First of all I would like to thank God for making me a part of this wonderful community of Local Guides. Yes I am writing this post to share my very pleasant experiences when I participated in the great meetup hosted by @NareshDarji and cohosted by @Tejal and @ashishdesai24 at LAKSHMI VILAS PALACE, VADODARA, INDIA.
First click trying to capture the bird in position. The garden side of LAKSHMI Vilas Palace.
First is always the best
First smiles when I met them for the first time
I am going to describe my beautiful memories of my first virtual meetup outside my city, Chennai. This is my first time in many ways.
☆First of all I would like to congratulate Naresh Darji, Tejal, Ashish and all the Local Guides who attended this meetup and made it a tremendous success.
☆First time solo travel
☆First time planning for a trip.
☆First time making bookings all myself.
☆First time to Gujrat
☆First time meeting offline many Local Guides from other parts of India.
☆First time exploring a different place.
☆First time having a royal lunch
☆First time visiting a Palace with both Indian and International standards.
☆First time experience hearing to a different music.
☆First time writing a post after a long break.
☆First time I am incorporating so many superlative words in a post.
Starting point:
First, when I got a simple but friendly message from Tejal, "hi ma’am, come to Gujrat, for meetup" , welcoming me to Vadodara, I was a little bit worried, as I have to do a solo trip. I contacted Naresh Darji whether it is feasible to travel alone, he gave me courage and told that there are many Local Guides to take care of me and Vadodara is a safe place. I was super excited to travel all way from Chennai to Vadodara, as I have never visited this place.
Then I Googled and saw the pictures of the meetup venue Lakshmi Vilas Palace, I was amazed to see the excellent grandeur of the Palace. Then I decided I should take this opportunity for sure.
I started collecting details about my hotel stay, flight bookings and tourist attractions in Vadodara. I consulted senior Local Guides and drew up a proper plan for my visit.
Naresh bhai introduced me to @Jitendra_pandya ji, who welcomed me whole heartedly. He took care from the time I landed in Vadodara till the end of the meetup.
Tejal introduced me to Ashish bhai and his wife Jignya. They met me on the first day evening itself. Before the meetup day Me,Tejal and Jignya had a wonderful time for that one whole day. I enjoyed their company very very much.
My mentor and senior Local Guide @TravellerG Sir, helped me by providing the required information of places of tourist attractions, to plan my itinerary.
It was really a great help for me and saved a lot of time during my visit.
The Day of Meetup
First of all, Naresh Darji, Tejal and Ashish Desai have done the arrangements very meticulously and professionally.
The much awaited meetup started with super excitement. When I arrived at the venue, it was a great experience to see the Local Guides in person, whom I have interacted through virtual meetups. In the background the Lakshmi Vilas Palace stood majestic. No words to express. Then we were guided to the terrace over the royal dining area, which is not open for general public. We could get an amazing view of the palace from there.
We had our introductory session there. It’s very different to interact with the Local Guides and we have now become like a family.
After the introductory session we had the great grand Royal Lunch. Definitely, I will tell it’s the best ever lunch I had.
Post lunch session
Group photo:
After the lunch we all assembled near the steps in the side corridor for a group photo holding our national Flag. It’s really a big group of Local Guides from many parts of India. After the group photo we were taken on a tour inside the Palace. The guide described about a beautiful painting in the backside of the Palace, which we all mistook as the front of the Palace. Then he guided us to the front side of the Palace, where we took another group photo with the palace at the background. Inside the palace we are not allowed to take photos.
Then we had the tour inside the Palace where he explained each and every nook of the Palace. Since we cannot take pictures, we gave full attention to all the details explained by the palace tour guide. We came to know about the many interesting facts and information about the Palace’s heritage, history and culture. Really a great experience.
Then Tejal conducted a Q&A session, which gave the Local Guides an opportunity to know about each other. The interaction with the other Local Guides, really made me know more about LG Community. One of the Local Guides, who was previously a Mapper, told me about one of Chennai senior most Local Guide and mapper @RtnArulPrakasamT Sir. I was speechless to know how much we are interwoven.
2 prizes were given to the top 2 Local Guides who got more marks. One prizewinner was my close friend @Shrut19
@ModNomad gave a melodious musical performance and all the attendees enjoyed the music and danced to the tunes.
ModNomad (Deepak ji) playing Mouthorgan.
We also visited another museum adjacent to the Palace. Here we could see the display of beautiful portraits and pictures of the Royal people. Beautiful artifacts, antiques and ceramics were also in display. Finally, the time to say goodbye. Though sad, we had to part, but with loads of pleasant and happy memories.
Below is the picture of female Local Guides.
Before saying goodbye.
Hope you will surely enjoy reading this post. Please do share about your recent meetup experiences.
Thanks in advance.
