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Wednesday, May 01, 2013

At the Nation's Capital

As announced on the blog a few months back, our much awaited summer vacation has come and gone.. We had a whale of a time.. divided between Delhi and the beautiful state of Uttarakhand. First some reminiscing about part I at our nation's capital..

This year, we decided it was about time we ventured to the north of our country. In previous years, we have confined holidays to the south and nearby "drivable" places as the kids were too young. But with S turning 5 in March, seemed like a good time to be a bit more adventurous. I did have a fleeting thought whether to make a long drive of it, but considering we didn't know anyone along the route that we could stay with (except Hyderabad maybe) it didn't seem like a viable option. Since adventure was the theme, I also took the plunge and booked train tickets by the Rajdhani to give the kids the experience of a long train journey that is not something we ever seem to get around to. And we were off!

The food was decent, and I also had some home made chapathis from mom to supplement it so we survived ok. Did get a bit monotonous though, I could have done with a change to the standard paranthas they gave with every meal, and the similar looking chicken curry.

Our usual place of stay is a Club Mahindra resort(have to use up those weeks!), and the later part of the trip was planned around those. But in Delhi, I went out on a limb and booked a place completely based on online reviews on tripadvisor. Point 1 in their favour was that they were amazingly responsive online too, I just had to send them messages on Facebook to clarify any doubts before making my booking. And the feeling didn't change, everything was as expected and as mentioned on the site including photos of the room. Their value triple room is a great VFM option for a family of 4, and the bunk bed is fun for the kids too! Check out the bloomrooms page on tripadvisor and their webpage here.

One of the highlights of the time spent at Delhi was the great coincidence that a good friend stayed very close to the hotel, so our families were able to spend a lot of time together. We had a lovely time catching up, and the kids hit it off as well. It's really comforting to have a home environment when you're traveling with kids, and we took full advantage :).

Hmm.. as usual this is getting longer and longer and I haven't even mentioned sightseeing ;). We didn't do too much, spent an afternoon shopping at Lajpat Nagar where I went a bit crazy. Also explored going around a bit on the Metro which is a new experience for the kids. The main bit of sightseeing we put in was at the Jama Masjid and Red Fort, along with a quick lunch at the famous Paranthewali Gali at Chandni Chowk. Some photos on my photo blog already so just repeating one of them :).

And we were ready for the next leg. To continue in Part II :)


10 comments:

  1. How did the kids do? Was it too hot for them?

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    1. Not bad at all Aparna! It was only on the Jama Masjid day that we were all a bit frazzled as we were directly under the sun for a few hours. But other days went pretty well. In fact, I am feeling hotter in Bangalore :(.

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  2. Wow! As a child , I always did long distance train trips from Delhi to Andhra.. They are my fondest memories .. its so much fun in the train esp when you have friends too..

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    1. Yes Sirisha,
      My fond memories of train travel were what made me try this out with the kids :). My dad was in the Railways, so I've probably traveled more by train than by car :P!

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  3. Trains, omg.. I dread train journeys because the kids drive us crazy jumping from berth to berth and I'm blue in the face apologising to the co-passengers. Haven't been to Delhi in a while, specially for sightseeing. Must plan a visit.

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    1. I was wondering if I'd have to spend most of the journey looking for where the kids were in the coach, but surprizingly that didn't happen. Think it was all a bit new to them, so they were reasonably contained and within sight :).

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  4. wow ... that train pic got me right away :) and u had packed parathas too.. me nd garg have been wanting to do a train journey fo so long... how did u find parathewali gali? didnt u find it a little overhyped?

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    1. Yeah the train journey was an experience :). Parenthewali gali we found quite good.. especially in comparison to the paranthas we seem to get down south ;).

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  5. Phew! finally got around to read about your trip..off to read the remaining parts..will comment in the end :-)

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  6. Anonymous11:23 PM

    My kids have travelled long distances by train too and they drive us crazy,its difficult entertaining them on the train.

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