Discovery Networks India,Associate Director/Marketing and Communications-Rajiv Bakshi takes us along on some of his memorable holidays across international and national shores. Apart from the fact that Rajiv's job takes him around the world, he personally loves to globe trek. Rather, what really gets him going is driving around new places.

I do not like being driven around. The wheel has to be in my hand for me to enjoy the drive to the hilt. Germany and France have been his favourite destinations and I have traversed most parts by road with like minded friends.

The atmosphere in German cities like Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg, Heidelberg, Munich, Stuttgart and Frankfurt is unique: charged with historic importance, packed with architectural highlights and filled with restaurants to get stuffed in. We can stroll around streets with ancient buildings and marvel at times gone by.

I am a keen observer of people, culture, and of course restaurants and keep comparing it to conditions in India. Most of these cities are quite typical for German culture and lifestyle in general: beer gardens and pedestrian areas as zones of communication perfect for soaking in German vocabulary and collocations, an exceptionally well-preserved old town, idyllic streets, loads of hinterland to explore... and open-minded and friendly inhabitants.

Berlin is full of life and energy with all sorts of cultural activities, a thriving night life and dazzling new architectural triumphs. Elsewhere, Munich (with its domes, towers, chic shops, and beer festival) as are Hamburg (of lakes), Frankfurt (skyscrapers, books - and apple wine), and Cologne (fabulous Gothic cathedral, K?lsch beer - and wild carnival celebrations) are all wonderful cities to explore.

These are fun, relaxed and vibrant cities with fabulous shopping and pulsating night life. I am always checking out the shopping areas to buy gifts for friends and family. Frankfurt's international flair guarantees an inspiring stay. Here, one can explore a modern and dynamic city and enjoy its tolerant and open-minded spirit.

Language has never been a hindrance. People are open-minded and tolerant. One just has to be civil and polite and the directions and maps are all so self explanatory that one would really have to be dense to get lost.

All these cities have an atmosphere that is reverberating with historical importance. But I am not a museum kind of person, I prefer soaking in the real life visible around today.

Munich has plenty of cultural and sporting activities, fashion and lifestyle, and the people are friendly and approachable. Plus, Munich's surrounding and its close proximity to the Alps offer additional experiences. Munich has no shortage of wonderful green spaces.

The locals are easy-going and communicative. Throughout the year all sorts of festivals provide various amusements. You can spend your free time shopping, drinking coffee and tuning in on local talk and gossip - an easy way of picking up vocabulary and collocations.

Driving along the German Alpine Road is an amazing experience. It is an exhilarating route full of twists and turns. The 450 kilometre-long route is stunning and offers great variety - Alpine meadows, hills, mountain peaks, green forests, valleys and lakes follow one another in a steady rhythm. The other exhilarating speed-thrill is driving from Stuttgart to Zurich. I did it in less than two hours, after a 14-hour flight. For anyone planning this adventure, I offer no guarantees.

Traditional farming villages alternate with historical towns against the majestic panorama of the Bavarian Alps. There are almost 25 ancient castles and palaces to visit. Over 20 crystal-clear mountain lakes offer not only thrilling views but also a wide choice of sports and leisure activities. And I am the kind who prefers to play the sport rather than watch it.

All along this panoramic route there are opportunities to try delicious German specialties, both in the fresh air at a beer garden or at traditional inns - and, last but not least, the famous "Mass", a litre tankard of beer.

Along the German Wine Route, the climate is mild, the scenery like Tuscany's and the people warm and friendly too. The wooded hills are planted with vines, while figs, kiwis and lemons. Wine tasting with a winegrower is a chance to become a bit of a connoisseur. Wonderful wines from famous vineyards can be enjoyed everywhere, in tasting rooms and countless wine taverns or even at road side stalls.

I am attracted to lake side properties and have had the good fortune of staying at some of the most exclusive lakeside properties in India and abroad. Germany's lakes are as diverse as the countryside which surrounds them. Some are very well known; others are hidden gems that only reward people who take the trouble to seek them out. They offer fresh air and fantastic natural scenery - and the waters that are crystal clear.

German life is a new environment of tolerance and multiculturalism. Two of Cologne's biggest attractions are the carnival and art. The city celebrates carnival as a week-long street-festival with colorful parades, outlandish costumes and live music. I have spent a lot of time at a fair and enjoyed it thoroughly.

Paris is another enchanting city. Driving around it offers a wonderful insight into this multifaceted, magical, and at times secretive, city. The bustling Champs Elysees is one place I simply love. The shops and Parisian life in the area reveal the very symbol of sophistication, graceful living and celebration.

The food is delectable. One can enjoy the fish dishes prepared with vivid seasonings. The diversity of French wines reflects the diversity of France itself. Tiramisu is to die for. Each region offers a unique landscape, climate, culture, and history that have combined to produce the most famous wines in the world.

The city has many of the world's most visited monuments, such as the Eiffel Tower, Louvre and Arc de Triomphe. I am one who cannot keep staring at the wonderful sight of the Eiffel Tower. I prefer walking the streets, absorbing the local way of life. There is something that aches in your sense of romance when you wander among the baroque Parisian architecture with the language lilting in the air around you.

Washington is another city that beckons. The walking trails are great for long walks or exercise. I am looking forward to exploring the city on my next visit.

I also seek out educational institutions wherever I go. I check out the campus, meet up with professors and generally soak in the thought process in each campus. It is enriching and one always feels more empowered after being to these institutions.

My wife Meenakshi also shares this travel bug. She has visited Vietnam, Sri Lanka, China, England and so many more unique countries on her own by charting out a map and discovering a new place each time. I have imbibed a lot of my fascination to travel from her. We have had wonderful vacations at Colombo and Goa. Colombo is one place I like as our currency is stronger there! The food is great and its nature's paradise.

As far as Goa is concerned, I always feel that it stands apart from the rest of India. The sense of freedom one feels there is awesome. The Leela Hotels property is by far the best beachside property I have stayed in, though I would give Taj's properties, all three, the next best rating. I visit Jaipur regularly and love shopping there. Bhopal, Lucknow, Kochi, Chandigarh, Agra, Udaipur, Jabalpur - each city attracts me for both its unique city life, special settings and food specialties.

We have a two-month old baby and we are just waiting for her to be a little more manageable to take her to our next dream destination - Scotland.

Ultimate luxury, instant gratification and imperial magnificence - qualities that are rare in today's world. Staying in the Udaivilas is like reliving the royal era in a more refined and modern way. The Oberoi Group's newest luxury resort is ideal for those seeking both beauty and tranquility.

The architecture of Udaivilas follows Mr. Oberoi's vision that it must represent the traditional designs of the grand Mewar tradition. Located on the banks of Lake Pichola, Udaivilas commands a beautiful view of the City Palace and two seventeenth century island palaces on the lake - Jag Mandir and Jag Nivas.

Guests are escorted from Udaipur airport in a chauffeur driven limousine to a private jetty, then ferried to the resort on board one of the resort's elegantly appointed boats. The transfer takes approximately 15 minutes, offering spectacular views of the Lake Pichola and palaces around it.

Spread over 30 acres and situated on an undulating hill, Udaivilas, though primarily a single-storied structure, has been built on three varying elevations, adding to the sense of scale. The architect of this property is Parul Jhaveri and Nimish Pate of Abhikram. Lim, Teo & Wilkes of Design Work is the interior designer. Tony Corbett of Tony Corbett & Associates is the lighting consultant and the structural consultant is Himanshu Parekh.
View of the City Palace from the lobby

The Udaivilas is classic Mewar in style and has antiques and fine paintings adorning the corridors and rooms. Guests can easily slip back into an earlier era when royalty, in their exquisite ensemble, majestically drifted past the elegantly adorned palace halls and colourful gardens. The entire ambience of the palace hotel is mesmerizing.

The architects have been working in the region for the past decade and a half, in order to re-establish traditional building methods, materials and technologies in the contemporary context. The design has therefore evolved as an assimilation of spaces of a traditional palace and the complex surrounding it, with domes and arches, pavilions and balconies, turrets, niches and jalis (screens).

In the main courtyard, soft green landscaping offsets a blend of elegant black granite and white marble. A luminous white marble lotus seemingly floats on a reflection pool. As night falls, the atmosphere takes on an almost surreal quality with the pale gold fa?ade of Udaivilas shimmering on the dark water.

The lobby, an arterial space with views of the lake and the surrounding mountains, has a central dome resplendent in gold leaf, complemented by a magnificent hand crafted chandelier and a white Thassos marble fountain. The flooring is in a combination of beige Karoli sandstone, Udaipur green marble and white Thassos marble.
Miniature 'sheesh mahal': The Candle Room

The lobby lounge, warm and inviting with hand crafted carpets and furniture, offers stunning views of Lake Pichola and the City Palace. The lounge is richly decorated, with Thekri work and a central dome painted in deep cobalt blue, with rays of the sun in gold leaf.

Adjacent to the lobby is the Candle Room, a miniature 'sheesh mahal' (glass palace). In palaces, the Maharajas used at least one of these rooms as a bedroom for the special ambience it created. The ceiling, 25 ft high and 18 ft in diameter, is a stunning reflecting canvas, with intricate Thekri work in the dome.
Head straight to the pool from your room

Thekri work, an art form unique to the region, adorns the space. In Thekri, molten glass is blown into circular balls using pipettes. When cool, molten mercury and lead are poured into the balls, coating the concave sides, and left to cool again. The balls are then broken into pieces, shaped, and stuck onto surfaces in different patterns, using a mixture of lime and marble powder as adhesive. The effect leaves you spellbound.

Surrounding wall niches also have Thekri work in a floral pattern. In the centre of the room is a recessed table in which candles are set. When lit, a spectacular effect is created by the flickering shadows.

The Candle Room offers views of a cascading terraced garden, flanked by stone column torches, which at night create dancing flames on the water. The cascade culminates in a handcrafted bronze sun, which is the royal insignia of Mewar.
Cascading garden culminates with the royal insignia of Mewar

The reflecting pools and fountains play an important part in the overall design. These impart different ambiences at various times of the day and night, augmented by the soothing sound of trickling or cascading water.

Udaivilas has two restaurants - Suryamahal, the main dining room, and Udaimahal, the specialty Indian restaurant. The domes over Suryamahal recreate the day sky, while those over Udaimahal represent the night sky and the Udaipur cityscape. The vibrancy and richness of Indian and Rajasthani culture are reflected in the blue, green and gold colour scheme.

Suryamahal is the perfect setting for enjoying the special menu that has been developed following meticulous research in the traditional royal kitchens of Rajasthan. Udaimahal is open only for dinner and serves traditional Rajasthani and North Indian cuisine. The courtyard adjoining the restaurants is the perfect setting for al fresco dining. Gas torches cast a sense of drama over live performances of music and dance in the evenings.
Soak in the tranquil ambience at the Oberoi Spa

The corridors leading to the guest rooms have 450 stone columns, each individually hand crafted. Many are finished with ghutai, a technique, which like Thekri, is unique to the region. Craftsmen are reluctant to share details of the process, but it is generally known that various kinds of stone are ground and mixed with egg white and tamarind. The final finish is naturally creamy, ivory-like and glows with a special luminosity. It takes a craftsman a month to make a single column and the smooth stucco, made by mixing lime mortar with lime plaster and crushed marble, takes a year to 'cure'.

The Udaivilas has 87 bedrooms, 63 Deluxe, 19 Superior Deluxe, 4 Deluxe Suites and 1 Kohinoor Suite. The Kohinoor Suite features two bedrooms, a living room with working fireplaces, and a private swimming pool overlooking the City Palace, Lake Pichola and the Aravalli mountain range. The Superior Deluxe Rooms have access to a semi-private infinity edge swimming pool off a patio. The Deluxe Rooms are over 600 sq ft each, featuring a seating area and balcony.
The Moghul Suite

Luxurious white marble bathrooms, with Victorian style bathtubs, overlook a private courtyard. All rooms feature a personal bar, tea and coffee maker, telephone with data port, satellite television, compact disc and digital video player and an electronic safe.

Local artisans fashioned the furnishings that grace the light and airy sitting areas and comfortable bedrooms. The interiors are beautifully appointed, with exclusively designed furniture, hand knotted carpets and fine Indian works of art. The wide use of rich fabrics and silk drapes in the rooms remind guests of the colourful art and royalty of Rajasthan.

All the rooms are not only elegantly decorated but are also equipped with modern facilities.

Once you're settled in, recover from your travel with a visit to the Oberoi Spa by Banyan Tree. Relax with a massage, rejuvenate with a facial, or simply soak in a spa hot tub. Here too, the dome represents the day sky to create a fresh, tranquil ambience. Restful private therapy suites and rooms for beauty treatments have been designed to provide an environment ideal for rejuvenation and relaxation. Still feeling restless? You'll love the fitness center, equipped with state of the art cardiovascular and strength training equipment.

Two original structures on the property have been restored - Bada Mahal and Chhota Mahal. An old caretaker has been looking after these buildings for over thirty years. A small coliseum adjoins Bada Mahal, once used by the royals to view tiger and wild boar fights. A twenty-acre conservatory houses many spotted deer, wild boar and peacocks. Surrounded by extensive landscaped gardens, the hotel offers superb walking routes through its exotic, natural surroundings with excellent views over the azure waters of the Lake Pichola.

The resort and its facilities have been evolved with care, retaining as much of the existing topography as possible. Landscape consultant Bill Bensley believes that the gardens will blossom into a tapestry of hidden walkways and avenues that continually surprise and delight, giving each guest a magical experience. The garden paths lead you to exotic plants, and hideaways. It is ideal for long walks among beautiful gardens and the splendid forest of exotic plants. The total effect at Udaivilas is an aura of elegance and understated luxury.

When it comes to discussing leisure time activities, there are many things that head honcho Amar Deb is into - be it books, meditation or writing but it's his weekend travelling which keeps him on an even keel. During the course of the conversation, I find out that Deb is a real cool `travelling man'. And travelling for him is not about taking off to some exotic foreign locations and checking into a luxurious suite; but it's about braving torrential rains, driving down to some dense forests and camping in his tent.

So, it seems like travel is real hard work for Deb. He says, "My real adrenalin chaser is to explore wild places, camp out at some unknown virgin beaches or explore the rugged Sahayadri terrain in Maharashtra. I've been doing this for years now. At least once a month, I along with my wife Nita and five year old son take off on a ultimate dream drive in search of some unknown location."

So, what are the dream destinations for this seasoned traveller? There are places that Deb rattles off as he relives the experience, "My wanderlust has taken me across the state of Maharashtra. I can still vividly remember our trip to Khadavli which is about 14 kms off the Nasik highway when I could show my son millions of stars while sleeping under the open sky. "

He goes on, "another place is Ambivali, a deserted place with thick dense and thick forest mangoes. Then, there are some nameless destinations which we discover along the way. It's like if we decide to go to Matheran then we don't camp at proper Matheran but we trail off to a place like say Jumapatti."

I see a dreamer in Deb as listening to him also reminds me of the much forgotten word - serendipity - the faculty of making unexpected and happy discoveries accidentally which many of us have probably left behind us in the hubbub of daily life. As I am transformed to the sylvan serenity of the countryside, Deb adds, "it's a beautiful feeling to meet simple and beautiful people, to have a cup of tea from a roadside dhaba and drink water from the fresh water streams."

My Childhood experience
I ask him about his growing years and it looks like the travel bug is really in the
Deb genes. Recalling his childhood experience, he says, "My father was in the Navy where life was pretty regimented. So, to break the monotony, he would often drive down to discover waterfalls, hills and camp sites.
In fact, as a five year old I remember touring the whole of South along with my parents and of course my pets - a dog and a cat. We drove around in a car and camped ourselves at various destinations from Kerala to Kanyakumari. But, those days it was less polluted and crowded, and everything was very clean and beautiful."

But can't things get a bit out of hand with this rather risky penchant for travel? There are memories and incidents that Deb still carries with him. "Yes, sometimes it can be, but somehow overall there has never been a major problem."

He continues, "As a child, I remember being caught up in a major religious riot when we were travelling down South. Then, I remember seeing a python and a leopard right in my tent. At Jumapatti, we were woken up by villagers to caution us about a lion in the vicinity. Once, I was with some friends of mine and since I had forgotten to build the trench around my tent there was more than six inches of water and our sleeping bags were almost submerged. Now since I travel with my family, I am obviously a bit more careful."

Maharashtrians' are a beautiful people
Though born and brought up in Bangalore, Deb has adapted to Maharashtra and its culture like a fish to water. "I love the state and the people. Maharashtrians are beautiful and vivacious people. One is treated like a guest wherever one goes. And for those wanting to explore the state, no matter what kind of holiday you are looking for, you will find it here. Whether it's peaceful self-exile in the awe-inspiring mountains, quiet worship at shrines, or revelation in cave architecture, art and culture or challenging treks or abundant wildlife thrills."

Deb's such a nature lover that he's even reluctant to reveal deserted beaches and places which he has discovered along the way. He tells me what normally happens is that once these places get written about they start developing as tourist destinations and the within no time people start buying property at such places. "I always feel people should learn to enjoy nature without possessing it."

I ask him how this sort of adds on to his life. He says, "The combination of a fantastic car drive and a great outdoors gives me a sense of grounding literally. And it's definitely a break from our hectic schedules.
" I typically wake up in a tent somewhere in the middle of a mountain and think of a wild idea and then come to office and ask my gang to work on it." Aha?..