Plan your own Travel

  Few of my office colleagues planned to have a trip. So we all started thinking of some nice place for either one day trip or overnight. A simple trip to some resort nearby didn't exite us much. We all wanted some fun, some adventure. One of the plan was most liked by all and that was river rafting at Kolad.  Kolad is a village located in Raigad district of Maharashtra. It is on the banks of Kundalika river. The location is very picturesque which makes it a ideal destination. Kolad is around 120 kms from Mumbai. It can be reached from Mumbai or Pune for a weekend getaway. We were a group of 10 people and so we hired a vehicle to travel conveniently from Mumbai. Also vehicle will be better to commute to rafting point and back from the rafting end point.  We opted for overnight package by RiverTrail Adventure and resort.  We stayed at their Pali site and it was a beautiful property.  Rooms were clean. We took 2 five bed rooms. They also have option for tent stay....

  How to plan your Own Travel People like to travel but most of the people get scare to travel on their own and reach out to travel agents to buy their existing travel package or get help from travel agents to customise package for them. This kind of travel plan is convenient but may prove costly and also there is no adventure in it. The agent may take you to the famous spots of a location, give you some time to enjoy at that place and so on.  But travel according to me should have no boundries. One should be able to go where thay want, they should be able to take a halt when thay want, have flexibility to spend more time at places they want and omit places which are not as per their choice. No two human beings are same and have same tastes and preferences. Each person has different preferences. A person fond of Art will have more preference to see the architectural marvels, monuments, museums etc. However a nature lover or trekker or an adventure lover will not want to see th...

  Visit to the largest fort of India - Chittorgarh We had planned a family travel to Nathdwara for having the blessings of Lord Shrinathji. So had planned to visit other places nearby like Udaipur, Haldighati, Ranakpur etc. The original plan was to reach Udaipur. Enjoy there and nearby places for 3 days and then visit Nathdwara.   We boarded a train from Mumbai and a spontaneous plan was suggested to visit Chittor.  We were 15 people travelling together and so there were arguments, if's and buts of being interested to visit the fort or not, how the hotel bookings will be managed nd so on. So the work began in the train for booking accomodation at Chittor, postponing the arrival at Udaipur by a day, travel arrangements for next day and so on. Fortunately everything got sorted and we all decided to include Chittor in our plan. We reached Chittor station and checked to our rooms. Had lunch and relaxed in the afternoon. In evening we hired a vehicle to visit the for...

Sp ontaneous weekend plan to Alibag It was Friday evening and I desperately wanted to travel somewhere for the weekend. Having not planned anything Alibag came as the best option to travel with kids. So we decided to go ahead with the plan Alibag can be visited by road as well but the real charm is to travel in a ferry. Early morning on Saturday we took a train till churchgate railway station and then taxi till Gateway of India. One ferry was about to depart and we were told tickets will be available in the ferry also. We took the ferry. There is option of Air conditioned seat or non A.C. We wanted to enjoy seeing outside and we chose non A.C seat. Ferry charges vary slightly in the different ferries like Appolo, PNP. It ranges around 130 to 200 per head. Sat in the front row to be able to see the beautiful sea. The boat started and along with it started the real fun and enjoyment. The seagull birds started following the ferry in the hope of food which people give. People threw items l...

 Paragliding at Bir Billing Many of us dream to fly like bird. To fulfill this dream thought of doing this activity of Paragliding. We planned Himachal trip from Mumbai with our iteniary to places like Dalhousie, Dharamshala, Manali, Kullu etc. Most of the time we travel without any rigid iteniary. We go with the flow. This benefitted us most of the time to explore off beat destinations. This was a family trip with my kids and in-laws. We took a taxi from Pathankot and explored destinations like Dalhousie, Khajjiar, Dharamshala etc. Our driver suggested this place and mentioned it to be the best place for paragliding. I got very exited to try this and we included Bir Billing in our travel plan. We reached Bir Billing little late in evening and so could not take paragliding that day. So we decided to halt there and fly early morning. In morning the vehicle arrived to take us at the paragliding point.  The vehicle  was going up and up on the hills and finally we reached the...

  Hill station, beaches, temples and heritage of Karnataka in 9 days Day 1 Udupi Took an overnight train from Mumbai and reached Udupi in morning. Took a cab from prepaid taxi booth outside udupi railway station and reached hotel. We booked hotel close to Shri Krishna matt. Took darshan and prasad. I was told by friends and read suggestions of having prasad at the temple and it was worth it. For the first time I saw so many people sitting and such a fast service of plates being distributed, a hot steam rice drum being brought on trolley by 2 people and 1 person serving rice on 1 side and other person to other side. Within 5 minutes rice was served to more than 200 people.  Same procedure followed for the delicious sambar. Since the day 1 did not had much travel we rented the car from 2nd day. In evening took an auto and reached Malpe beach.  It's a beautiful beach with clean dry sand. Kids enjoyed playing with the beach toys and getting wet in water. There are many water ...

 We were at Baroda for a family function and had an extra day. So thought of exploring the Dinosaur Fossil Park. It was a unique experience.  How to reach: 2.5 hrs drive from Baroda and around 1.5 hrs from Ahmedabad. Bus from Baroda to Balasinor available at frequent intervals. On reaching Baroda auto can be hired to reach the park. About the park: Raiyoli site is the second largest Dinosaur hatchery in the world and the 3rd largest fossil site. More than 10,000 eggs were found from this site. It has fossils of different types of dinosaurs.  Kids enjoyed seeing the giant Dinosaur structures. Overall it is a nice place for 1 day trip from Ahmedabad or Baroda. Tips :  The fossil park will involve some walking. Carry caps and glears. The park and museum are open all days. There are no stay options nearby. Garden Palace Balasinor is the stay option provided by Babi family.