Aaron's US Citizenship

Last week we applied for documentation of Aaron's US citizenship by birth even though he was not born in the United States. Simply being born to one or two US citizens will automatically make a child born abroad a US citizen by birth, as long as certain criteria are met and lots of documentation is provided.

We had an appointment at the US Embassy last Tuesday morning and I spent a few days before that gathering all of the documentation that was required. This is what I had to pull together:

Proof of parent's citizenship - My passport does the trick.

Child's original birth certificate

Two photos (forward facing, eyes open) - We thought this would be a challenge, but Aaron fully cooperated and has a cute passport photo to prove it!

Prenatal and hospital records - I brought all of the records since I started seeing my doctor last July through out hospital stay when Aaron was born, and also included all of the ultrasounds taken during my pregnancy.

Our marriage certificate

Proof of US citizen parent's physical presence in the United States - This was the most challenging one as I had to prove that I was physically present in the US for at least 5 years, of which two should be after the age of 14. For this I gathered together a copy of my college transcript, 3 electronic copies of W-2s that I happened to have on my computer, and my previous passport with all of my entry and exit stamps. The most challenging part of this requirement is that I also had to write down and include in the application all of the dates for which I was physically present in the US. This was no easy task. While I had my passport stamps to guide me, not all of the stamps where there and I didn't had my pre-1999 passport with me at all. With some guess work, I managed to do a decent job of figuring out when I was out of the country for the past 15 years. As it turned out, they only looked at my old passport since it provided more than five years of proof.

The consular officer went through all of the documentation right then and there and handed everything back to us. Everything was in order and the application was approved. 7-10 days later, we should have Aaron's passport and the Consular Report of Birth Abroad.

2010 - A Year of Travels

2010 was certainly my best year yet when it comes to international travels. Thanks to some great work opportunities and also some careful planning, I was able to visit 11 countries in 2010 (8 of them for the first time). And Ani traveled to 9 countries (8 for the first time). Not too shabby for either of us!


Here's a brief recap of our 2010 travels:

1. and 2. Singapore and Bali

We started the year in Singapore and Bali and absolutely loved both. We loved Singapore largely for the food and we often talk about going back for a long weekend. If all goes as planned, we will make a return in 2011 where most of our meals are already decided - chili crab at Jumbo Seafood, chicken rice at Tian Tian Hianese Chicken Rice and dim sum at Din Tai Fung. My mouth is water just typing this...

Enjoying a Singapore Sling at Raffles Hotel

(See previous posts on Eating Our Way through Singapore and Exploring the Streets of Singapore).

We also had a lovely week in Bali, where we celebrated both my birthday and New Year's. This vacation was a great combination of relaxation, adventure and culture. We enjoyed the beach and pool at our resort in Nusa Dua, cycled through rice fields in Ubud, and enjoyed kecak dance shows and Indonesian cooking classes where I learned some of my now-favorite dishes. We also had some amazing meals in Bali, with the most spectacular being at Mozaic on my birthday.

A kecak dance performance at Uluwatu Temple

(See previous post on Nusa Dua and Southern Bali and Ubud and Central Bali).

3. and 4. Hong Kong and Macau

We hit Hong Kong and Macau in February 2010. I made it into a stopover on my way back from Sydney (where I was fortunate to go for training and where I was even more fortunate to return to later in the year, so more on Australia later). Ani flew from Delhi and met me there for a long weekend. Thanks to my everlasting supply of Marriott points, we had a lovely weekend stay at the JW over the Chinese New Year. This proved to be both a blessing and a curse. It was great to see the city lit up with festive decorations, but it also meant that many shops and restaurants were closed for the holiday. On top of that, the weather was pretty yucky, so our views from the top of Victoria Peak were extremely limited due to the massive fog.

A lion dance performance for Chinese New Year

We also took a high-speed boat over to Macau for a night. Honestly, I found it to be a strange juxaposition of wealth and poverty - a lot like India, but in a more compact space. We did venture over to the Venetian Hotel, which was just like the one in Vegas, but bigger of full of Chinese gamblers there for the holiday. We also had a really nice Portugeuese-Macanese meal at La Lorcha that was the highlight of our 24 hours there.

(See previous post on Hong Kong and Macau).

5. Australia

I spent 6 weeks in Australia for work in May-June 2010 and Ani was able to travel there towards the end of my stay for a visit. I spent the majority of my time in Sydney, but also traveled to Melbourne on a few occasions and Ani was able to see both during his 10-day visit. In addition, we spent an incredible weekend in Queensland where we snorkeled the Great Barrier Reef and visited the wet tropics near Cairns and had a lovely day-trip to the Blue Mountains, which are just outside Sydney.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge and in the Blue Mountains

I also got to spend time with my friend Yomi from the US and her awesome Australian husband, Dave. For those of you who haven't heard their story, Yomi and I have followed similar paths over the past few years. We both traveled to faraway countries for work project, only to find and fall in love with our now-husbands. And today we now live in Delhi and Sydney, respectively.

(See previous posts on my first visit to Sydney, the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, and The Blue Mountains).
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6. Switzerland
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Not wanting to travel all the way to Europe and not visit a *new* country, I added in a weekend in Switerland before our longer visit to Italy. We started in Zurich where we happened to arrive during Zuri Fascht, a street festival throughout the city. This was a great way to explore the streets, the food and the people all in one go. We spent the following day on an amazing day-trip that took us up Mt. Rigi by train, down to the village of Weggis (which we LOVED) by cable car, and then over to Lucerne by ferry. We rounded out the day with another train ride back to Zurich for our final night in Swizterland.

From the top of Mt. Rigi and Hanging out in Lucerne

(See previous post on Our Swiss Holiday).

7. Italy

We spent nearly two weeks in Italy, which was our longest vacation ever. We started with a few days in Lake Como, which is trily as beautiful and relaxing as everyone says, and where we discovered our favorite pizza. This was followed by a few days in Cinque Terre, where we hiked most of the paths connecting the villages. Next was the highlight of the trip, several days in Chianti for Drew and Simona's beautiful wedding. All of this was capped off with a few final days in Florence and a day trip to Pisa and Lucca.

Our favorite pizza and at Drew and Simona's wedding

(See previous posts on Lake Como, Cinque Terre and Drew and Simona's amazing wedding).

8. US

In September, Ani and I both headed back to the US for what has become our annual trip. I started about a week before him and arrived in time to participate in the HL Reunion and Baby Shower Palooza at Brooke's house on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. There, we celebrated the now recent arrivals of Baby Horak, Baby Oates and Baby Henneman Kastellec.

The following weekend was for the annual trek to Mike's house in Maine for relaxation, lobster and a little outlet shopping. And finally, we headed up to Saratoga Springs, NY for Joey and Jarret's weddingh. Somewhere between all of our weekend travels, we managed to squeeze in some quality time at home with the family.

The gang in Maine and Mike, Ani and I at Joey and Jarret's wedding

9. and 10. UK and Sweden

On my way back from the US, I met up with my bossess for a few days of meetings. I ended up being in London for barely 24 hours, but fortunately I had a bit longer in Stockholm. Our first day of meetings there was literally at the airport conference centert, so we stayed in a nearby hotel and didn't get to see much of the city aside from a brief trip in that night for dinner. The following day, we worked from the Stockholm office and after my bosses left for their flight back to Delhi (via London), I headed to the Old Town to explore for a few hours. I needed to fly back through Paris and could only take an early morning flight in order to connect to the once daily Paris-Delhi flight, which gave me a bit of time to see and enjoy Stockholm.

Old Town Stockholm

11. Sri Lanka

We spent the long Christmas weekend in Sri Lanka for our final trip of the year and our final international trip sans child. We figured that being only a 3 1/2 hour flight from Delhi, a holiday weekend in Sri Lanka was comparable to one in Goa, but probably a bit more peaceful. All in all, it was a nice, relaxing weekend, but we could have done with less road travel. We spent the middle two nights on the south of the island. While it was a mere 200 km (125 mi) from Colombo, travel time on the two-lane road takes about 6 hours.

View from the hotel lobby

So, that's a wrap of our 2010 travels. Again, 2011 will certainly be quieter, but hopefully we'll get in one or two international trips to satisfy our hunger!

Congratulations Drew and Simona!

The reason for our trip to Italy this summer was to witness the nuptials of Drew and Simona and enjoy a fun-filled wedding weekend with their friends and family from around the world.

The fairytale wedding was held on July 11th at Villa Mocale in Montefiridolfi, Chianti and the settling could not have been more beautiful.

But Simona and Drew didn't plan just a day of festivities, but a whole weekend of activities with their family and friends from around the world - literally. Our table at the reception was representative of the diversity of their friends. There were 8 people at our table, composing 4 couples, and all 8 people were from different countries: France, Spain, Italy, Greece, UK, Serbia, India and the US.

Our hotel was absolutely beautiful. with awe-inspiring views of vineyards from the pool! When we weren't relaxing there, we spent an afternoon in Greve in Chianti, followed by a lovely lunch at Ristoro di Lamole and a pre-wedding dinner at Ristoro l'Antica Scuderia. We also managed to squeeze in an afternoon trip to Florence where we met up with Armen and Nyree, who were also staying nearby for a friend's wedding!

All in all, the wedding in Chianti was amazing. Thanks Simona and Drew for allowing us to be part of your celebration!

Happy Independence Day!

Today, August 15th, India celebrates 63 years of independence from British rule.




To my disappointment, the holiday falls on a Sunday, which means we don't get a day off from work. No three day weekend here. Boo.

Hiking in Cinque Terre

To start, here's a view of the five towns of Cinque Terre that we captured over the course of our two days there.

The five towns of Cinque Terre, from top (clockwise): Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore.

On our first of two nights in Cinque Terre, we immediately headed to the furthest most town of Riomaggiore for a brief peak of the trail and the easiest of the walks, "Via dell'Amore." We were treated to amazing views of the cliffs and a spectacular sunset.

On the second day, we set off a bit late, but finally entered the trail in Monterosso, where we were staying. From our reading, we knew that the Monterosso-Vernazza trail was one of the longest and should take us about 90 minutes to complete. While we stopped to enjoy the views (and to catch our breathe) at almost every opportunity, we finished the first trail in just over 90 minutes. Our reward was the view of the town from above on the trail, probably the best view of the entire day.


We had pizza for lunch and contemplated whether or not to push on and hike to Corniglia. Feeling recharged after lunch and lots of water, we decided that we could handle another hike and that the hardest one was behind us. Well, in hindsight, I would say that Monterosso-Vernazza and Vernazza-Corniglia are equally hard with their fair share of steep climbs and unstable stairs. And once again, the views and the satisfaction at the end were worth the struggles of the hike. Once in Corniglia, we hung out for a bit before deciding to travel by train to Manarola, the next town. What we didn't realize was that the walk to the travel station was half of the walk. We could have easily pushed on and walked in about the same time it took us to wait for and ride the train.

In Manarola, we found a nice perch on some rocks and used this as our launching spot for dips in the water. The water was clean, cool and super refreshing. We ended this part of our day with gelato (of course) and a ferry ride back to Monterosso. This gave us the perfect opportunity to view all of the towns from the water.

Back in Monterosso, we talked to the hotel staff about our planned travel to Chianti (via Florence) the next day. We were fortunate enough to be there right in a middle of a country-wide train strike. We decided not to let the impending strike get the best of us (like the American family sitting next to us at breakfast that morning who decided to leave one day early as to not risk missing their flight home). I guess, because we had another week in Italy, we weren't as pressured as many other people. We were told by Drew and the hotel staff, that despite the strike, some trains would be running the following day, probably in the early morning. The hotel staff called the station a few times to find out which trains were still scheduled and urged us to run back there to buy tickets for the next day. We (well, I) did just this and encountered a long line of other travelers frantically trying to ensure they could make it to their next destination.

Content that we had our arrangements sorted for the next day, we ventured out for dinner and to enjoy our last night in Cinque Terre. We headed to the New Town of Monterosso and selected a restaurant called Miky's, a popular local spot, which did not disappoint. After dinner, strolled back to our hotel and prepared for our early train to Florence (fingers crossed).

Bye, Bye Cinque Terre

Relaxing in Lake Como

The train ride from Zurich to Como was a beautiful one and we sat staring out the window for much of it. From the train station, we waited awhile for our bus to Tremezzo. It seemed to be the easiest way to get there because to go by train, we had to reach the other train station, which was across town. After about an hour wait, followed by an hour ride right along the coast, we found our way to the lovely Hotel Villa Marie. To give you an idea of just how lovely it was, this was the view from the window and from across the street:

On our first day, we wandered around Tremezzo, enjoying the combination of wine and spectacular views of the lake and a visit to Villa Carlotta.

We also had what turned out to be our favorite meal of the trip in Tremezzo. We'd found this little restaurant called Pizzeria Balognett through TripAdvisor. Reviews warned that you would need to ask for directions because it was a bit of a walk from the main town. We asked for directions, a few times, but finally made our way there. It was definitely worth it. The pizzas were perfectly thin and absolutely amazing. The small restaurant only has about 10 tables, but it offers a view of the lake and is run by a very nice couple. After dinner, we even enjoyed some limoncello with the owner.

On our second day, we set off for our day-long adventure around the lake and planned to visit the towns of Lenno, Varenna and Bellagio. We started the day by heading off on a 2.4km walk from Tremezzo to Lenno. This was just part of the much longer Lake Como Greenway walk. We didn't have the time nor the energy for the longer walk. We were saving our energy for hiking in Cinque Terre, but we thought the shorter version would give us a great opportunity to wander through some of the smaller towns and capture amazing views of the countryside.

We ended in the town of Lenno on their market day, so we walked around and then searched for Vanini Osvaldo, a highly recommended local olive oil company. You can find this oil in almost every shop in Lake Como, but we were told to buy it here at a much lower price. Once again, we had to stop and ask for directions several times, but we eventually found the small shop, which was guarded by three large, but quite friendly shepherd/wolf dogs. Don't let the dogs scare you off. It's worth a visit.

Next, we made our way to the ferry and headed off to Varenna for lunch, wine and wandering.

After Varenna, we hopped back on the ferry and stopped at the next town - the very famous Bellagio. We stayed here for several hours, doing a little shopping, eating lots of gelato and just wandering the streets and alleyways. With an eye on the time, we managed to have an early and quick dinner at La Grotta before catching the last ferry back to Tremezzo. The pizza was good, but not as good as the night before, and we admit that the fact we were in a hurry probably affected our level of satisfaction.

Back in Tremezzo, we wandered around the town a bit and found a lovely wine bar and shop called Cantina La Follie that is located in the cellar of what used to be the main hotel in town. We wrapped up fairly early, as we had to get ready for another day of travel with a train from Como to Monterosso via Milan.

For anyone planning their own trip to Lake Como, here's a great article that highlights some of the best things the area has to offer: Lazy lakeside frolicking: an insider's guide to Lake Como.