Then....
Now!!
Travel blogs are done post travel , filled with anecdotes, nitty gritty of the trip, itineraries, pictures and a heart overloaded with memories and nostalgia.
While travel blogs do share the months of planning done beforehand and we travellers recall fondly the thrill of planning a trip, of arm chair traveling but hardly we realise half the travel is done in reading travelogues, watching travel videos, reels, dreaming, planning each detail!
Yes many of us would not want to disclose our upcoming plans for reasons varied as what if it does not materialize! What if my leaves are not approved, what if boss gets the wind I'm on vacay while I've sneaked out calling my grandmother sick! This time I wanted to do a pre travel blog, my reasons being.. I so loved the planning part and weaving dreams with my buddy. Yes it may not materialize....I mean who knows but when you know to dream... Who's stopping you! And it's ok if it doesn't materialize why deprive myself of the joy of dreaming!
Yes I've done girls trips before with colleagues who turned friends. It was easy being in the same office, well sometimes from different offices as well. But then this upcoming trip is about two close friends, who did move away from their hometowns, settled in different jobs, got married and are raising kids, were in touch off and on, met few times over the years, texted on birthdays and pressed the 'like' thumb at most of the posts appearing on social media.Though they planned trips without much counting on it to places near Bangalore or Delhi which never of course saw the light of the day, they wouldn't believe themselves that they would set forth for the baap of all trips one day!
It began with casual chats...
'Somadi we will do the DDLJ trip!'
And could Somadi decline...and hence began our planning of the trip of a life time. Destination was decided, Switzerland being at the heart of the trip, then we clubbed in Paris and Italy was the obvious choice if we could squeeze it in the itinerary. So we chose my old agent to help, the Sardar-Bong couple too got in the groove with the two silly dreamy girls turned women. First tickets were done and boy!! Things were expensive!! Credit cards, debit cards, breaking FDs, payments were done to the travel agent, cursing the embassy people who needed to get convinced with hefty amounts in the savings account...I mean like really with few lacs strewn in casually at savings account... What do they expect! We banged our heads to assemble the documents, revealed to spouses about our khufia plans! My husband has almost given up on me considering the crazy person I am and the sane person he thinks he is. My family was also coming to terms with my weird plans...I mean Monalisa are you even in touch with her...my brother, maa taken in by surprise !
The pleasure of catching up, of long conversations in between work breaks, while dreaming of an exotic holiday and catching up with our past in the beautiful hills of Kahilipara Colony in Guwahati! I mean it was the nostalgic past with conventional people and the hardcore present with the amenities and confidence we did not have back then! We were swaying between the past and future with ease while our life moved in the present! Somehow we had the feeling that we were upto a great mission, like achieving an impossible feat! I know it's just traveling with your own hard earned money but I was proud of her doing well and of our making the trip together...it was achieving the impossible, for those who can feel! Else it was two women simply leaving behind kids and spouse and plunging in a girls trip.
Next was the VISA ordeal. Good that Schengen rules are changing for India.VFS visits are dream laden, though a bit wary of the procedures but the ensuing visit to the heart of the capital city, CP was a big deal clincher. Visa process was smooth, documents in order ( obviously they will be since I've liquidated my FDs in a spree 😬). After VFS nitty gritties were over, I walked to CP in a pleasant February morning, stopped by the Hanuman Mandir, nah I don't visit temples, just remembered my husband's raving about the kachodis there.
Doubtful, I wandered in the huge temple campus before biting , savouring the delightfully warm tangy fluffy thingy in the cold February morning adding zing to my VISA interview morning. Aaah bliss! The tangy kachodi complimented the dreamy Swiss Chocolate fantasies! Obviously my next stop was a visit to the H&M store at CP, though I told myself no shopping before VISA ...but who's listening! Red knee length dress, couple of pull overs though the weather gods predicted it would be cold and looking at the mercury readings...I knew I had to layer and pack my bags with warm clothes.
VISA arrived almost a day after. It was smooth and hassle free. My hyper mind imagined Swiss embassy so wanted to have me! Here I'd like to mention our travel agent processed papers for Switzerland VISA while after our tickets it turned out we were spending six nights in Italy and five nights in Switzerland. So as per Schengen rules, we needed to apply for Italy VISA. Since Swiss rejection rate was very low, they went ahead with Switzerland VISA and made some extra bookings as alibi that we were spending maximum nights in Switzerland. Me being me was always in my toes, first at immigration in Munich, which was quite tediously detailed , ultimately when I opened my envelope full of Euros and Francs after mumbling about the number of nights etc in Switzerland and Italy, fumbling more at my own mismatch statements, immigration officer looked contented.
' Well he'd as well go on a date with me for that... Those Euros and Francs!!' I chipped in to my friend. Then I was on my toes the entire trip whenever I spotted any kind of cops!! Told my friend it's like that Drishyam 2nd October Satsang, 2nd October, 3rd October thing...I kept mumbling to myself at the entire trip looking at any cop!
My friend was laughing to her heart's content that Soma di while everyone was raving at the Pisa tower you were mumbling 6th April Switzerland, 7th Milan spotting the guys who had Polizei written at the back of their sweatshirts!!
Jokes apart there wasn't any problem in the entire trip and apart from immigration at Munich, nothing was enquired.
After VISA, nothing much was left to be done apart from day dreaming, sharing reels with Monalisa, drooling about food, useless online shopping /returning/ exchanging ,checking weather every odd day, comprehending what to pack for insta worthy pics. Well honestly that's the main lure..to assemble the look for the pics! Few gyan shots from office juniors to get that sheer fleece leggings for style and warmth both! Itinerary was almost finalized, only few nitty gritties left, sessions with our travel agent team, churning out money in installments ( part I hate 😭), filtering the to do lists.
The next one and half months we planned our outfits, speculated how cold it's going to be, shopped...and waited! With the thrill of impending trip, there was the anticipation of meeting again, teenage buddies catching up offline after so long. But then staying whole fortnight together... could we do it...! We did stay for a week when I was in my early twenties and she in her late teens , when I was working at a school in the mountain kissed land of Barapani! That was a dream stay...I made breakfast, left for school and she made warm lunch when I returned 😍! Then we would roam in Barapani or travel to Shillong! But those days are over eons back..two different women, different families, different jobs...can we pick from where we left!! I wasn't an easy person, though I don't outburst but grumble inside...but for traveling I'm ok with anything! But then I don't want to lose a friend.. and get hurt!!
Well... what's in store for us! Stay tuned!
