Hello everyone.
I hope you’re doing well.
“Family is not an important thing, it is everything”.
A little throwback trip is on my desk to pen down today and I really hope you enjoy reading it.
I am the excited kid on the candy store when there is planning on a trip. This was a family staycations at 2 cities. This trip was with my in-laws and I wonder why they can’t be called a family instead.
The trip was just after Eid and the level of excitement for Eid was doubled. I’ve always loved big fat family for everything from the throwback childhood stories, the food sharing, the laughs and giggles ensuring a great time.
This was our first official trip together as a family and everyone was really looking forward to a refreshing trip. We decided the destination to be a hill station and the first place that shows up on Google is the one and only OOTY.
One major thing that we terribly missed is traveling together in one huge vehicle instead we were split into 3 different cars. We did not have any plans for sightseeing because our sole intention was to have great family time with a great looking Ooty view. We had decided to homestay this time to get the utmost privacy.
We were extremely tired because as we entered the city of Ooty the crowd and the traffic were on the next level. It’s a 7 hrs drive from Bangalore so imagine the tiredness. Plus we were desperate to just reach the destination and doze off for a while.
As we reached the destination the first turn off of this trip, presenting the not so well maintained HOMESTAY. Sometimes I really wish I don’t rely on Google because dearest Google had some awesome reviews of the property and also a 4.8-star rating! The property didn’t have a great view, maintenance was poor but it was a huge house.
Imagine the level of disappointment. It took all of us a while to gulp that in. but having a great company made us feel better. We started joking about the expectation-reality factor and laughed hard. Sooner I realized that disappointment of the stay was overtaken by the loud laughs and jokes in the weighing scale. We decided upon sightseeing to get the feel and vibe of the city.
We were residing near the famous botanical garden so we walked off to see the place. Presenting the second turn off of this trip THE CROWD. I cannot even begin to explain how overcrowded it was that day. We reached late, the gates of the botanical garden were closed and the crowd outside was head to head crowd.
We realized this much later the reason for over crowd was because one it was a long weekend, two it was just after Eid and three the small city. We didn’t have a great experience with the food either. The food was pathetic, I really don’t know if I should blame the restaurant or the crowd.
The third, the final, the most tiring turn off of this trip THE TERRIFIC TRAFFIC. Ooty is such a small city and the roads were designed according to the population there. Now when the crowd is numerous visualize the traffic. It was bumper to bumper and slow moving traffic. We were stuck in the same place for hours. We could literally see the traffic from the top of the hillside to all the way down since most of the roads in Ooty are spiral. The traffic seemed endless. It took one hour to cover a 15 min drive. As we were exiting the city in every tourist spot there was a huge queue of vehicles.
We were really hoping to have a great stay at least at our second destination because we have had enough of it and we did have a great time at the destination 2 Alhamdulillah!
This trip is one of the most memorable trips for me not because of the turn offs but because of the company. If we hadn’t had a great company throughout, we would definitely have had a nightmare at the end of this trip. Even with all the turn offs we did enjoy and always looked for the positive sides of this trip.
It’s always important to be with likeminded people. The positive vibes are the most essentials in life and to be around with people with positive minds and vibes is a blessing in itself. When someone felt low there was another cheering up and that’s how we sailed through this trip.
The main motive for me to write about this trip is
We can’t really access/control on what/how the trip is going to be, but the fact how you are going to accept the reality is LIFE.
Accepting reality with a positive mind is wise and a great insight into life.
Choose to be happy over anything else.
That’s it for now guys.
Until we meet again,
Stick around.
Loooooooooooooooong time so see huh?
I don’t earn from my blogs yet but the fact that I wasn’t regular and consistent putting content here, kind of ached my heart. Social media is a great influencer. It can give you motivation to touch sky or demotivate enough to lose hope. It is your call how you want to take it.
I was following a lot of bloggers then, who had their own website where they would write something. So when I first decided to write blogs I did open my new page on WordPress and changed my personal Instagram account to a public profile. With a lot of researches online and without any human help! And thus joined the tribe. I remember I had almost 300 followers then and when I changed my profile to a public account my followers list increased to 450. So basically I started with 450 followers. And I actually thought I don’t have to do much and waited for a 1000 followers. It took me a year to complete 2000 followers, like how silly was I!😜
There is engagement, there are numerous giveaway to increase followers, there is profile visits, there are insights, there are campaigns, collaborations and Instagram suggests the best time to post, best day to post and what not! Not to forget INSTAGRAM ALGORITHIM. I never knew about this, I thought a blogger has to write blogs, post few pictures, post stories and done! I don’t have words to explain there is so much more to it.
What I really enjoyed about Instagram then is about the collaboration that I did with few brands and felt really good that the brands trusts my work. And who doesn’t love hampers and gifts right? A did get a slight work pressure from the brands even before the deadlines. And later on whenever there were collaboration I was so worried that I started focusing and stressing more whether I will be able to satisfy the brand with my work. I did quite well with all of the collaboration, Alhamdulillah.
Another major important thing about my instagram life is about my constant supporter and a critic that I always look up to, my better half. The first glimpse of my post that goes up in the grid, every blog that I publish, the collaboration posts and stories are closely approved by him. He is the invisible person for all my social affairs. Alhamdulillah!