Udaipur : A city that left me bedazzled and bewitched!

It all started with a burning desire for a much-needed break - a break from the routine, in fact a solitary escape from my known surroundings, from “living in a box " kind of existence, from the overwhelming academic load, from the busyness trap that everyday life is! In a way my life had become very monotonous and mechanical to such  an extent that I felt totally disoriented and therefore experienced a deep urge to take a break, to pause & reflect, to relax & rejuvenate, to break free from the clutches of the routine that was dictating my life, to embrace solitude and last but not the least to restore my sense of equanimity, wholeness and well-being. 

Luckily, December 2017 was a relatively lighter month considering my academic commitments and hence in one random moment after consulting a dear friend on her solo trip experience to Udaipur as well as convincing my super anxious father that Udaipur will be safe for solo travel, I booked my to & fro flight tickets to the city of lakes and also Zostel- a bagpackers hostel which my friend had recommended.

Unfortunately, travelling solo as a woman in a country like India where women safety is still a big question mark is not a welcomed idea in many households. Hence, the parental paranoia around this topic is not considered as irrational as it may sound in the western world. Nevertheless, despite the evident hitches, India is gradually opening up to solo women travel and things are not as bleak as it was few decades ago. Also in comparison to my mother’s generation I feel quite fortunate that I belong to an era, where solo women travel has become a reality.

So, that’s how I set out on my solo trip to Udaipur with no clue of what awaited me, no set plan for my stay there and to be very honest I hardly cared. I was in fact happily looking forward to embrace the unknown in an unknown city.A part of me was craving to get lost in a beautiful setting, away from the maddening lifestyle of a metro to experience the adventure of letting life unfold on its own.I feel, sometimes it is very important to let life happen rather than always trying to make things happen, to experience living out of the box and to learn to face life as it comes.

In the words of Rosalia de Castro, 

"I saw my path, but I didn't know where it led me. Not knowing where I was going was what inspired me to travel it."

Just a day before when I had to leave for my trip I had a hectic day in college and then I went to watch this wonderful movie called "Wonder " picturing my favourite Hollywood actress, Julia Roberts and by the time I reached home it was already 7 p.m.I had to leave home by 8:30 am in the morning, the next day. I hadn't done my packing and I was so dead tired on reaching home that I straightaway went to sleep and asked my mother to wake me up by 9 p.m.She woke me up at 10 p.m.I started packing at 11 and finished it by 12 and went to bed again only to realise I wasn't able to sleep. May be it was then that the feeling of actually going on a solo trip began to sink in and all I wondered was why is the idea of travelling itself so exciting that you always feel so alive when you dream or talk about, plan or go on a trip ?! That's when I thought of browsing through some travel quotes just to get myself in the travel mode and as I am addicted to the written world, I knew only words could give me my kind of travel "high".While surfing the net, I came across this amazing quote and I think it did set the right note for my trip: -

“To move, to breathe, to fly, to float,

To gain all while you give,

To roam the roads of lands remote,

To travel is to live.”

Normally I always carry a book along during my travels, but this time I didn't because I didn't feel that the books that I was reading were matching  with this trip. I then ended up buying one at the airport and I must say, it was just so perfect that I have no words to describe it.I bought Aleph by Paulo Coelho. It is an autobiographical account of Coelho as he seeks a path of spiritual renewal and growth and decides to travel, to experiment, to reconnect with people and places around him. It felt as if it was meant to accompany me to Udaipur and in hindsight, it has so beautifully helped me in putting my experiences into interesting perspectives.

As I landed in Udaipur, I was greeted by a warm and sunny day.It was not at all cold contrary to what I had expected it to be.I quickly booked an Uber and the moment we started from the airport,the radio played an old Hindi classic, "Aadmi musafir hai, aata hai , jata hai...aate jate raaston mein yaadein chod jata hai." (Human being is a traveller, he(she) comes and goes and leaves memories along the way.) I was spellbound! and said to myself, what a philosophical, musical entry to the city! I totally loved the beginning.

It took me 45 mins to reach my destination abode in Udaipur. The driver left me at the edge of a steep hilly road where vehicles were not allowed.I enjoyed my short and scenic climb to Zostel , which is situated in the centre of the old city overlooking the lake Pichola. Least did I know then that it was just the beginning of my journey into the beautiful unknowns! As I approached Zostel, I instantly fell in love with its caption at the entrance gate–“Live it. NOW.”-that’s what I had aspired to do after all-to soak in the present moment as if it was all that was! And as I stepped in I went all gaga to see Badshah - the one year old pug who I met at the reception. Having this little bundle of joy around was indeed a beautiful blessing during my stay there.After completing the check-in formalities and getting a happy high on meeting Badshah, I proceeded to my room, which was a very pretty four bedded female dorm with all the necessary amenities(super liked my bunk bed and the reading lamp near my bedside) but what stole my heart was the lakeview from my bedside window.It was simply BEAUTIFUL! Hardly 20 mins had passed since my arrival at Zostel and I was already in love with this place.I think I was more than happy with the bedside view and Badshah. Even if, Udaipur was just that, I think I couldn't have asked for more because it was super amazing- the vibes and the view. The other three girls who I shared the room with had gone out for sight-seeing.I quickly changed and headed to the rooftop restaurant and once again a step into the restaurant took my breath away! It offered the most amazing 180 deg lake facing view of the city.Everything there was so dream-like.It was difficult to accept such a beautiful reality, but at the same time it was a fantastic feeling to be in a place as awesome as that! To add to the fantasy, I had a glass full of super delicious oreo shake by the lake and revelled in my new found fairytale like reality.This was also the best oreo shake I had ever had.I loved it so much that I had it every single day during my stay at Zostel. By now I was already feeling completely at home in Udaipur. Never did I feel I was in an unknown city. I guess, that's the magic that travel reveals - the magic of soul-connections - with places and people alike!

Even though I didn't feel like leaving the rooftop restaurant I yielded to the urges of my mind which was prompting me to explore the city- that a lot more was in store! And so, I dragged myself down to the reception and enquired about where all I could go that day and until how long was it safe to roam around in the streets at night. The person at the reception told me that I must take an Uber to Sajjangarh to see the Monsoon palace which is also a perfect sunset point and then should attend the sound and light show at Bagore ki Haweli which was at a walking distance from Zostel. He said , I should come back by 9:30 pm. 

This plan sounded good to me and I thought of following it.So as per the instructions, I took an Uber to Sajjangarh. It took me 15 minutes to reach Sajjangarh which is also known as Monsoon Palace. It's a palace of historical importance situated on a hill top overlooking Fateh Sagar lake.This place gives you a 360 degree view of the city and is known as a marvellous sunset point.I bought the entrance ticket at the gate where they give you a taxi coupon to take a taxi up hill to the palace.While I was waiting for the taxi, I met a foreigner from England, who was just about my age and we started talking.She happened to be in a 6 weeks solo trip to India.It was lovely meeting her and we were completely enjoying talking to each other at the taxi point so much that we didn't realise that she missed her taxi.Her missing the taxi was indeed a blessing in disguise because had she boarded it, we might not have met.Finally, both of us were put in the same taxi and that marked the beginning of our journey together.We explored the Monsoon palace, talked about life, purpose, relationships while watching the picturesque sunset in the background and surprisingly it never felt as if we had met just a while ago. Interestingly, I got to know that she was staying in a hotel which was at a walking distance from Zostel and so we decided to go back together.On our way back we walked along the narrow and colourful streets of Udaipur,with balmy breezes kissing our faces while we were engrossed in some deep conversations about the meaning of life and magic of travel.We spent some good amount of  time in a lovely cafe wherein we decided that we'll explore the City Palace and go on a boat ride to Jag Mandir together, the very next morning. Yes, we had really started liking each other to the extent that we felt like spending our travel time together.After the cafe, she went back to her hotel and I proceeded to Bagore ki Haweli for the sound and light show. The show was simply wonderful! I was awestruck to see the performance of a 71-year-old lady who carried 13 earthen pots one over the other on her head while performing a traditional Rajasthani folk dance.Her energy and performance was awe-inspiring! I thought this had marked an end to my day one in Udaipur which had been remarkable in every sense but far from what could have been my wildest guess, there was one more beautiful encounter waiting for me at Zostel. By now, Udaipur had already casted a spell over me and I was totally enjoying being enchanted by what constituted my NOW in the city of lakes.

As I reached Zostel and was proceeding to the rooftop restaurant a girl who appeared to be very lively greeted me and introduced herself as a volunteer at Zostel. She joined me on my way up to the restaurant and somehow, I got along so well with her that we just went chatting and chatting until a boy who was sitting on a table behind us joined along our banter and then the three of us started talking and once again it felt as if we've known each other since ever.I mean it’s hard to believe how sometimes strangers make you feel so comfortable that you open up so easily with them but find it hard to form such connections with your own blood relations or relatives. Life is full of ironies, isn’t it? This reminds me of a poem that I had penned sometime back exploring the meaning of true connections and it rings true even today. Here it goes: - 

Strange or Not?!

I was walking on my path,

a stranger came along,greeted me with a smile,struck a sweet conversation.I felt a sudden jolt of warmth,gushing down my spine and the other moment he was gone.A stranger feeling this wasn't but a stranger he was or was he not?

I was sitting with someone very well known.

We sat and chatted but there was a big disconnect.
We could never strike a good conversation nor hit the right note.
A stranger feeling this was, but a stranger he wasn't but was he not?!
Life is full of ironies, we know, yet we find it strange!
Isn't this strange or not?!

Have you ever thought of how sometimes we find familiarity in the strangest of encounters and distance in close quarters?

Life is pretty amazing and it's even more amazing when strangers become friends.And I think this happens very rarely in real life.I was lucky to have found three strangers who became very close friends.In fact, it's unbelievable to form such serendipitous connections -I mean, four different people from four different places meet at a random place but never did they feel they were strangers before! - It was a truly magical meeting!

And that’s how I wrapped up my day one with a reading from Aleph and was astonished to end my day with these words from the book , “ In magic- and in life- there is only the present moment, the NOW.” And my NOW at that point of time was simply WOW!

(Note: For simplification’s sake I’ll use F to refer to my foreigner friend, A to refer to the girl  volunteer&G to refer to the boy I met at the rooftop restaurant at Zostel)

The next day was all about exploring the gorgeous city of Udaipur along with my new-found friends. In the morning I set out walking with F to City Palace first. While walking through the beautifully carved doors of history and admiring the architectural marvel that the palace was and also getting bowled over by watching the stunning view of the city from the coloured glass windows in the Palace, we also discussed about how the people of our generation are losing touch with their artistic side and also the role that technology is playing in our lives-its pros and cons and came to a consensus that even though technology has its own perils but if used wisely it can indeed make our lives better and who better than our generation can then provide testimony to the various positive facets of technology.We even shared our favourite books with each other and realised that even though we belonged to two different countries but we shared a common thread of dreams, likes and interests and were driven by the same elements of curiosity, passion and aspirations because after all we belonged to one world, one species&one generation.

After a mesmerising walk through history in City Palace, we proceeded to the boat house to buy tickets for a boat ride to Jag Mandir- a small Island in Lake Pichola. As we had to wait for around 40 minutes for the boat, we decided to walk around the place and in turn got an opportunity to know each other better. I knew that F was a freelance event organizer for musical festivals and her next upcoming event was a musical festival in the Alps. When I told her that I find her job profile very interesting and it all sounds way too exciting to me, she told me, “The grass is always greener on the other side, my friend. Yes, it’s way better than a full time (9 to 5) job, as I get to be my own boss but then a job is after all a job and every job tends to become monotonous after a point of time and comes with its own set of compromises.” And I couldn’t agree more with her. Then she asked me about what brought me to academics and I told her how I have experimented a lot with life and career alike and it’s the set of those good and bad experiments/experiences that finally brought me to pursuing PhD, which somehow makes me feel optimistic about my career ahead. She told me it has been the same with her and that she completely believes that experience is the best teacher and we must never shy away from experimenting with new experiences and ideas.She told me that after school, she had got admission to the London School of Economics- the most coveted institute in the world, where she had an opportunity to study geography but after attending few classes she left her studies and joined a primary teaching course in a university I have forgotten the name of, because she had always dreamt of studying in a campus university and LSE was just a glass building in the posh localities of London which didn’t fit her idea of a university. I was stunned to know that here is a woman who shunned the opportunity of graduating from LSE which has always remained a far-fetched dream for many scholars across the world! The discussion was turning interesting.So,after having taught as a primary teacher for few years, she again realised that wasn’t her true calling and that’s when she started working as a freelance event manager and now organizes large scale musical festivals all around the world.I was happy that I was with one of the rarest few people in the world-who actually dares to follow their heart against the pressures of the world views and perceptions of right/wrong and truly own up their decisions/choices.

These enlightening and interesting discussions kept us so engrossed in the conversation that we didn’t even realise how 40 minutes had passed and it was time to board the boat.The boat ride to Jag Mandir was a perfect slice of tranquillity. Totally enjoyed the scenic boat ride to a scenic island. We took some good pictures on the way and also at Jag Mandir and I was happy to see how a foreigner, that too from an advanced land was so appreciative of the beauty of the place that we were a part of in that moment of time, a place in my own country. And I think sometimes it becomes important to see yourself or your country through a foreigner’s eyes- it helps improve your perspective about your own self/country and makes you more appreciative of its beauty, something that we often tend to take for granted.

On the way back from Jag Mandir, she told me that she needs my help in readjusting her train tickets for her subsequent travel in India and narrated to me how she was fooled by a travel agent in Delhi who took undue advantage of her ignorance about travelling in India, who not only drained a lot of money from her but also booked her on trains with odd timings. I felt sad to hear that and more so to know that she was fooled by someone from a country I belonged to but then reality is mostly hard to digest and this wasn’t something unusual to hear. She told me she didn’t like Delhi at all- it didn’t vibe well with her and I told her that even though I belong to this country, I myself don’t feel safe in Delhi and reassured her that her feelings were quite valid and reasonable.So, after the boat ride, I brought her along to Zostel and with A’s& G’s help we could solve her ticket problem and were happy to hear from her that she has finally experienced her share of kindness and beauty in a country she didn’t have a good experience to start with. We were glad she was feeling completely at home with us. And we reassured her that this part of her journey in India and the one that followed will be smooth & happy.

A, then took the three of us to Amrai Ghat to watch the sunset and then to Fateh Sagar lake to relish on  kulhad coffee(coffee served in earthen pot), finni- a sweet delicacy served in kulhad and some delectable street food. Four of us had an amazing evening and it was amusing to see F enjoying the taste of Indian cuisine.Finni became her new favourite in India. Needless to say, we had a FUNtastic gastronomical experience and more than that we thoroughly enjoyed our new found camaraderie. We went walking back to Zostel and I must say Udaipur is a city that exudes a lot of warmth in the form of constant flow of balmy breezes and tranquil vibes that envelopes the city. Walking in the streets of Udaipur was truly therapeutic. Trust me not only walking with friends but even a solitary walk in that city always felt so good; I never wanted the walking to end. As we approached Zostel, we hugged and said farewell to F, who was leaving Udaipur the other day and then she walked away to her hotel. It was absolutely amazing to meet her. On our short climb up back to Zostel, I pondered on how life never remains constant, on how everything, every experience , every meeting for that matter is so transitory and that life goes on but then everything, every experience and every meeting certainly leaves impressions on our minds and our hearts; some occupies a place in our hearts , while others gets etched in our minds as lessons and guide posts and the most trivial ones or the ones we hardly pay attention to just vanish from the realms of our minds or get buried deep down inside away from our conscious grasp.On a hindsight,this leads me to contemplate on the sources of fleeting vs. lasting happiness. It is true that experiences like having good food, watching a sunrise/sunset, reading a book, deep conversations are indeed fleeting experiences as they don’t last for long but they do leave a lasting impression on our minds. I think that lasting happiness is not exclusive of fleeting happiness but is derived from the meaning behind our reflections on experiences that provide us fleeting happiness. Travelling for sure is one such experience, that exposes the traveller to explore new avenues and fresh perspectives and certainly broadens one’s mind.

I wrapped up day two with a simple late-night dinner with G and A, some soulful conversations on the merits of solo travel, when G told us that how even after being in a committed relationship for more than 7 years, he makes it a point to go on a solo travel at least once a year and his girlfriend is totally supportive of his choice. During these few days that I got to spend with him, I also noticed that he was never on his phone which is very unlikely for those who are in a relationship these days. This also led me to think, that a true relationship is not possessive and we must all strive to achieve the level of understanding and trust like G had with his girlfriend. It was highly inspiring to listen to his story. After these wonderful soul to soul talks, I headed to my room, exchanged few words with fellow travellers in the dorm followed by some reading from Aleph and was again taken aback to read something that again rang so true to me in context with the kind of experiences I had that day.

In the words of Coelho, “This was a sign confirming that I was where I should be, in the right place, at the right time, even though I didn’t understand what had brought me here.”

He was just so right. I had set out of home on a solo trip and then first Mr. Coelho joined in and eventually I met three more very interesting solo travellers who completely redefined the concept of a solo trip for me. This one was about meeting strangers who turned out to be great friends and it felt as if it was a reunion of long lost friends.

I felt as if this book was speaking to me in a perfect way that was helping me to put my everyday experiences into meaningful perspectives. Everything about this travel was so surreal! And after quite a long time I felt that one must never stop believing in fairytales because what I was experiencing was nothing short of a fairytale experience! This also reiterates that one must never lose hope. We never know what lies ahead in the next turn that we are about to take and must be ready to get surprised.

The next day, which was my third day in Udaipur, I decided to attend a painting workshop. This was something I had heard from my friend who attended one during her travel and I myself also came across a lot of miniature painting workshop signboards during the first two days of my roaming around in the streets of Udaipur. I thought of taking up one just to challenge myself to explore a side of me that was still lying dormant inside. So, in the quest of giving birth to the painter in me, I made my way to the workshop. The workshop was conducted in the verandah of a house of an old aged painter and his painter son. The old painter was busy painting on a canvas for a foreigner who also happened to be sitting in the verandah appreciating the painter’s artwork and talking about the exhibition that he was holding in his home country on traditional Rajasthani paintings.They greeted me and asked me to occupy a chair at the table.The painter introduced himself and his son to me and told me that his son will mentor me during the workshop. They asked me how much time I was willing to devote for the workshop.Being completely ignorant about the intricacies of painting, I said 2 hours and based on that they gave me an option of either drawing an elephant, camel or horse. They also told me the symbolic meaning behind the three. An elephant they said is a symbol of luck, a horse is a symbol of power and a camel is a symbol of love. Without any thought, I said-I want to draw a camel because love and Udaipur had become synonymous for me and also because love is the centre theme of my life and I believe that holds true for most of us. So, my mentor showed me a sample picture of an euphoric camel who had set his foot on a river and asked me to attempt that. I had already fallen in love with the picture- It was such a happy picture, who wouldn’t like to paint it! I was given a quarter size chart paper and the instructor first asked me to draw the outline of a camel with a pencil.He showed me how to start on a rough paper. I must say, I struggled a lot to arrive at a reasonably good outline of the camel. There was a point when I felt so frustrated because I was not able to draw even the eyes perfectly, something that appeared to be so simple but while drawing I realised that the challenge was to make the eyes come alive on the paper. That is when I realised, every art needs to be mastered, drawing being no exception for that matter.I was lucky to have a very patient and encouraging mentor. He was encouraging me with words like, “it takes a month to master the art of drawing a camel and you having neither experience nor expertise in art have done a great job in your first attempt. Just concentrate well and draw freely. Let your pencil move freely, don’t hold it tightly or in a restrictive manner.” His words of encouragement helped me complete the drawing at last but it took me 2.5 hours to just draw the camel.Another  1 hour was the painting part, wherein in I played with a lot of colours, enjoyed mixing colours and playing with different kinds of brushes and learning few interesting strokes, like the shadowing effect. I must say that I enjoyed the painting part more than drawing , may be because playing with colours is a therapeutic experience and drawing is more like climbing a mountain, a strenuous exercise. Only when you reach the top of a mountain you are appreciative of your efforts to reach there.It also emphasises on the importance of not giving up or taking one step after the other or one stroke after the other till you reach the mountain top or till you complete the drawing and the drawing starts making sense. I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed the painting process. It was therapeutic, meditative and gave me a feeling of inner expansion. In a strange way, I felt liberated on giving birth to the painter in me. I am sure, I will continue painting till the rest of my life and will look for opportunities to master it. The four hours of struggle was worth it and the happiness of carrying your painting home was unmatched. I also wondered on the point why we don’t teach traditional painting in schools when India has a lot of traditional heritage to boast about. It is ironical to see that foreigners are taking more interest in our artwork and we the inhabitants of this country are totally ignorant about something that has a potential to add a lot of meaning to our lives.Nevertheless, I am happy atleast Indian travellers are benefitting from these kinds of workshops.

Due to my gross underestimation of the time required for painting, I missed my lunch.I headed back to Zostel and showed my painting to A who was very appreciative of my efforts; I then had a soul-satiating oreo shake to compensate for my missed lunch. There A told me that as it was a Monday, the owner of Zostel paid a customary visit to Eklingi temple every Monday evening and whether I was interested in joining them for a drive to the temple. I told her I am interested in going for some shopping as I was leaving the other day and wanted to buy some souvenirs for family and friends but wouldn’t mind joining them in the evening if I am done with my shopping by then.She said we have around 1.5 hours with us and that she’ll accompany me for shopping and then we’ll visit the temple. That sounded perfect to me and that’s exactly what we followed and I must say I could shop to my heart’s content before the temple visit. Saurav , the owner of Zostel, Udaipur took us in his car to Eklingi temple which is considered a pilgrimage in Udaipur and which was around 30-40 kms from Zostel.I couldn’t have imagined visiting this place on my own.We were also joined by another volunteer who had arrived at Zostel that day, one more Zosteller like me and the owner’s friend.On the way, I got to know that the other volunteer who had just joined had quit his job at Microsoft to devote a year to travelling and soul-searching .I told him that he is indeed a brave soul and that we need more people like him who are not afraid of following their hearts.A, herself was an inspiration. She had just completed Masters from NID and was volunteering in Zostel for a month just to make sure solo travellers at Zostel have a wonderful time and also to reconnect with her passion and love for travelling.

Visit to Eklingi was a total blessing.It was a temple devoted to Lord Shiva and it is known that the king of Udaipur considers Lord Eklingi as the king and not himself.He has a habit of seeking his blessings before embarking on every important meeting/task.The temple has a long history.It is believed that the Shivling in the temple originated as a result of a cow’s offering of her milk at the place somewhere around 5^th century BC.Many consider this place as a very auspicious place and I must say that the peace that I felt at the temple was beyond description.I felt completely blessed to have got an opportunity to visit the temple and owe my thanks to A and the owner of Zostel who took me along with them. I was happy my Udaipur trip ended on a perfect note with a thanksgiving visit to the temple and also ended on a prayerful note.

That day when I reached Zostel, I met a German lady may be 5 years older than me or even more who was a new member in my dorm and was only an overnight guest at Zostel.She had a very calm aura and appeared to be very well composed and extremely kind. She told A, me and one more fellow traveller at the dorm that she is on her way to exploring other parts of Rajasthan and even south of India after attending a yoga retreat in Rishikesh. She asked us many questions on why there is so much of  filth in India, on why casteism is so dominant here and also why India presents a contrasting picture in terms of the diversity in culture, population clusters and so on. We tried to answer her questions in an unbiased way and tried our best to help her understand the reasons for lack of civic sense in people, for the dirty casteism thinking which is so rampant in India. After hearing our points she expressed a sense of appreciation towards our forward thinking mindsets.We were happy that she was also convinced with the reasons we presented for the questions that she had posed and she felt sorry, helpless and disturbed for the unprogressive side of India in the same way as we do.

This was my last night in Udaipur and I skipped reading the Aleph as I was already feeling completely  overwhelmed from the kind of experiences I had had during my stay in the city of lakes. My trip to Udaipur felt like a big warm hug from life.It felt as if these 3 days had been more meaningful than the routine life back home.My heart was heavy with gratitude, gratitude and more gratitude for getting to experience a time as fabulous as this and I was reminded of a quote from ‘Travels with Charley : In search of America’ by John Steinbeck which I had read a long time back.In this book Steinbeck mentions, “After years of struggle, we realize, we don’t take a trip; a trip takes us.” I was grateful that Udaipur called me and showered me with lots of love, wisdom, friendships and true happiness which was way beyond my imagination.

The next day I just went to a sweet shop, bought some sweets for my family and spent good quality time with A and of course Badshah and just gleaned through the pages of Aleph and I came across these lines which Mr. Coelho has used in the starting pages of the book.He has borrowed these lines from Oscar Wilde’s ‘True knowledge’ and here it goes –

“Thou knowest all- I cannot see,

I trust I shall not live in vain,

I know that we shall meet again,

In some divine eternity.”

This was just so apt that I had no other words to describe my feelings as I was preparing to bid farewell to a city I had fallen in love with.

This trip certainly makes it to the list of one of the best experiences of my life.