From one journey to another – Patils’ Road Trip 2020

Saturday 9.00 am, the Car

We’ve just hit the road. We were to leave at 7 for the 7 hour journey! The smell of the chicken salami sandwiches is teasing my nose, can I please have it already!!!??? PP and I woke up at 5.30 to make those! OKAY, THAT’S IT! I’m attacking them. Brb.

Saturday 3.00 pm, Sonia the Boat

I stood there against the railing with my dress flailing around my knees and my hair blowing on my face…It was so FILMY that I bugged PP to take a pic! However what I saw on the phone was no Soniya but So-“NO”-Yaaa! urrgghh!!! DELETE. DELETE. I think I’m really getting fed up of posing for photos! I’d rather click than be clicked. Note to self: Accept the fact that you’re getting older, uglier and crazier. Oh wait, that was only a 5 minute boat ride!

Saturday 6.00 pm, the Car

OMG! We’re on our way to the beach that’s fifteen minutes away!!! I’m sooooo HAPPY!!! I can’t stop behaving like Agnes from Despicable Me!

Aaaaaahhhh, the beach, the beach, the beach!! Oh, the Sun has set but I’m praying I get some amazing photos of the sky that I see from this window! The color combination is so deadly; there’s pink, orange, grey, blue and black!! Oh and by the way, I know I’m yet to tell you about the stay details. After the beach visit okay? P.S. MIL just told PP, “let’s leave Sneha on the beach and pick her up on our way back!” 😀

Saturday 9.00 pm, the Canteen

While we’re waiting to be served, let me quickly tell you about the evening at Guhagar beach! Oh wait, I didn’t tell you of our destination earlier did I? Guhagar – it’s in Ratnagiri, 230 kms from Panvel. Yeah that is indeed a long drive with quite a few bad stretches because of the roadwork but believe you me, the beach here makes it totally worth the travel hassle!!! It’s soooo clean and pretty! Basically not very commercial so it’s bound to be good. No people, no mess. YES, we took care of the social distancing but like I said there was hardly a crowd. Ohhh I also got to do my favorite beach routine…Running in the water loudly singing “Chai Chappa Chai!” Infact PP did the same thing at the same time to the same song. “JINX SPEARS” 😛 We walked until MIL got bored and FIL was done with the fish shopping for tonight’s dinner!
The stay: Green Echo Tourism Park. We didn’t do any pre-booking, the property belongs to a close associate. It’s a decent place with 4 BIG identical bungalows and a lot of open space. I find brick homes very attractive and I learnt that this Red Chira stone/ Laterite brick is majorly used across Konkan region as a respite from the humidity. (Maybe I should transport some to Panvel!)
Food: Like I mentioned earlier FIL got some cleaned fish from the market for the staff here to prepare. You’ll find small eating joints in the market that serve basic thaalis. If you’re a fish lover, you’ll enjoy the fresh fish that’s easy on the pocket as well.
Tip: There’s actually not much to do in Guhagar except for the beach and relaxation of course. Unless you’re a beach bum like me, don’t forget to take a bat-ball/ rackets/ pack of cards. Whaaaaattt?? It’s 12!!
Goodnight for now. I’m crashing.

Sunday 1.00 pm, some nameless resort

I’m standing talking to birdies while the folks have gone around to see the property. I came back for them because this couple of beauties is pecking at the grills, almost like they can make sense out of my gibberish! That’s saying something given most humans can’t. I’ve repeatedly been asking  them whether they know Buckbeak because he looks like a distant cousin 😀 I may have heard a relieved BYE from one of the birds when I was leaving!

Sunday 1 pm, the Beach

Glug glug glug. I feel like a fish after  having drunk all that coconut water! We’re waiting for the coconut waala to scoop the malai. Hehe YES!! We came to the beach again because of my nagging “please please, pretty please, only 10 minutes!” Thank goodness we did because I’d have died had we missed it! YOU WON’T BELIEVE IT UNLESS YOU SEE IT! This beach is purely magical! It was sunny of course, I mean what do you expect at 12.30 pm! But that’s what made it so beautiful…the water was the lightest blue, almost seemed like glass! The sand was a soft warm brown with shells scattered around! Aaaaanddd there was a mermaid! 😀 The pink-grey top I had on (picked from the kids section at H&M upon my sister’s insistence) turned out to be the missing piece of the beach puzzle 😀

Sunday 7 pm, the Beach

The darkness has set in.. There’s a low tide. We’re walking in the waters and today’s mood and weather demands for my other favorite beach song, ‘Chupke se’…Time to go 😦 I bid the Beach a goodbye for the last time on this trip.

Sunday 11 pm, the Bed

I’m plopped on the bed after a fish meal and extremely yummy Solkadi of which I drank several glasses! Oops, that’s the second time I forgot to click pictures of our meal. I don’t have much to update now because I’m tired and in the middle of a movie that I can’t watch when PP’s around. Don’t even ask which one! (Dil hai Tumhara 😛 )

Monday 12.30 pm, the Car

I want to puke but I can’t. I won’t rather*. I’m not the travel-sick type but this constant looking down at my laptop is bugging my head and tummy. Formatting a file on MS Word while going up a bumpy ‘Ghat’ road in a car is a bad idea. We’re heading to Mahabaleswar by the way! 😀

Monday 6.00 pm, the Bed

We’ve settled in at our hotel – Bella Vista. Bed – bouncy, Balcony – sit out area with easy access to adjacent room, Bathroom – no bath tub but stocked up with heavenly smelling Biotique products, Food – yummy!!! I’m totally stuffed from the late lunch and trying to ignore WORK to focus on the reading. (Why must emergencies at work arise only when I’m on break?? Or better Q, why do I care so much!?) Earlier during check-in, I picked up a couple of books from the reception library! The guy handing lending them to me had this look on his face as though I was a Looney! Oh c’mon you can’t blame a girl for getting all excited because she could have two books at a time! 1) Enid Blyton’s Famous Five go on a caravan 2) Meg Cabot’s Princess Diaries – part 9 (definitely Looney established)

Monday 9 pm, the Room

We’ve just returned from the mandatory market walk. The only thing that really excites me there is the chicken shawarma at Meghdoot.

I’m going back to the reading before I drop dead from all the traveling fatigue.
Night night! Can’t wait to hit the breakfast buffet tomorrow!

Tuesday 1.00 pm, The Strawberry Farm

We’re at the Shelar Agro Tourism and Holiday Homes. We’ve dropped by to check this property that’s owned and managed by a relative.

Wohoooo!!! I had my first strawberry of the year and I plucked it myself! 😀 It’s slightly tangy but it’s so pretty that I wish I hadn’t dug my teeth into it 😛

It’s a modest place in terms of stay given it’s more focused on the ‘Agro’ part BUT it’s the stunning view of the valley that totally makes up for the lack of luxury and ambience of a high-end resort. Catch up with you later. Time for more photos!

Tuesday 3.30 pm, The Car

Imagine my desperation for the Brick oven pizza at the Mapro Garden!! I forgot my phone in the car and I didn’t bother to come back for it! I must be in heaven because that pizza was killer! Oops, nope. Very much on Earth. Got to go!! Driving duty. Talk to you soon.

Tuesday 5.45 pm, the Boating Place 

OH DAMN. Who the hell closes boating activities at 5.30!!!??? 😦 Not fair!!! No, I don’t want to sit on a horse (who does that nowadays!?) Also I don’t want to go to the market. Not right away at least. I need the pizza to digest before I get my shawarma. Well, not much to do. So, the playing arena!! Time to shoot balloons with my pathetic aiming abilities. Bye!

Tuesday 10.00 pm, the Bed

It’s the end of the hols and it’s my last night with the books. I’m depressed. it’s a relief I have this Cashew Chikki to my rescue! I haven’t even finished the Princess Diaries halfway, let alone start  the other one 😦 I’m considering staying up all night and finish it BUT tomorrow is travel + work day. Or. Can I sneak the books? It’s not like he recorded them anyway…. think think.

Wednesday 12.00 pm, Sriram Rop Vatika, Wai

We’re at a nursery. Not the one with babies though I’m certain if it was, I’d most likely be dropped off there! This Greenhouse is MIGHTY impressive!! I just recorded a video of the ladies at work. We’ve picked up a nice assortment of saplings to be planted in our farmhouse! Wohoo!!! Time to shoulder a big responsibility. I’m going to take over the driving from here and I’ve to make sure no nasty sudden braking and no speeding. The babies from the nursery are to get home safe!

Wednesday 2.00 pm, Hotel Jagdamba – Khed, Pune (touching the highway)

We’ve halted for lunch at this really popular place. The folks have finished with their non-veg thaali while my veg food is yet to arrive. Beat that! Nothing else to update. I need to stay awake and alert post lunch. So I’ve popped a Kopiko and pocketed some.

I like such road trips where you don’t do much planning, you just have a basic sketch in mind and you do random things as per your wish, comfort and convenience. I mean you haven’t set a to-do list so you don’t get upset about not having completed it. You just enjoy whatever you decide to do then and there!

P.S.
1) I didn’t steal the book. Yes, I stole the Biotique bottles. Sorry, they were too tempting. I tried to finish them off in the room itself but just how many times can a person bathe 😛

2) This journey is nearly over but the next journey is about to begin; Jioing after Jio. Yes, I resigned.

Cheers 🙂