Maharashtra

Tag Archives for Maharashtra.

Lounge Review: Mumbai Terminal 2 Interim Lounge

by Ajay Leave A Comment

a long shot of a room

Planning the Proposal Trip to Paris One of the trip reports I’ve been holding off for a while, for the lack of adequate time to write it up. Like many of the regular readers on this blog would know, I proposed to my girlfriend in Paris this summer, and she said yes. The first thing to do was to of course, get a flight to go to Paris from Mumbai. Like I’ve mentioned before, I was going to use the Mumbai – Paris flight on Jet Airways A330-200. The context set up here was that we are going on a work trip to Europe, which was total gibberish anyways. We arrived at the Mumbai airport Terminal 2, and headed up…

Continue Reading »

Hotel Review: Grand Hyatt, Mumbai

by Ajay Leave A Comment

I’ve been spending a lot of time away from home recently, and I just wanted to spend some downtime over the a weekend. However, that was not going to be possible if I decided to stay home because something or the other would have been tugging for my attention. Owing to this, I decided to spend a weekend in the hotels, and I spent one night at the Grand Hyatt Mumbai, and another at the Hyatt Regency Mumbai. While I’d been to the Grand Hyatt Mumbai a lot of times, I’d never stayed there. So, after a long day at work, I headed straight to the hotel and arrived there about 6 PM. I landed up at the check-in desk…

Continue Reading »

Reviewing the SpiceJet Hot Breakfast

by Ajay 1 Comment

a food in a tray

SpiceJet is working on a reinvention all this year, and amongst the other things they are working on, is the food they serve on the flights. Being a no-frills airline, they only offer Buy-on-board meals, but the public verdict about the food was not great earlier. Taking that feedback on board, they reworked the menu, and tied up with the TajSats for catering on board. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to be on a SpiceJet flight for my travel from Mumbai to Kolkata, and while I can do without a meal on a shorter flight, since this is a 2.5 hour long flight, and they operate from the bus gates in Mumbai where there is no provision for lounges, I…

Continue Reading »

Hotel Review: Hyatt Regency Mumbai

by Ajay 2 Comments

a view of a city from a window

Like I mentioned in this post, I really needed to get out of my house and get some downtime over the last weekend. So, I decided to check out the Hyatt Regency and the Grand Hyatt Mumbai over the weekend. Hyatt Regency is an airport hotel, while the Grand Hyatt is the suburban hotel in Mumbai. While I have been to the Grand Hyatt a few times to attend events or grab a bite, it was the first time I was going to be over at the Hyatt Regency Mumbai. I arrived at the hotel and went to the lobby check-in desk, where the hotel had a room ready for me. I was informed that I was booked in the…

Continue Reading »

Hotel Review: Hyatt Regency Pune

by Ajay 2 Comments

a building with a sign in the background

After a nice stay at Hyatt Pune, I decided to hop across to Hyatt Regency Pune, the older and bigger brother in the Hyatt family in Pune, which is 1 kilometer away across the road for the second day of my Pune stay. As a Hyatt Diamond, they offer free airport transfers, and I asked them if they could replace it with a ride from Hyatt Pune. They were okay with it and sent a car along at the appointed time. I pulled into Hyatt Regency Pune, and it was every bit a five star hotel, in terms of size and facilities. However, in the end, it turned out that they went as much as the distance they had to…

Continue Reading »

Hotel Review: Hyatt Pune

by Ajay 2 Comments

a pool in a garden

A few weeks ago, Hyatt launched a Monsoon promotion in India, where they offered a flat 50% off on room rates. This forced me to do some advance planning for some of my future travel plans, and I gladly gave them away to Hyatt since it gave me an opportunity to try out properties at significantly less than publicly available prices. One of the places I headed up to was Pune, for some quick rest & recuperation and meeting my brother who currently lives in Pune. Me and my fiancée got into Pune about mid-day from Mumbai, and we checked into the hotel straight away, after trying out Uber for the first time in Pune. Hyatt Hotels is a full…

Continue Reading »

Flight Review: AI191 Mumbai–Newark, Air India, First Class

by Ajay 13 Comments

a plate of food on a tray

A friend and regular reader of the blog, Parag Mehta, recently took a First Class flight on Air India recently to travel between Mumbai and Newark, and I requested him for a Guest Post for the blog, since long haul Air India is not on my radar in the coming days. He came back flying Etihad First Class, booked on 9W miles, but try getting two trip reports from a busy investment professional You can read my review of EY F here. Over to you, Parag! I was planning a trip to New York for the longest time, and when the time came I looked at my pile of miles, and decided to try Air India and Etihad for the…

Continue Reading »

Flight Review: Indigo, Economy. Mumbai – Jaipur,

by Ajay 10 Comments

Indigo economy review

Everyone who reads this blog knows I am a Jet Airways loyalist on the domestic sectors, and I do fly Air India from time to time as well. I just see more value out of flying a full-service carrier, as long as reliability is not in question. For a flyer with erratic schedules like me, it is important to be able to use the lounge to get some work done pre-flight if possible, and sometimes the only meals I eat are on the plane, so yes, they are important. I recently decided to get back on Indigo after a very long time, maybe about 3 years or so. I just wanted to see what’s new and what is consistent in…

Continue Reading »

Planning the Perfect Proposal Trip to Paris!

by Ajay 10 Comments

Proposal trip to Paris

If you haven’t heard, last week, I was over to Paris along with my girlfriend where I proposed. Don’t worry, unlike Tom Cruise, this was not covered by network news, it was only on my blog and Facebook page. Since I am pretty much kicked about this trip, I am taking the liberty to cover this trip report ahead of some of the others I would have done, and bring up some hopefully interesting reviews and experiences for you around Paris. To kick it off, let me admit, if you can keep your lips sealed, planning a surprise trip can be a lot of fun for both sides. For me, it was essential to map out all the little details,…

Continue Reading »

Flight Review: 9W 572 Mumbai to Kuwait, Jet Airways, Economy

by Ajay 2 Comments

a row of seats on an airplane

Last month, I was on my way to a meeting to Kuwait, and I did my standard drill. I usually arrive there on one of the two evening flights with Jet Airways, stay the night at a hotel, do the meeting, and wait for the flight back which only happens the next evening. Perhaps I need to optimize these a bit, but anyhow, this time I was back on my old warhorse, Jet Airways, which was going to take me from Mumbai to Kuwait International Airport on the early departure flight. For the 17:55 flight, I arrived at the new Mumbai Terminal 2 at about 15:00, which was an early arrival by all standards. I was joined by a colleague,…

Continue Reading »

Flight AI 682: Cochin – Mumbai, Air India, Economy

by Ajay 2 Comments

a plane with a ladder and people on it

Mumbai Airport Terminal 2 Clipper Lounge, Mumbai Terminal 2 Courtyard by Marriott Hotel, Kochi Airport Clipper Lounge Cochin If I haven’t mentioned this before, the Cochin Airport is made to look more like arriving at a red-brick palace than arriving at an airport. Here is what it looked from outside. We spent a brief moment pre-security at the dead Clipper Lounge, and then proceeded to clear security check, where I realised my palatial analogy was going to fit even better. This airport missed anything that was modern, and was full of wooden chairs (more like side pieces from couches) from another generation. My first time there and I sure was surprised. The wait was prolonged, because like it always happens,…

Continue Reading »