We’re back at home after a wonderful vacation. I haven’t sorted out all the photos as yet, but once I do, I will post a few photos here as well. Here’s a shot that I took before leaving, but the sun is still shining in this little corner of my living room. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
After a hectic round of traveling, it really is nice to come home to one’s own place. To one’s own bed and to one’s own bathroom light fixtures! Laugh all you want, but these are the things that really make one love home, and distinguish it from other places. I often decide which hotel to stay in based solely on how nice their bathroom and bath fixtures are…. it only makes sense after all, one needs some pampering when one is away from home and having a luxurious bath is a great way to compensate being homesick!
Last year was a pretty good year for traveling for me. It was an even better year for taking time off…. I had all of March off…. then 3 weeks in September and last of all 2 weeks in December. A pretty great run I think! I got to visit some of my old favorite places…. namely places in the hills such as Kasauli, and got to finally see new ones such as Mussoorie and Dhanaulti. I also visited a brand new destintation, Kerala…since we’ve not been to south India at all. So, it was a really great year for time off and traveling. Hope this one is just as good!
Traveling gives one such a great insight to the world, to the people that inhabit it and their habits. One of the places we visited, had a wedding going on and the father of the bride had rented tuxedos for all the immediate family members from the Internet and had them shipped to him. I was simply amazed at the attention to detail that some people and companies go into to make an even special and memorable. Thanks to his dedication to details, this wedding will be remembered by all who attended it for a long time to come. Us included!
Back from our Kerala trip…..It was unbelievably good. We have all seen pictures of Kerala in magazines, movies and so on, but Kerala in December is simply fantastic. The weather is superb….warm to hot days and cool nippy nights. The people are very friendly and helpful…so used to tourists from all over the world descending on them in the winter months. Overall it was a great experience and I’m sure we will be going back to the area again sometime.
What I really liked was the quality of small resorts and homestays. I am not particularly keen on staying in impersonal hotels, but in all the places we stayed, there were lovely common areas to congregate in, to have morning tea in, to plan the day and share. As I sort out the photos, I will be sharing some of them out here.