On vacation...Blogging Marathon 2014 Post 26

Right now, I'd love to go for one - to a sunny destination. My last vacation was in July last, and though I'd stayed over at my parents' place for more than a month, I was waiting to get back. I am very particular about my space like that. And the idea of a vacation is actually going and exploring a new place, not staying put at home. The last one we had was a suddenly planned trip to Prague last year.

I remember we checked the weather forecast after bookings and there was some drizzle predicted on one day. As luck would have it, in the last minute hullabaloo, I forgot to carry the whole bag of rain jackets. The first day was ok, but day 2 it did not merely drizzle, it poured. So we spent a good few hours at Decathlon, buying some rain jackets. While in Prague, I was pretty impressed by the size of malls they had, though located at a distance from the typical tourist areas.

We had opted to stay in an apart-hotel there, because with kids it is easier to cook one home-type meal. Normally, most of these place stock salt and pepper etc in the kitchen. But this place did not, so one thing I got back from Prague was a 1kg salt packet.

That reminds me of how it can be sometimes difficult to find or locate the real shopping scene in some tourist cities. Rome, for example. Big G was a baby then, and the hotel room we were staying in did not have a fridge. It was also peak summer then, so I had to buy yogurt and fruit on a daily basis. And it seemed that the grocery stores were almost conspicuously hidden. The kind of places from where locals would shop. Or maybe I had this wide-eyed bewildered tourist air and nothing registered. Quite possible with me. I remember we never spent on buying water as all the fountains in the city had fresh water which was safe to drink. We also struggled to find a place to buy a pair of shorts for the husband and paid a crazy price for them.We also lost Big G's luggage on our way back.

Then there was this trip to Goa, where the husband needed to buy some socks and T-shirts. So we went to Vasco, an hours drive from where we were staying and spent the better part of day in a mall. I noticed in a shop there, all the possible chocolate brands from Belgium, Switzerland too. So, I'm thinking, it is the husband, hmm, why we end up visiting malls while on vacation.

On a college trip to Munnar, once again the rain played spoil-sport. So 25 of us girls went to see Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar in a theatre. The locals were surprised to see the balcony fully sold out. But we had a great time. And then there was this trip planned by my room-mate to Pune, just to eat out. There were 4 of us who made the trip, shacking up with random people (known to my room-mate of course) but can't imagine doing such a thing now. And then there was this trip to Bordi with my office gang, where we spent time on the beach, and got too late for dinner, for some reason all hotels were closed and we begged a pani-puri wala to serve us and that was the best I've ever had.

What are the crazy things you have done when you've gone on vacation?