Don't read this if you are the type who had his August vacation booked in May!! Yeah, you're probably already stretched out in the verandah of a beautiful resort set amidst jaw dropping scenic beauty or you're eating your prebooked special meal on your timely-booked-availed-discount flight! No this blog is certainly not for you and your kind. So while you enjoy your drink with the little umbrella, I will frantically go online every 10 minutes to see if my waitlisted ticket to Dehradun has moved on its slow, indefinite journey towards RAC (if we're lucky) or Confirmed (if miracles do occur)!
My holidays are more the spur of the moment, spontaneous, adventurous, and spirited journeys that provide a certain stimulation to the soul, getting you energized like never before. Oh all right, who am I kidding? Let me rephrase that to read - my holidays are more the last minute, lets-go-anywhere, no confirmation, hectic, nerve-wracking and tense journeys that leave you more exhausted than ever before. Well at least some of them are - more rephrasing done, should the husband take offence and never again book a ticket.
Thinking back, we did not start too badly this time. We have a date and a destination. The long weekend, Rakhi and a sister who has not (yet) got tired of inviting us over to visit - how much more perfect could it get? This is in sharp contrast to other times when we'd get stuck at stage one - where do we go? I know we are only one of a million other couples where one spouse becomes a fixture on the beach and the other has a past-life relationship with the hills. With equal votes for the hills and the sea, geographical proximity proves to be the tie-breaker and of course, the hills come alive with the sound of ... well, a keyboard and mouse searching for perfect destinations with scenic resorts.
Nainital, Shimla and Mussoorie? Yeah been there, done that, got the Tshirt! The trend is now to get away from the main town, so there's the undiscovered, unspoilt stuff like Kasauli, Binsar, Dhanaulti, Sattal, Kanatal and the innumerable 'Tals' that seem to have magically appeared over the course of the last decade or so. Too crowded, too far, too noisy, too messy, too many relatives .......have we become too picky about holiday destinations or is there really no place to go?
Oh wait, I read a friend's blog about this great Treehouse place somewhere in the Jaipur direction. And another friend had such a lovely travelogue about a homestay in Mashobra. What about that erstwhile Maharaja's hunting lodge that is now a boutique hotel - I'm left wondering where they find these heavenly places? A few phonecalls and lots of clicks later, we're no closer to a destination that is available for the long weekend. So if these are undiscovered and unspoilt gems, who are all these people who have discovered them and spolit my fun by booking them??
What about an adventure holiday - you know we trek some, paraglide, go rapelling and white water rafting? Ah well, maybe next time since the husband's just getting over a bad back and I'm feeling a suspicious pain in my knees...! And then there's the kids, what will we do with them while we're hanging on to dear life in a raft zipping over rocks and fast currents in the holy Ganga. But certainly next time, when we're better ... and the kids are a little older.
And thus it continues. If we have a destination, we only get tickets priced in the "Are You #*@% Crazy" ranges! And if travel is affordable, we just don't know where to go. So there we are . . . left watching the much awaited, over hyped long weekend groan past painfully slowly, coz time whooshes past only when you're having fun. But we remain good friends and diligently view all 240 pictures of YOUR great weekend and even comment politely on how much fun you seem to be having!!
But this time's different. We have a date and a destination - thanks to the festival celebrating sibling love and the sister who's not (yet) tired of calling us over. We may have a waitlisted ticket, but we have a back-up plan - we'll drive down! I've decided to put away my dread of road journeys with two kids prone to car sickness and have armed myself with every conceivable anti-nausea concoction. I have memorized at least 10 "car games for young children", 15 songs to "sing-along in the car with young children", printed 20 "puzzles for the car for young children", packed reems of paper and zillions of crayons ... and consider myself fit to combat the scary "Are We There Yet" syndrome.
So what could go wrong? Plenty if there's only half a degree of separation between you and Murphy (of Murphy's Law fame - 'anything that can go wrong will go wrong'). Just two days before D Day, dear elder daughter gets a toothache. And not just an irritating jab that's goes away with paracetamol, this is the whole deal - swollen jaw, throbbing pain, feverish feeling - you know the works! Now we'll be spending T minus 1 doing the rounds of an X-ray centre and the dental clinic, mentally willing the dentist to dismiss it as nothing serious and give us the go ahead for take off. Otherwise you ask? Well otherwise, we will diligently view all 240 pictures of YOUR fabulous holiday and comment on how much fun you seem to be having!
For those of you unrelated by vast degrees to aforementioned Murphy, check out these websites for some weekend getaway ideas. You lucky lot and the kind who book August holidays in May can also ease the lives of the rest of us by sharing your favourite destinations and experiences.
Author is associated with mycity4kids.com which is one of the famous Kids Directory. Search Birthday party planners for Kids, Birthday planners in gurgaon and Calligraphy Classes in Delhi from wide range of listing.
Orignal From: Planning a weekend getaway near delhi
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