Bombay is now called Mumbai as all cities seem to have at least two names. This, of course, makes things intricate for the foreign traveller and adds to the confusion and chaos that emanates from the streets and by-walk in this bee-hive of a city. (more…)

The waiting is finally coming to an end. The fact that our beloved Gwendoline has just left with Sylvia to her holiday location at Christa’s and Ulla’s castle in Kumber has made me aware that on Saturday Sylvia and I are departing to India.
Sitting here in my office, surrounded by heaps of books, sheets of paper filled with notes and mind maps which serve as a preparation for tomorrow’s seminar, the thought of finding myself in a completely new world on Saturday seems like a distant dream.
I have been working virtually non-stop ever since the beginning of October and although I could continue this working streak, I am more than ready for a break.
Our flight will take us to Bombay, which we have chosen as our starting point for an extensive excursion through India’s South. We will travel by train and are also considering hiring a driver. We are destined South, already flirting rigorously with Goa with its supposedly dreamy beaches, perfect to relax and take it easy. Further on the journey will go to the State of Kerala, its backwaters and Fort Cochin.
Since I haven’t found much time for making a travel plan, we will sort things out on the go. Because of tomorrow’s seminar (which ends at 10 pm) no sooner than Saturday morning I will have time to consult our travel book.
Writing these lines, it becomes apparent to me that I lack an idea of what to expect or what will await us in this vast and diverse country. I am prepared for a challenging experience, though, one which won’t be forgotten for a long time.
Check out this site in the next couple of days. Whenever possible I will post about our journey.