BRAToSPHERE

Tag: holiday

  • An Ideal Holiday

    Writing this in the middle of greens, surrounded by the majestic hills, snow-capped mountains and a calm serene sound of the water flowing through the mountains. The birds chirping like they are singing to each other with their melodious voice and the mountains as their audience. The scene is perfect.

    I am in a small Village, Called Naddi, close to Dharamsala, atop a mountain. A small tiny village and a scenic eco-hotel in the middle of the Himalayas is exactly what I was looking forward to.

    I am here on a short weekend holiday escaping from the hustle bustle of the city. The last eight months have been chaotic if anything and in the constant hustle bustle, you miss out on the small moments of life. These short breaks help one rejuvenate for the ensuing time to come.

    What is an ideal holiday? Well, it means different things to different people. It means different kinds of places for different people – beaches, Mountains, Historic places, pilgrimage, etc..

    Irrespective of the kind of place, my ideal holiday is one where I just get to spend time in peace with myself. An idyllic setting – be it a beach or on a hill, in a scenic location – be it in a AirBnb or a star hotel, with a good book for company along with a wonderful companion. Perfect.

    I would spend all day doing nothing or like I call it, “Chill” all day. This feeling of nothingness makes me achieve a lot. I catch up with all my reading and writing and more importantly with all the thinking for which I always yearn for precious little time in day-to-day life.

    Of late, in addition to the nothingness, Airbnb has allowed us to mingle with the local community and understand the local customs and their way of living in a better way. Like our stay in Sri Lanka last December where we met a wonderful young couple – Lankan guy married to an Australian woman and now settled in Galle. Their story was so romantic and inspiring, something the bland sameness of a hotel can never offer. These small nuggets of the local life leaves us enriched post the trip and gives a feeling that we have always belonged here.

    Always, when I return back from a holiday, I am inevitably asked what all did I see and do. “I did nothing. I just chilled!” is my standard answer which baffles many. But that is what I did. Other than maybe hopped a couple of cafes browsing through different leftover books over cups of coffee.

    Well, this is my ideal holiday and I totally enjoy it and look forward to it.

    What is your ideal holiday?

  • The Perfect Vacation – Maldives

    What is an ideal vacation? The dictionary meaning of the word is – “an extended period of recreation, especially one spent away from home or in traveling”. Recreation, adventure, learning – it all boils down to one thing. Experience.

    Vacation is our way to create experiences. Our trip to Maldives last January was one such memorable experience we had. A short 3 day trip, worth memories for a lifetime.

    We started our journey from Chennai, boarding the International flights on Sri Lankan Airlines to Maldives via Colombo . Our first destination, the capital city – Male. The small island city is the most populous in Maldives, and one of the most densely populated cities in the world.

    The airport itself is on a small strip of an island, and is one of the most scenic landings I have ever seen. With the sea on both the sides and the straight runway too ending into the sea, it makes for a thrilling experience. After we completed the immigration (VISA on arrival for Indians. yay!) and checked out of the airport, we took a short ferry ride (10 Maldivian Rupees) to Male.

    We stayed in Male in a small boutique hotel and the primary objective of our brief stay here in Male, before heading to the resort island, was to get the local flavour and understanding of the local way of life. Male is just like Mumbai, just a lot lot smaller. Busy roads, narrow lanes, fish markets – all by the sea. We took a walk around the coastline of the island, and were back at our start point in two hours! This is Male – small and full of life.

    A quick snippet about Maldives – the island nation is an archipelago of thousands of small islands, what else? Some of these islands have been converted to resorts and beautiful expansive, luxurious hotels have sprung up here. The other islands are inhabited by the locals, and about a decade back were kept out of bounds for foreigners, but is a great place to visit, also if you’re planning on going on vacations, here are 5‌ ‌Fun‌ ‌Outdoor‌ ‌Activities‌ ‌To‌ ‌Try‌ ‌On‌ ‌Your‌ ‌Future‌ ‌Vacation‌ in the islands.

    The liberal government, with an objective of sprucing up the local economy opened up the inhabited islands for the general tourists and this is where one can now get to see the local life and the beautiful virgin raw beaches!

    Shot on iPhone 4s. At the Beach

    We decided to stay in a inhabited island and chose Rasdhoo for our two day holiday in the islands. Proximity to Male (onward journey was a 3 hour ride by a public ferry and the return was by a relatively expensive one hour speed boat ride to Male) and the beautiful pictures helped decide on rasdhoo.

    The beautiful small Rasdhoo island was the perfect getaway for the holiday. The untouched, sun kissed beach was exactly what we were looking for. And yes, the island was inhabited! The official page says a population of 867, we could not see more than a 100! Max. This is like the number of residents in a single tower of a society, or a single wing of a chawl in Mumbai!

    The island itself was amazing with an old world charm attached to it. The whole island was so tiny that a walk around the island, by the sea would be a short 20 minute walk. Bang! You are back to the start point. From the centre of the island the beach is less than 250mts, in any direction!

    Hanging in there. Shot on iPhone 4s

    We had a beautiful large room, in a newly built retreat run by a local resident. The local cuisine and the small coffee shop near the beach gave us the opportunity to get to know the locals better. Black coffee sure is a big thing here! The island experience was like having a private island all to yourself.

    After a good two days in the island, we returned to Male by the speed boat. We then took the short 10 minute ferry ride to the airport island for our return flight back to Chennai, via Colombo!

    Back home to Delhi in a Indigo Web Check In, with a lighter wallet but a loadful of beautiful memories and a whole 2GB worth of pristine photographs!

    The perfect vacation!