More often then not
it is to visit the Taj Mahal and if you are a true romantic like me
you cannot help but imagine the luxurious lives the mughal emperors
and their families would have enjoyed?
When they could so
painstakingly build the Taj Mahal the ultimate epitome of undying
love of an emperor for his beloved queen so what would be it like to live
the grandeur experienced by the mughals at the peak of their glory.
Fortunately for me
this dream of imagining the grandeur was to be transformed seamlessly into a
reality when I booked a stay at the ITC Mughal, A Luxury Collection
Hotel at Agra for a weekend stay at this beauitful 5 star property.
The beauty of
booking a weekend break to Agra is that it is so well connected by
road that it seems to be the most obvious choice for a weekend
destination. The newly built and the well maintained Yamuna
expressway was another incentive for me as I was driving to Agra from
Delhi.
The distance between
Delhi to Agra is about 232.7 Km via the Taj Expressway / Yamuna
Expressway.
It can easily be
covered in about four and a half hours.
I found the road to
be good and the drive was smooth and quite enjoyable.
To live like royalty
I had opted to stay at the ITC Mughal located at Taj Ganj, Agra It is
a strategically located property from where all the major attractions
of the Agra city can be easily accessed.
The moment I stepped
into this hotel I realized how correct I was to book my stay at this
magnificent property sprawling on a 35 acre land.The hotel is
situated close both to the city centre and the gardens and Agra's main
attraction the Taj Mahal.
Being here I was never too far from the Agra fort built by
Akbar.
Even Fathepur Sikri
which was built by the side of an artificial lake is not too far.In
fact it is about 3 Km away
On the advice of the
concierge I visited the Sikandra tomb which is a combination of the
muslim and the hindu style of architecture.
Talking about
architecture and style my hotel ITC Mughal did capture and recreate
the grandeur and luxury of the mughal era for its guests.
To experience the
royal luxury with the addition of modern amenities and technology I
had to look no further.
There is opulence
all around you.
What would you stay
if this is the view of the main entrance
The view of the
lobby left me speechless.
With so much
opulence around me I was at a loss for words
View of Taj Bano my
favourite place to eat.
With every step I
was taken into a deeper realm of luxury.
bagh e bahar lounge.
It seemed the time stood still.
Who says you have to
be born as a king. You can always opt to stay here in the Royal
Mughal suite and enjoy the modernized luxury of the ITC Mughal
If you want to step
back into time just visit the SPA reception and be mesmerised by the
view. This is what I saw
SPA Reception at
Kaya Kalp the royal Spa.
Need I say more, it
was a timeless classic royal holiday at ITC Mughal A Luxury
Collection Hotel.
Here the food was
great and an experience beyond words.
“I am blogging about my luxury stay experience for an activity at BlogAdda in association with MakeMyTrip“
The one thing I like
best about going to Mumbai is the moment when my plane lands
and I step out of
the aeroplane. There is something magical in the air.
“ I always get the
feeling that the big city of Mumbai spreads its arms to welcome
me.”
“The warmth
filled breeze at the Mumbai airport and the bright
sun kissed tarmac
never fails to fill me with a new found enthusiasm and vigor.”
As I stepped out of
the airport I found a person from the Novotel Juhu Beach
waiting for me at
the arrival. Dressed in a crisp white uniform he was there to
welcome me and
lead me to my car.
A cool breeze
escorted me and gently caressed my face and ruffled my hair ever
so gently and made
me feel so wanted and welcome in this big and beautiful
city.
The ride to the
Novotel Juhu beach hotel is short as the hotel is not very far
from the airport. En
route I found a large sea of people who were going about
their business of
life.
As my car meandered
through the Mumbai roads I wondered
"So these
are the people who make Mumbai tick and make Mumbai the city that
never sleeps"
So many people
always on the move making it a sea of people, it felt good
however my eyes were
searching for a sea of a different kind.
I was looking
forward to get a glimpse of the Arabian Sea. As the hotel car in
which I was
traveling took a turn I got my first glimpse of the Arabian Sea.
The sun light
drenched waves appeared to have donned a silver edge and were
merrily dancing to
the song of the sea. I rolled down the window of my car and
I could experience
the cool see breeze getting mixed with the air of the car
air conditioner. I
felt excited and I wanted to get out of the car and run towards the
sea but I resisted the temptation as I knew that there would be many
opportunities to observe the Arabian sea at close quarters as I was
going to stay in a Sea facing room at the Novotel Juhu beach hotel.
The Check in
The Check in was
smooth and quick and I was escorted to my room.
I could not wait to
see the view of the sea from my room. Moving the curtains to one side
I got a breathtakingly beautiful view of the Juhu beach from my room.
The A.C was on and I
was sipping my welcome drink observing the bright shimmering waves
hitting the clean sands of the Juhu beach.
As a hotel guest I could access
Free WiFi work space 32-inch LCD TV Lavish buffet breakfast 24-hour fitness centre O2 Spa Sauna Choice of flexible spaces for hosting an event
A Hotel by the beach
in a city like Mumbai is indeed a luxury and my eyes searched for a
path to go to the beach. I found a door in front of the hotels
swimming pool leading to the beach.
“A mere 2-3 meter
walk to the clean part of the Juhu beach from my hotel room! “
The luxury was
getting even better.
I hurriedly made my
way to the beach through the exclusive hotel gate reserved for its
guests and walked up to the waves that were playfully inviting me to
join them in a game of sorts.
Luxury continues
~ No place is too far from the Juhu beach.
Spending time at the
beach had a calming effect on me and I got geared up to take on the
hustle and bustle of Mumbai's city life. The twin effect of the
rejuvenating experience at the beach and the fact that the Novotel is
so centrally located in Juhu makes it easy to travel to any
destination. I for instance wanted to visit the Sidhi Vinayak temple
to get Bappa's blessings and it was a short drive away.
So was a trip to
Bandra linking road.
Rubbing into
celebrities at Novotel Juhu Mumbai ~ The trip is getting better and
better.
In the evening when
I returned to my hotel and entered its main gate I witnessed Mr
Anupam Kher walk out of the hotel. That was not all My Akshay Kumar
and Prabhudeva were also spotted on the next day. The feeling of
being in such close proximity of such celebrities indeed adds to the
experience of your holiday.
It Food Food and
more Food
There are a plenty of food options at this beautiful hotel
GADDA DA VIDA-Chic Sea Lounge
I found this to be a great place to sit and relax. Enjoy a drink and a quick snack as I watched the boats and the waves of the Arabian Sea. Olio is the go to place for Italian food. The hot Pizza from the wood fired oven is a must try and made me go here again and again.
BAGEECHA-Indian Dining
This place is so wonderful. I enjoyed siting and dining here in the evening and it used to be a great sight to watch food being prepared in the open kitchen. The aroma of fresh hot food mixed with the fresh air from the sea never failed to work up my appetite.
SAMPAN-Chinese Dining
This place offers fine Chinese dining options at the hotel.
THE SQUARE-Pan Indian All Day
This is the place where I could find delicious Indian food throughout the day and I loved eating here. The range of food was elaborate and it becomes difficult to make a choice as to what to eat and what to leave.
PECHE MIGNON is my favourite part of the hotel for it is Juhu's Only French Pâtisserie. It presents a lavish array of fresh and vibrantly flavoured pastries, breads with a variety of chocolates.
At times when you
are travelling to a new city finding food of choice can be a luxury
however the next morning I had a sumptuous buffet breakfast at the
restaurant and was a great way to begin my day.
The French pastry
shop is another attraction not to be missed at this facility as It is
a famous and renowned french pastry shop in Juhu that lives to its
reputation of offering authentic french pastries and breads.
Since It was a
Sunday morning I got to experience a lot of activities that were
planned for the hotel guest. There were activities for kids and a
bangle maker was making lakh (laquer) bangles for the ladies.
A few laps in the
open air pool were enough to work up a good appetite. There were a
number of food options available from an open air restaurant to an
interior air conditioned seating.
Sitting under the
shade getting a good view of the pool and the ocean beyond, biting
into some hot, delicious and nutritious lunch with not a worry in the
world is the best luxury I could wish for at that moment and more
then wishing I was living it.
“I am blogging about my luxury stay experience for an activity at BlogAdda in association with MakeMyTrip“
It
is often said opposites attract but who ever coined this phrase did
not know about me and my classmate Suraj. We were complete opposites.
I was meticulous and studious and he was the complete opposite,
always busy playing pranks and troubling me. Being the son of a
teacher he got preferential treatment from the rest of the teachers.
If this was not enough injustice he was always assigned to my group.
So I was the one who did all the hard work be it any class projects
or any activity but he would walk away with all the laurels. Even in
the school plays he was the one who would get the best roles and most
of us including me would be assigned some insignificant part. From
raiding my lunchbox to hiding my homework and getting me into trouble
was his favorite past time. One could say that ours was a love hate
relationship. I hated him and he loved to create more trouble for me.
The
fact that he was also my lab partner made things even more difficult
for me. It was the time of the year when the school session was
coming to a close and the only silver lining for me was that since it
was boards exams time I would no longer have to be the target of the
pranks of Suraj.
On
the penultimate day of school during the chemistry revision
practicals he spilled some chemicals on my practical note book
ruining it completely. As it was the record of a full years of work
which was now lost due to his prank made me feel miserable. I was
angry and I sulked but what could be done all my hard work had been
wasted. As it was the year of my board exams so I was required to
present my practical workbook in front of the external examiner. I
felt very depressed and I fell ill and skipped the last day of school
before the exam preparation holidays began.
Even
at home I found it very hard to concentrate on my studies even when I
recovered from the illness. The anger and frustration made me very
bitter. I was neither able to focus on my revision nor was I able to
rewrite my practicals notebook.
Then
one day in the morning the door bell rang. When I opened the door I
found the same bully classmate of mine Suraj standing at the door. He
was the last person whom I expected or wanted to see and even before
I could react he extended his right hand. In his hand I saw a
practical note book neatly covered in brown paper. On its cover was
my name handwritten in bold letters. I took the notebook from him and
flipped through it. It had all the records of the experiments and the
readings recreated and completed. He had even got it checked and
signed by our chemistry teacher.
I
was surprised and asked me how did he manage to do this to which he
said that as he was my lab partner he had all the readings in his
notebook and all he had to do was to copy it in to a new notebook.
Being a teachers son had its perks and he had no problems getting it
checked and signed by our chemistry teacher, As he said this his cold
impish grin did not seem impish anymore. Instead what I saw was a
new warm side of Suraj. He had sacrificed almost a week of our study
leave in completing my project book and yes he had admitted in front
of our chemistry teacher that it was his fault.
Till
date I have preserved that practical notebook with great care as it
holds for me warm loving memories of #MagicOfWarmth moment of finding a new friend.
The Fire tv stick with alexa voice remote is the new kid on the block that lets you do so much more with your voice.
So no more pressing the remote instead talk to it.
Speak into the remote to switch channels or launch a particular program and fire stick from Amazon would do the job after all this Alexa voice controlled
device makes your TV into a Firestick TV. Wondering what exactly is the Fire TV stick with voice remote. Then consider this...
that fits into your TV. From now on lets rever to it as the fire tv box. What remains in your hand is the fire stick voice remote.
Now instead of pressing buttons you can command this Alexa voice driven device by speaking into it. You could launch your favourite game by speaking into your remote's microphone or you could launch an app. It lets you dim the lights and even order the Pizza by speaking into the remote.
If I were to list the 10 things One could do with the Fire TV Stick with Alexa voice remote.
Here they are.
In case you prefer watching it as a video here is the video
Or if you prefer to read here is the list
10 reasons to own the Fire TVstick with Alexa Voice Remote
So it is goodby to pressing the remote buttons instead speak into it. Here goes
my list.
1)Speak to the remote to search for the fire tv apps
2)Like a conventional remote you can control the playback but instead this time
with the fire tv stick with alexa voice remote or as firestick remote that
some people like to call it you can simply speak to your remote and it would
execute the desired play instruction for you.
3)By speaking into the fire stick voice remote you can play the music of your
choice or launch your play list.
4)Order Pizza by Speaking in to your fire stick controller or the voice remote
(as you may prefer to call it that)
5)You can control and dim the lights by speaking into the Alexa driven firestick remote.
6)Enjoy over 7,000 apps, games, and Alexa skills including Netflix, Hulu, HBO
NOW, YouTube, Amazon Video, NBC, WatchESPN, Disney, and more. Subscription fees may apply.
7)No cable or satellite? No problem. Play live TV and sports from AMC, HGTV,
ESPN, FOX, and others with a subscription to Sling TV, or top-rated primetime shows with CBS All Access.
8)Prime members get unlimited access to Prime videos thousands of movies & TV
shows at no additional cost.Plus, members can add over 90 premium and specialty
channels like HBO and SHOWTIME—no cable or satellite subscription necessary.
9)Plug the Fire TV Stick into any TV’s HDMI port, connect to Wi-Fi, and continue watching.
Play current favorites or quickly discover what to watch next directly from the Home screen.
10)Best of all it costs only $39.99.
The tv fire stick is indeed a wonderful device it lets you do so much more from controlling the lighting connected to an Alexa compatible device to launching the "Game of Thrones" by speaking in to your remote to Plus, play music, find movie show times, order a pizza, and more - just ask.
No cable or satellite? No problem. Watch the best of live TV and sports from AMC, HGTV, ESPN, FOX, and others with a subscription to Sling TV, or top-rated primetime shows with CBS All Access.
Find the best way to watch with universal search results from over 100 channels and apps including Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Video Prime members get unlimited access to Prime Video, featuring thousands of movies and TV episodes at no additional cost. Plus, members can add over 90 premium and speciality channels like HBO and SHOWTIME cable or satellite subscription necessary.
Pick up where you left off. Bring hit shows and movies with you when you travel. Plug Fire TV Stick into any TV’s HDMI port, connect to Wi-Fi, and continue watching.
Play current favourites or quickly discover what to watch next directly from the Home screen.
Amazon Free Shipping Bonus Tip
My Bonus tip : Free shipping from Amazon
We all love products that come with free shipping. Now the deal is that you can get free shipping on a host of products from Amazon if you sign up for the Amazon Prime 30 Day free trial offer.
Free shopping and priority shipping without having to pay any additional charge that you must seriously consider to make your shopping experience truely rewarding.
From the moment our heart begins to beat, it becomes our constant companion
for the rest of our lives. However we seldom take any care of the organ that
beats for us 24X7.Little do we realize that all it takes is a few #ChhoteKadam
to keep it up to 50% healthier.
When life gets busy, prioritizing your health is a must..
6 Common Unhealthy Eating Habits that come in the way of keeping our heart
healthy are.
Eating in front of the TV or computer
Eating when you are stressed, depressed or in a rush
Dining out (especially late dining)
Going grocery shopping while you’re hungry
Not being cautious of servings and portion sizes
Rewarding yourself with food
We put our jobs and other related commitments first, rather than health. We
need to understand that our health is a priority and if we do not keep
ourselves healthy, then we won’t be able to enjoy with our family and keep up
with work targets. Goals should be realistic and fit into your lifestyle.
Eating Better so that the heart stays healthier.
Try healthy substitutes.
Instead of sugar, use a lower-calorie sugar substitute.
Use extracts like vanilla, almond and peppermint to add flavor, instead of
sugar or butter. Use herbs and spices, like rosemary and cloves, to flavor
dishes instead of butter and salt. Bake, grill or steam vegetables instead of
frying, instead of whole milk or heavy cream, substitute low-fat or
fat-free/skim milk. Prepare vegetables, eat a balanced meal. Eating your
veggies will ensure you get the nutrients you need and will help fill you up so
you don’t overload on the foods your body needs less of, such as rolls,
stuffing and pie.
Staying Active is a very important step to keep your heart healthy.
Increase physical activity. Go for a family walk after each meal or
gathering. Play catch with your kids. Take just 40 minutes for yourself and go
to the gym to release endorphin's your body needs to stay healthy. Keep stress
to a minimum. Plan ahead with time management. Focus on one thing at a
time.
Taking out time to relax. Get enough sleep. Quality of sleep can
impact your hearts health. Life is a balancing act, but your health should
always come first. Now is the time to build heart-healthy habits. That means
living a healthy lifestyle, including eating healthy, getting lots of physical
activity and a full night’s sleep. Long-term stress causes an increase in heart
rate and blood pressure that may damage the arterial walls. Learn helpful
stress management techniques for you to reduce stress at work or to reduce
stress at home in order to soothe your mind and body. These techniques include
deep breathing exercises, daily meditation and finding time each day to do
something you enjoy. Find physical activities you enjoy and stick with them.
Jogging and yoga are great activities to keep you heart healthy. Regular heart
screenings are important for maintaining a healthy heart.
Being Happy is also important for the well being of your
heart.
Being Happy enhances the quality of you life and makes the
heart healthier.
Just like food is a necessity in our life so is “Being Happy”
We must make an effort to stay in a happy state of mind. If
we are happy then we are positive and this gives our immune system a boost. It
increases our disease fighting capability.
Things that can do to be and remain happy are as follows.
List the things that give you happiness
It could reading, going out with friends, Playing a musical
instrument, taking part in dramatics or theatre or any other activity that
involves you positively and gives an outlet for your emotions to keep you
happy.
“I am joining the Saffolalife #ChhoteKadam initiative in association with BlogAdda and follow these small steps for a healthy heart.”
