Europe Tour

Europe Tour

-My  Firsthand Experiences

We are always  engaged in seeking happiness.

And going for Europe Tour was one of the attempts in that direction.

Being a senior citizen, the criteria before me for opting for Europe Tour were -

• sound financial back ground
• sound physical health (albeit with dependence on medication)
• intense desire to experience healthy climate
• intense desire to have glimpses of foreign culture and life styles
• intense desire to enjoy natural beauty
• observe the attitude of common people in the developed countries

And you know what, this motivated me and my spouse to pay due attention and make sincere efforts to maintain our sound physical health.  

Recently, ie in April 2019, I along with my spouse had been to the Europe Tour conducted by Veena Wold.

Here I share my fruitful experiences of the same with my avid readers.

Europe Tour

-My firsthand Experiences.

I was initially very much curious about the tour. Because when one travels abroad, one gains invaluable experiences and knowledge about that particular country and culture. And this becomes more significant when shared with others.

And this  Europe Tour was my first foreign trip in my life hence I was very excited.

This Europe Tour covered three countries, France, Switzerland and Germany (brief coverage).

Initially, in introductory meeting conducted by Veena World, the Travel Agents, the need  was emphasized to behave appropriately in the foreign countries keeping in mind that we represent our country, India. And that is exactly true !

A few things emphasized were -

• Paris is just like Mumbai, India.  Beware of the passport, visa, and other valuables while travelling.
• It was also explained how to carry the passport and visa along with the cash securely, especially while in Paris. (This proved very significant. Because, a couple in our group lost their passport and visa on the very first day.)
• Do  try to experience the glimpses of their life and culture.  
• Detailed idea of crew baggage and cabin baggage.
• Explained the importance of the process of check-in, immigration etc.
• To carry two sets of the required medicines each one kept in crew bag and cabin bag along with the Doctor's prescription.
• Not to carry hair oil, aftershave lotion and other liquids more than 80 mls. in both baggage.
• importance of optional health insurance while in travel. This is more so in case of senior citizens.
• importance of adhering to the time schedule during the travel, especially during site seeings.

Now, the sites we enjoyed the most in our Europe Tour -

FRANCE

SEINE RIVER CRUISE

VERSAILLES PALACE

Original Painting of Monalisa -Louvre Museum

DISNEYLAND

Beautiful Trees 

More Beautiful Trees

EUROPE TOUR

GENEVA-SWITZERLAND

FLOWER CLOCK

UN BUILDING- GENEVA

BERN- CAPITAL CITY OF  SWITZERLAND

EINSTEIN HAUSE - BERN CITY

Beautiful Aare River Bank

Rhine Falls at Schaffhausen (Neuhausen)

From the Mount Titlis Revolving Cabin Cable Car

Ascending the Mount Titlis

JUNGFRAUJOTH - THE TOP OF EUROPE

Passing Through Black Forest Region

Cuckoo Clock from the Cuckoo Clock Factor, Drubba,Titisee

EUROPE TOUR

My  Firsthand Experiences

My wonderful experiences and observations :

• Discipline - throughout my Europe Tour this aspect caught my immediate attention.
• Cleanliness  in public places- to the highest degree !
• Public Toilets - very much clean and hygienic, provided with hot and cold water and dryers.
• No one I interacted initiated the conversation but ready to converse when approached.
• It seemed that the general attitude of the people was 'you mind your business, I mind my own business'.
• If asked explicitly, people offered help immediately.
• Great respect for privacy.
• No body was willing to interfere in the privacy of others.
• Every one appeared to be capable to perform independently.
• People in general appeared very much healthy,enthusiastic and cheerful.
• The roads were very well maintained, no potholes, no gigantic(?) speed breakers.
• Truly deserve compliments for beautifully maintained not only gardens and trees but also the forest region.

BEAUTIFUL ROADS !

• Throughout my Europe Tour, except Police Van sirens and two-wheelers  passing on in speed, I never heard  any vehicle horn while travelling.
• Once or twice only I could see Traffic Police, that too simply keeping an eye on the traffic.
• All vehicles observed strict lane discipline. 
• I saw not a single overtaking by vehicles even while on the highways.
• Even in peek hour traffic jams, vehicles could keep on  moving slowly. This delayed the travel only by 10 to 15 minutes. This happened only once.

EUROPE TOUR

My Firsthand Experiences

SCENIC BEAUTY 

I share below some of the scenic natural beauty - one can easily guess the imagination, the synchronization, the display and the hard-work applied therefor.

BEAUTIFUL TREES

BEAUTIFUL TREES

BEAUTIFUL TREES

Beautiful Landscape !

BEAUTIFUL PRESENTATION

Beautiful Trees !

Beautiful Nature !

Some general knowledge I collected before going on the tour, which I hope, will be interesting to know for the readers-

EUROPE TOUR

My Firsthand Experiences

MAIN INDUSTRIES IN FRANCE -

• Energy
• Manufacturing and technology
• Transport
• Agriculture
• Tourism

In fact, Tourism is the main industry, France being the most visited destination in the world.

France is the major exporter of machinery and transportation equipment, air crafts, including fighter air crafts (remember Rafael ?), plastics, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, iron and steel, petroleum, and automobiles. France is also famous for perfumes.

MAIN INDUSTRIES IN SWITZERLAND -

• Precision Engineering - Swiss made clocks and watches are world famous !
• Scientific instruments
• Heavy Engineering
• Tourism
• Dairy products (Swiss Chocolates are world famous)

EUROPE TOUR

MY Firsthand Experiences

Movie shootings and Switzerland 

The enchanting natural beauty with snow covered mountains, lush green nature make Switzerland the most preferred choice for film shooting both for Hollywood and Bollywood.

Many of Hollywood spy thrillers have been shot in Switzerland.

Sangam, the most popular Hindi movie, starring Raj Kapoor, Rajendra Kumar and Vaijayantimala was the first movie when the Indian movie industry ventured beyond India for film shooting. This movie contains a few locations in Switzerland, the other locations included London, Vatican, Rome, and Paris.

An Evening in Paris, starring Shammi Kapoor and Sharmila Tagore was shot in France, Lebanon, Canada  and Switzerland.

Dev Anand's Prem Pujari - several scenes were shot in Switzerland.

Yash Chopra proved very significant in his efforts to introduce the natural beauty of Switzerland in his very famous movie - Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. (1995). The films was so much popular that it proved instrumental in starting a new trend of the visits by Indians tourists to this beautiful country, Switzerland.  

The Tourism Industry of Switzerland started developing so much that Yash Chopra's work was acknowledged by nominating Yash Chopra as the Ambassador for Interlaken. The Lauenensee lake  where Yash Chopra shot many of his scenes is now popularly known as Yash Chopra Lake.  

Yash Chopra's bronze statue- Ambassador in  Interlaken

No wonder, Europe, especially Switzerland is the most visited  popular destination in the world.  The overall experiences I gained are really memorable.  In fact, they are motivating me to put some efforts on daily basis to not only maintain financial ability but physical ability also. 

Both my own and that of my spouse !

Our Tour Manager aptly instructed us not to sleep while travelling in bus, but to enjoy the natural beauty of Europe outside.  Because, for a common man, the Europe Tour is once in a life time. 

Enjoyed ?

Next time .......

HEALTH INSURANCE

HEALTH INSURANCE

HEALTH INSURANCE

HEALTH INSURANCE

What is health ?

  

Or a perfect health ?

Well, an individual can be seen as having good health if-

• if he is able to follow the basic instincts of life - ahaar, nidra, bhaya, maithuna - ie he is always at ease to comply with the basic natural instincts of food, sleep,survival and procreation.
• if he has ability to feel happiness and express happiness.
• he is not dependent on medicines.
• if he has a healthy mind.
• he is independent both mentally and physically.
• he has ability to engage himself in positive acts.
• he is able to help and support others.
• he is able to go to sleep in time and also able to get up in the morning as per his own decision.
• once having awakened in the morning does not simply spend time lying in the bed.
• is exercising his control to have mit ahaara and mit nidra ie optimum food intake and optimum sleep.

Here the age factor is not taken into consideration.

What is health insurance ?

The dictionary meaning is - insurance policy purchased for covering the  cost of medical care of the insured by the insurer during the coverage period.

Why health insurance is necessary?

Uncertainty of life plays important role in insurance business. One cannot take it for granted not to fall sick in life. No body can boast.

Similarly, there are chances, may be the most, to meet accidents (major or minor). In such events, and in case of sickness, expenses for medical treatment are very high and beyond the reach of an individual.  But it has to be met inevitably.

By opting for insurance coverage policy one can lead a stress free life in that the insurer guarantees to bear the portion of such medical expenses based on the policy terms for which a monthly premium is charged.

Why health insurance is necessary ?

Every one is concerned about the future of his loved ones and dependent ones after own sudden death or due to fateful and terminal disease.  By taking life  insurance policy one can have significant relief from stress in the mind and thus live a tension free life.

Why health insurance  is necessary ?

No body intends to fall sick, get hurt, meet accidents, and other such emergencies in life.  But nothing is predictable in life.  And in any such type of events, the expenses required to bear are huge - some times, even one's entire savings in life are not enough to meet such emergency expenses. In such eventualities, more huge amount of money has to be arranged.

The health insurance policy enables the insured ones to meet  huge expenses to tackle the undesired yet inevitable emergencies in life with comfort at the financial front.

Having health insurance policy is a significant step for an individual because everyone is seeking happiness in life.  And being tension free is first meaningful step towards that.

Why health insurance is necessary ?

Medical treatment being quite expensive, one is inclined to undergo various investigations, consultancies,  medicines and treatment even in cases of preventive care and early detection. Even one tends to avoid minor treatments in time which inevitably results in major and advanced stages of illness when it becomes unavoidable to bear the huge expenses.  Health insurance policy may facilitate to meet the expenses towards such as investigations like blood tests,x-ray investigations, the specialists' fees, hospitalization, post hospitalization expenses, expenses on medicines and so on.

In short, one can opt for preventive medical services and get the care needed to have good health and prevent illness having serious concerns. Also one can get early medical services for early diagnosis of serious medical condition as also avoid the situation when the illness gets very serious.

Such concern is more so in case of the individuals whose spouse is not an earning member of the family.

Why health insurance is necessary ?

We often hear from our family Doctors when we take our old parents for check-up the terms ageing. What they emphasize is the fact that ageing cannot be stopped.  If we take it seriously and consider duly, it will be revealed that yes, day by day one gets older.  As one gets older, the old age related  health problems have to faced.  What are these ?  Well, blood pressure, diabetes, joint pains and what not.  And for this, expenses towards health maintenance increase along with many more health disorders.  Thus, at old age, savings do not match with the expenses towards health maintenance.  At such crucial period, health insurance policy really becomes significant and meaningful. 

And this is the reason, many times old people remark, "Good God, I have had this health policy".

And such people do have that attitude of " Who is afraid of ageing ?"

And when one happen to come across aged happy person, the feeling of respect and to encourage the elderly dominates the mind. 

Why health insurance is necessary ?

1. Savings in entire life can be wiped out at once.
2. It is best instrument to work out retirement plan.
3. In certain countries, tax benefits are available.
4. Health insurance pays for the medical expenses met by the insured and 
5. Health insurance enables the insured to get timely treatment needed without facing financial burdens.

As it can be seen from the above, one will not differ from the fact why health insurance is necessary.

It is observed that an individual has more concern for his own  particular body part as the same is being applied by him in his career and therefore, as a further dimension of application of this significant instrument to be assured, he takes health insurance policy covering that particular body part at an eye-popping consideration. 

When I Googled, I came across the following interesting cases -

1. Cristiano Ronaldo - Legs insured for $ 195 million
2. Daniel Craig - fully body insured for $ 9.5 million
3. Kylie Minogue - Butt insured for $ 5 million
4. Julia Roberts - Smile insured for $ 30 million
5. Jeniffer Lopez - Butt insured for $ 27 million
6. Tom Jones - Chest hair insured for $ 6.8 million
7. Mariah Carey - Legs insured for $ 1 billion
8. David Beckham - Legs insured for $ 70 million
9. Gene Simmons - Tongue insured for $ 1 million
10. Kim Kardashian - Butt insured for $  21 million

If nature of their career is considered, well, such application of insurance coverage is quite rational and essential too !

And no doubt, the followers for whom the above celebrities are source of inspiration  must be getting inspired to go for health insurance.

Ultimately, it is the universal truth that man is seeking happiness, discover happiness, express happiness, share happiness to have that feeling of peace and serenity in daily life.

And you know what, having purchased proper health insurance, one can rest assured to live active and healthy life without any stress build up.

HEALTH INSURANCE- some shelter is there !

Now, regarding another important aspect of insurance ........

Next time ........