travel

Spring Break 2024

~ sariach ~ Leave a comment

Had planned a road trip months ago to visit 3 national parks for the kiddos spring break in April – Joshua Tree, Zion & Grand Canyon. It would drive over 4 states – Cali, Arizona, Nevada and Utah. Also, since we have a 4th grader we get to have 10 free passes to any national park. We had Rithvi do an online activity and printed out our free passes 🥳 a new thing for our family was to do this road trip with our electric car!

Day 1 – headed out as planned at 6:30 am and charged the car to 80%. Kiddos were pretty much in PJs and we hit the road. Our first stop was Bravos Farms in Kettleman City, CA, to get breakfast & charge the car. Uneventful drive and got there by ~10:00 am. Bravo Farms didn’t really have a breakfast place, got some coffee and a breakfast burrito. Was ok. Had fully charged the car and continued driving. Next stop for lunch was in Mohave, CA. Not much here either, other than supercharge the car and got some fast food type lunch. It was ok, burgers for kiddos & me. Sanjeev’s chicken turned out to be bad. From there it was another ~ 2.5 hr drive to Twentynine palms, CA, our stay for the next 2 days. Reached ~ 4:30 pm. Kiddos watched “avatar 2” over the drive, lol, that is a longgggg movie! Checked in, was a tiring drive. Sanjeev stepped out to super charge the car again, kiddos and me freshened up. Thought we will try to catch the sunset at some recommended spots. Didn’t quite pan out. By the time we drove to Indian cove, the sun had already set. The colors were quite beautiful though – orange purple sky! We then drove to a place for dinner and were surprised to hear it had a 1 hr wait. So we picked another Mexican place, decent food and family friendly place – enchados. We then tried to pick a spot for star gazing, didn’t quite pan out either, lot of light pollution in many places. Tanush rightly pointed out that we had better spots close to our house 😄. Finally hit the bed and had a good nights rest!

Day 2 – got up & ready by ~ 9:00 am. Based on our research, once we entered Joshua tree park, there was not going to be any place to get lunch in the park. So we decided to first get breakfast at Jelly’s donut. I highly recommend this place, super delicious cream filled donuts and decent coffee (New Orleans Cafe Du Monde!). To our surprise, this also had Vietnamese food for lunch, perfect, packed some dumplings, chicken & rice to take into the park. Went into the visitor center, where the front desk let us know that it would be crowded today and to park where available and look around the spot there, they really couldn’t make recommendations. That was a good heads up. As soon as we entered, we got lucky and found the parking spot at the first place we wanted to go i.e. split rock. we did a pretty decent hike at this spot, a couple hours. I lost Tanush for a bit 😅 classic “I didn’t see mommy so I went to find daddy”. Kids were getting cranky toward the end of it aka constant “I think we are lost!” 🙄 finally completed the loop, got a nice spot for a picnic lunch! It was perfect. During this trip, Rithvi kept making us giggle with her peppa pig – Dr. hamster accent, specifically the line “you have a very healthy fish, she’s lovely”. She does it really well 🤣 so we tripped up even more when a Brit family arrived at the spot looking amazed and R says “I can’t wait to hear them say it’s lovely” 😂 these family trips really help you catch up to how your kids are growing up! After lunch we didn’t find parking at the next couple points we wanted to, but that was ok. The hike had really helped. We did stop and take a few pics at skull rock, it was pretty cool. We did the all wheel drive self guided tour on the dirt road talking about the landscape. That was cool. Then we drove to “keys view”. Such microclimates, this point was completely covered in fog! We then decided to drive back & go south to “cholla cactus garden”. It was around 4/5 pm. It was beautiful, figured we’d stay here to watch sunset, even though it was a bit cloudy. Of course, R had to use the restroom which was a good 20 min drive away. Anyway, we had plenty of time for sunset. Sunset was ok, got to see the colors diffused behind the clouds. Started to head back and exit the park. This time we had a reservation the dinner place we couldn’t go to the previous day. I highly recommend this place “kitchen in the desert”, really nice food & music. We had a short wait, we were seated inside near the bar. They were definitely popular & packed! Food took a little long to come, but was yum! Can’t remember what I got, just that drinks and food were both good! Didn’t plan on any star gazing and hit the bed relatively early.

Day 3 – this was our drive to Zion national park, ~ 6.5 hrs drive. We loved jelly’s donut, so decided to pack donuts and coffee and hit the road. Drive was nice. What surprised was the dense patches of Joshua trees outside the park 😄 why do they have a park when there’s Joshua trees all over the place! 🤷‍♀️ pushed on the remaining charge and got to Las Vegas for lunch! It was a mall and we got lunch at a food court. Pretty decent Malaysian and Mexican food. Charged the car and then drove to Zion. Kiddos watched “damsel” on the way. It was interesting that (spoiler ahead) before the prince throws the damsel down the cave, Rithvi commented exactly that i.e. “I think he’s going to throw her down”. So when it happened Tanush was shocked and remarked “how did you know?!” 😂 I thought “I think my daughter is going to be ok” 😂

One thing we missed is that there were no superchargers in Springdale, UT, our stay for the next 2 days. So when we got there, we were low on charge and no superchargers nearby. We would have to drive back 30 mins to supercharge and we didn’t have enough charge to do that either 😥 we checked in at to our hotel, and Sanjeev drove around looking for regular EV charger, which was turning out to be harder than we thought. Kiddos & I rested &freshened up for dinner. We went to Cafe Meme’s, I highly recommend this place too. Regular American food but yummy! We luckily got a table quickly, and were figuring out our car charging strategy 😄. Couldn’t come up with anything ingenious and Sanjeev found a spot attached to a hotel and was sleeping in the car until 1:00 am. 🤦🏾‍♀️ lesson learned – don’t assume super chargers are ubiquitous and plan ahead! Needless to say neither Sanjeev or I slept very well, kiddos did fine.

Day 4 – lot of lessons learned on this day 😄 was good and not so good day! Kicked off the day with complimentary breakfast from our inn, nice place – attached to bumbleberry inn. Had a decent breakfast. We were informed that you can’t really drive your car inside, it will be with a shuttle bus. It was also one of the most crowded days. We took a short bus ride, 5 mins from our inn to visitor center. From there it took 2 hours to board the shuttle bus for the scenic drive!! Insane. This is probably where I must have picked up a bug, got a cold/cough and head ache that I managed for the rest of the trip 🤦🏾‍♀️ we entered the park ~ 12:30 pm 😢 it was standing room only on the shuttle bus, so not like we could enjoy the scenery on the bus drive. Took the bus to the last stop in the park. Did a short hike along the river. Zion is majestic! Massive mountains with a beautiful river flowing. Didn’t do “the narrows” where you can walk through the river. Sanjeev & Tanush want to come back for that! We then took the shuttle back to the only place that has lunch inside the park. Food was nothing remarkable, was quick enough and not too painful of a line. The eating spot had a large meadow with a view of the mountains, def a nice spot to enjoy lunch. We then did a relatively easy hike to another point. Unfortunately there were a few closures so we had to do a moderate level hike, that I usually avoid. This turned out pretty strenuous for me. Stunning views though! Lesson learned – pace yourself and skip if you can’t. The tiredness I got after this didn’t fully go away for the remainder of the trip. Another lesson learned – your kids have way more energy than you! 😅 I was still in the “surely R can’t do this!”;when she remarked “this is so easy, why are you so slow mommy!” After this hike, rested for a bit and took the shuttle to exit the park. I pretty much had a limp by this point. Sanjeev and the kiddos decided to walk back to the inn and I took the shuttle to nearest stop for our inn. Helped to rest for a bit. Kiddos discovered “sock fight” and entertained themselves. We then planned to charge our car at the park and do an easy hike to watch the sunset. This was nice, paved and easy hike. Lovely view of the sunset. After this, not a good decision – I said we walk to dinner place aka “spotted dog”. Further strain on my leg with that walk, wish i had picked something closer. Food and drinks were so-so at this place. Rithvi claims that family next to our table was Olivia Rodrigo and her family 🤦🏾‍♀️😂 . Thankfully Sanjeev offered to walk back and pick up the car and we drove back to the inn. We were all super tired and got good sleep.

Day 5 – by this day, I had body ache, cold, sore throat and headache. Everyone else was still ok. It was our drive to Grand Canyon. got a good complimentary breakfast again at our Inn and headed out. It was going to be 5.5 hrs drive. I didn’t drive, put a blanket and slept through the drive. We stopped at Page, AZ to pick up lunch – fried chicken. Nobody was hungry other than me. Kiddos ate a little over the drive. Reached Grand Canyon ~ 4 pm. Got to see a nice view, stood in line to get a tower view but abandoned it when the wait increased. Drove over to our lodge in the park. There was no supercharger here, but Tesla designated chargers near our room. So that was good and got the spot easily throughout our trip. 😅 checked in and rested. Drove over to Mather point for sunset view. Was beautiful. Easy parking and walk. Sanjeev and kiddos had the fried chicken I had packed for lunch for dinner instead. Portion sizes are so huge that they are usually good for 2 meals. We went to the tavern close to the lodge and I got an elk chili. Was ok, a bit sweetish. Rested for the night, no car charge anxiety this time.

Day 6 – Sanjeev and Tanush enthusiastically got up before sunrise to catch it at Mather point. I enjoyed looking at the pic later 😂 Tanush got back and slept for a couple more hours, Sanjeev did his morning run. We got a meh breakfast at the cafe nearby. Got parking easily at the visitor center. Did a flat paved 2 mile hike from Mather point along the west rim to el Tovar hotel. Was long & tiring for me, walked slowly. I enjoyed the self guided tour and the yavapai geology museum! The tour has been done very well and the info points with geological timeline is done really well. Develop a deep appreciation for our planet! We got lucky for lunch and got a table at El Tovar hotel. 5 mins later folks were getting turned away. Food was pretty good here! I had a Navajo taco, basically the base is fry bread! Yum 😅 after lunch we walked around Hopi House, reminds you of the houses in rural India ❤️ took the shuttle back to our car. Since the lodge stop was earlier, me and the kiddos got off earlier and Sanjeev continued to the visitor center to pick up the car. I walked to the grocery nearby to pick up some items while kiddos continued to our room. I was happy to find Vicks! After Sanjeev got back we decided to drive to few more scenic points. I was not happy when I learned we have to park our car and take a shuttle. Oh well! Tanush complained of headache & queasiness around this time but we continued. He unfortunately fell very sick at the first scenic point and pretty much had a really rough time for the remainder of that evening. We took the shuttle back, he got to have a good 2 hr sleep. Unfortunately we had pizza for dinner, that made his stomach worse and he threw up multiple times that night. It was horrible. Sanjeev headed out at 11 pm to find medicine but everything was closed around us. The front desk was helpful and gave us some medicines and the vending machines also had Gatorade. We got lucky. Multiple lessons learned – careful what you eat, especially when sick and check with your hotel first. The three of us barely slept that night, R thankfully slept through most of it. Needless to say we were pretty nervous about our drive the next day.

Day 7 – Tanush woke up pretty tired and not himself. It was checkout day and our drive to Las Vegas. We had bagels and cream cheese that i had picked from the grocery. Headed out ~ 9:30 am. Tanush skipped eating anything heavy for the majority of the day. He sat in the front seat of the car and managed his nausea with rolling the windows down. Poor kiddo. Have no idea what caused his stomach bug. Thankfully he didn’t have any more throw up episodes on our drive. Stopped for lunch at a super charger and had subway sandwiches. Tanush stuck to 1 banana. Around ~ 3 pm we were close to Hoover dam. Made an impromptu stop here. Walked the bridge and I was surprised Tanush agreed to do the tour. Rithvi was having none of it, so I (gladly) sat back in the car with her. Looks like the tiredness caught up with her too. Sanjeev and Tanush did the tour where they get to see the internals and they got coffee on the way back. It was ok. Reached Las Vegas ~5:30 pm and kiddos were happy to just chill with Netflix 😄 we had 8:15 dinner reservations at Chica in Venetian. we headed out of the hotel ~7:15 with Uber and got dropped at Bellagio. R was a bit cranky and was not sure why we didn’t get dropped at our dinner place. She wasn’t impressed with any of the lights and also remarked that she wasn’t happy when some random lady put her hand on daddy’s shoulder and asked if he wanted a pic with her 😂😂😂 Tanush was feeling a lot better by now and he too was meh with all the lights and glitz. He remarked “it’s all very bright”. R perked up a bit once we were inside the Venetian. She loved a bath by place that had them in the shape of ice creams and donuts 😂 we got to our dinner place just in time. I absolutely loved the food here! Soooo good! There was also a dance around the dining area where the dancers interact with the guests. One of the dancers asked if R would like to join but she declined 😝 Tanush did pretty ok, he was careful about his portions but tried a few safe items like hummus and guacamole. Took another Uber back to our hotel, so glad we took Uber. It is so confusing driving around the strip. Got a good night rest, no incidents this time! 😅

Day 8 – we had a complimentary breakfast but hardly an appetite for it. That said, we had a hearty breakfast, R did pretty good. Tanush was still cautious and staying on the low portion size and had a toast. It was drive back home day!! Largely uneventful. Stopped at the super charger place that had a grocery store. Picked up chicken wings and concha’s for lunch. Ate during the drive. Thankfully I was feeling a little better to help with the driving and did one leg of it. Stopped once more for charging at the Tesla Lounge in kettleman city. Finished our drive with picking up South Indian food – idlis and dosas for dinner close to home!! Reached home sweet home at 9 pm! Phew! We made it.

So many lessons learned but such a precious family time. Grateful for what we have! Kudos to both the kiddos, they were troopers and of course hubby for doing the bulk of the driving 😅

Peace, love and liberation for all. Palestine and Sudan were not far from my mind 💔 and a reminder of how fleeting everything can be 💔😢 I try to be mindful of my privilege when there are live stream genocides happening and little children being starved.

Jamaica 🇯🇲 Trip – 15th Wedding Anniversary

~ sariach ~ 1 Comment

Day 1 – flight at 10:20 pm, left ~7pm, took BART, at checkin realized we are the only bright sparks to think we could show our home test result as proof of being Covid negative. Sanjeev thankfully suggested letting us fly until Florida and we could get get tested there. Everything worked out thankfully and we landed in Jamaica per the itinerary!!

At Jamaica Airport

Customs was smooth and we met our amazing travel coach and driver Shakeera at the airport. She would drive us around for the next couple days helping us with planning on what to do. We were so lucky to run into her and have her drop us to the hotel on day 1.

Checked in to our hotel, The Spanish Court Hotel. Rested for a bit and got a late lunch (4 pm 😜) at the restaurant in the hotel. yummy cocktails and a Jamaican platter.

Jamaican platter – with Bammy (made from Casava)

Tummies stuffed, walked to Emancipation Park from the hotel. Very nice park, lots of folks going for a jog, run, walk, playing TT. Took a walk around, sat and people watched for a bit.

Emancipation Park

Then took a cab to the well known “Devon’s I scream”. Cab driver who took us there must have thought he was James Bond or something. Anyway, we reached. Same vibe like the park and it was Friday evening. Lots of families out enjoying ice cream in the pleasant weather – warm and breezy. Ice cream was US style sizes, I.e. too much. Got a scoop of rum & raisins with pistachio. Can’t go wrong with chocolate syrup and peanuts for toppings. Couldn’t finish it. Getting a cab here back to the hotel was tricky, thankfully got one after a bit of a walk and reached the hotel safely.

Pandemic Note – Throughout the trip everyone was good about keeping their masks on, there were billboards everywhere related to staying safe in the pandemic and every shop/store reminded you to sanitize your hands when you enter. Explains why they are doing as well as they are during the pandemic. That said, tourism has definitely been hit for the last 2 years.

Day 2 – the previous evening we had texted Shakeera some places in Ochi (as it’s referred to by locals for Ochos Rios) we were interested in and she had agreed to plan the order and drive us around. First stop was Iris Blue Hole. The drive took almost 3 hrs (should have been 1.5 hrs) – bad roads and Shakeera not too sure about the place too. The place was amazing!! Not yet too touristy, mainly locals. First was jumping off a small cliff into the water, next a small hike to secret falls and jumping off into the water there too – it was so thrilling and refreshing. Plenty vendors for ganja products around. Too bad we weren’t that adventurous 😛.

At Iris Blue Hole

Next stop was mystic mountain. I thought it was a hike but nobody knew the hike and pointed to the commercial park offering rides, ziplining etc. Sanjeev and I were famished. Took the sky tour to get to the top of the mountain and got some good lunch with a fab view. Sanjeev had jerk chicken and me whole fried fish. After lunch, tried some rock climbing lol. Then off to ziplining – super super fun. Thrilling, scary and awesome! After that it was closing time for park. Took the sky tour back to the base of the mountain.

After that we had dinner at Summerhouse, a former plantation home turned restaurant. Good food (lamb kofta) and cocktails and finished off with bread pudding with rum frosting.

Day 3 – Sunday was a late start, Shakeera had told us she could help after her Sunday church was done. Hung out at the hotel pool cabana. Sanjeev and I headed out on our own to “uncorked too” a restaurant recommended by front desk folks. Was nice, got some salad and salmon.

Shakeera caught up with us there and we started driving to Hollywell park (her recommendation). Super curvy roads and really appreciated how safe and comfortable she made the ride. Stopped for some coconut water on the way, very fresh and yum. At Hollywell park we did a couple hikes, beautiful beautiful foliage everywhere! Loved the hikes.

Wrapped up and then Shakeera drove us to strawberry hill, a hotel/restaurant/spa by former manager of Bob Marley. We later found out, this is THE place to go, at least by locals. Loved the place, the views!! Had a wonderful dinner and Shakeera had us back to our hotel by ~8:30 pm.

Day 4 – our last full day and Shakeera had recommended the bob marley museum. Hung out at the cabana for a bit and then headed out to the museum. Beautiful home converted to a museum, beautiful personality that Marley was. Teared up listening to his story and life message.

After the tour, it was off to Devon’s for lunch, at Reggae Mill Bar. Decent lunch but had to rush back for a scheduled spa appointment. Got a much needed full body massage! Sanjeev followed later after shopping at Devon’s for souvenirs and gifts. He got the hot stone massage. After our massages, time for covid test – moment of truth to know if we would be able to enter the US or no. Thankfully all good! Got our proof and all set!

Decided to spend the rest of the evening in the pool cabana and order dinner and cocktails while we relaxed in the water! Such bliss! Loved our evening, the cocktails and food!!

Day 5 – breakfast at the hotel on all the days was amazing, every morning there was some or the other stew that I would have with a side of fruits and coffee. Last day was no different with chicken stew! We would sit on the terrace, enjoying the weather with our coffees.

After breakfast, it was pretty much pack up, checkout, Shakeera’s driver took us over to the airport. After a brief panic on why our flight reservation wasn’t coming up, it was all good and the rest of our way back was non eventful.

I can’t quite believe we did this trip! I was so nervous about doing it given the omicron situation. I felt like we were nuts traveling not only by flight, but all the way across the country and into a foreign country!! Jamaica could not have been a better experience and so badly needed for both of us!! Talked to kids every evening (it’s the same as eastern time) and could tell they missed us. Typing this on the flight from Florida back to Cali. Can’t wait to see the kiddos in the morning and give them a tight hug! I’m sure 5 min in there will be something to yell at them about 😜

India 2017 trip

~ sariach ~ 2 Comments

Day 0-1- flight from sfo to blr, kids super excited, stayed up & played till the flight at 1am. boarded the flight & watched movies, slept ~4am pacific time. not for long. R super diligent throughout trip to do potty in the toilet (joy ;)). stayed awake for most part of the SFO to hong kong flight. Tanush watched back to back movies, repeated cars twice. rithvi watched boss baby back to back without any volume 😀 in hong kong i left my boarding pass on the plane, thinking we would board the same plane to singapore. apparently not, i had to have the boarding passes printed again. was stressed about that while kids ran around, the counter to print the boarding was not open. in retrospect nothing to be stressed about. HKG to SGP kids continued in same high mode. didn't eat a whole lot. service and food was great! Had an 8 hr layover in SGP. visited butterfly park which the kids loved! i loved the tropical type climate. kids spent a decent time at play structure, R threw a tantrum bcoz she didn't want to go down the giant slide and didn't know how to get down. ate at the food court, super expensive and not great. lost R's baby giraffe at the airport. R asked if it would be sad 😦 kids watched the fishes in the koi pond, did a decent amount of block coloring at the art station. did another trip to butterfly park. i was exhausted & i could tell kids were too but they didn't want to miss anything. SGP to Chennai flight R crashed, followed by T soon after. sent their food back. finally landed!! R refused to walk & had to be carried through customs & baggage claim. She got a healthy dose from me while she was cranky. To add more fun, i had a hand written indian passport & was informed that these r not supported anymore. so longer wait, consulting, walking to office etc with cranky R on my hip. finally finally i was out of the airport! saw pappa 1st, R started getting in to form. T was excited. saw mom & so relieved the flight was done! drove to woodlands hotel to settle in. by the time we slept R & thatha were fast friends and they slept together in 1 room while mom, T & I shared another room

Day 2 – i had my visa finger printing appointment at 1pm. had breakfast, me trying to figure how to order a carb free protein breakfast. no such luck, ordered a sandwich with cucumbers and tomato. before the appointment i realized i don't have a printout of the appointment. thank fully Radhi & Prasad bhava had come by to visit us. They drove us to the appointment and prasad bhava got us the printouts. appointment was smooth other than me being mortified about having to repeat my fingerprinting multiple times because of my hand sweating. There are assistants to help you wipe your hand & get a good fingerprint (eye roll). after the appointment we had a really nice lunch next to woodlands. great ambience and food. had some yum non veg i don't remember now. went back to the room to take a short nap that turned into 3 hrs, got up at 6pm. relaxed the rest of the evening & slept. R with her thatha as usual.

day 3 – had my visa interview at 10:30am, went there with dad, appointment was smooth, was out of there by 11/11:30am. got back to the hotel and headed out with the kids to the beach. T had a good time and R chose to play in the sand. headed back to the hotel and had lunch. started driving the blr after lunch. kids slept through most of the drive. R insisted she needed a bandaid somewhere in the middle of the drive and I'd rather off load all the luggage in the back than tolaterate her crying, so that's what i did. By this time R and I had a good no. of mosquite bites and were constantly scratching ourselves. Thankfully T was ok, he was very diligent about mosquito repellent since he landed. Reached blore at ~8/8:30pm. house looked great, not v kid friendly of course hehehe.

day 4 – next day was rest day, the help we had hired for the kids was a no show. kids hung out around the apartment complex while mom passed the word around that we need help for the kids. visited Roshan, Rishma & their lil one in the evening. took an uber. baby is adorable. had dinner, amazing mangalore style fish. Rosh dropped me back home.

day 5 – visited raggiguda temple, R was excited about petting stray dogs and i had to give her strict warning to not pet them. We tried to do some shopping, but had to retreat quickly after Rithvi pointed to a dozen jewellery sets and said she wanted them 😉 in the evening took the kids to jayanagar 4th block to shop for some traditional clothes. Tanush loves these clothes and very excitedly picked what he would like. Rithvi lost enthusiasm pretty quickly and needed to be forced to try out clothes.

day 6 – started driving to mysore 1st thing in the morning. i was impressed with the freeways, very cool. stopped for breakfast at our usual spot. the kids were able to spot monkeys. continued driving and did a pit stop at Ranganthittu bird sanctuary. took the boat ride and spotted a number of crocodiles along with many birds. Really enjoyed it! Continued driving and finally checked in at sports club in Mysore. nice place, kids loved that they could see the stuffed wild animals like bear, deer, boar, tiger. the plan was to meet all the uncles & aunties in mysore. Most folks showed up and it was really nice to them. Rithvi took to Sridhara uncle and they were fast friends. by the end of lunch she said he was her favorite. after lunch we went to Nagesha uncles's house & get my aadhar card done very close to his house. that took longer than expected. after that went with kids in tow to see another cousin who had just had a baby. was nice seeing everyone and hanging out. got back to the sport club after that, crazy no. of mosquitos there!

day 7 – the next day we visited mysore zoo, took the car and was done in a hour. then we took a tonga to the mysore palace. took the guided tour at the palace, i enjoyed the tour. R got lost for a bit in there but we found her pretty quickly. her favorite uncle joined us for the zoo & palace tour. got back for lunch and rested. in the evening we drove to lalit mahal, drove around a bit and got back. had dinner and rested.

day 8 – next morning drove up chamundi beta, kids saw lots of monkeys. darshan was too crowded. started driving back to bengaluru. stopped on the way at Palahalli to meet Kanthakka aunty. Kids were fascinated by the chickens, dogs, cows nearby. rest of the drive to bengaluru was smooth, kids slept after lunch. got home in the evening, had dinner & slept

day 9 – had called all our relatives in Blore over for lunch. Was good to see everyone. Pappa had ordered biriyani which i tasted. it was very good!kids had a really good time with everyone. Tanush was fascinated by the jeep gifted to him by Mukesh uncle. R just had a good time with all the uncles. The kids who came by had a good time with play-doh. It was good to catch up. everyone left about 4pm. rest of the day was relaxing.

day 10 – still no help for the kids. 1 lady we spoke to the previous day fell ill. mom & i were super stressed about WTH is going on. however in this case the lady had genuinely fallen sick. Eventually she started coming from 2 days later. Didn't do much, was supposed to have a friend come over but he couldn't come

day 11 – caught up with Harshitha & Rakshitha at Orion Mall. food was good, pigged out on dessert, i.e. waffles 🙂 after they left, we still hung out at the mall. The kids played legos at Landmark with mom while i shopped around. got R another ghagra and some salwar suits for myself. when i wrapped up, i found a decent collection of childrens books at Landmark. headed back home and rested

day 12 – The help for kids finally started. Smitha came by with Saanu! took our help Malar with us to Vishveshariah museum. museum was good, kids ran around and tried different stuff. had lunch at the cafeteria on that floor. wanted to watch some shows there but there wasn't enough turnout so we headed out. thought we would try the Nehru planetarium but apparently auto drivers don't know how to go there and don't care to. then we took an auto to UB city mall but the guy was driving us around somewhere else so we got off at Bangalore Central. It was already evening by this time so we headed home in separate autos. was fun though!

day 13 – caught up with Pradeep, Supriya and Deepak for lunch at BBQ nation. I went without the kids while Prad got Chirag. food was amazing & the dessert! was good fun catching up with them. Prad & Supriya/Deepak hadn't seen each other in 10+ years!

day 14 – started driving to Dharwad after breakfast, kids slept during the morning. freeways were good and the drive was smooth. stopped for lunch and continued driving. kids had a good time hanging out at the aquarium in the lunch place. kids enjoyed seeing tons of windmills and enjoyed the drive. got to Dharwad by ~5pm. We needed to buy sarees for aayi & Sanjeev's aunt whom we were going to meet. It was a nightmare driving through Dharwad market place, so much traffic and we have no idea where the saree shops are. finally located it, got the sarees and headed to the hotel. Hotel was in a nice spot and rooms were decent.

day 15 – had breakfast and started driving to Kulgod. kids enjoyed the ride, they spotted a lot of goats and sheep on the roads. lost our way couple of times but made it to aayi's house. kids had a good time at the farm, petting a buffalo calf and running around a kitten. From aayi's house headed to Kaaka's house. kids loved his house, went up & down the stairs to walk on the roof several times. thankfully i didn't have to run around them as kaaka's son Mohit was there. Had lunch, hung out for a bit and then headed to our hotel in Gokak. On the way mom & dad commented that there is so much water there that we should check out Gokak falls. There indeed was! it was quite beautiful, other than the tons of people everhwere. kids enjoyed. R was fasinated with the women in burkhas and asked if she could have one. did some shopping at Gokak Mills, good quality clothes! finally checked in at our hotel, had dinner and slept

day 16 – next day we made another trip to Gokak falls to walk on the suspension bridge, R was scared & had to be carried. from Gokak falls we headed back to pick up Aayi & go to Kaaka's house. met the other 2 kids of kaaka, supreet and samarth. they were so excited to see the kids and all the kids played well. mainly hung out on the roof and had a really good time. had delicious lunch with obattu and chapati/palya. talked with kaaka for a decent amount of time to understand how things run and his challenges. it was nice to talk. ~3pm we started driving to davangere, out pitstop before reaching bengaluru. stopped on the way at a hotel that had ducks, birds and a dog. kids had a good time again and we continued driving. finally reached davangere. nice hotel but badly maintained. mom dad's room had a rat in their toilet. coudln't sleep very well that night.

day 17 – started driving to bengaluru in the morning, but 1st had the famous benne dose of davangere. it was delicious! drive was pretty smooth and we reached the last metro station nagasandra around noon. dad recommended we try the metro station and i'm glad we did. i was very impressed with it and we reached jayanagar in ~1hr. dad continued to drive and reached home almost an hour after we were home. relaxed for the rest of the day. got a pedicure, heaven!

day 18 – went shopping in 4th block to get gifts for akka & nieces. Rangoli is a nice store for traditional clothes, checked out Global Desi opposite it and really liked it. got akka a suit and myself a t-shirt. got the kids back for lunch and i headed out by myself using Uber to residency road. got myself a saree and wall hanging at Utkalika. Shopped for more kids books at Sapna book store. mom called at this time that R was throwing a tantrum and that she wanted me. i think she thought i had left to US. i had been prepping her about my departure. then i headed to koramangala and shopped some more. wrapped up & headed home.

day 19 – took the kids to nehru planetarium, T enjoyed the show. after the show we headed to hard rock cafe. great food and then headed to cubbon park. kids enjoyed the train ride, followed by a couple of rides at the park. played on some of the play structures, was a really good day. in the evening took an uber to a rooftop restaurant in koramangala to meet Arun, Naveen, Roshan and Prathima. very pleasant weather and enjoyed the place. was so good catching up with Prathima from school. i barely knew her then but knowing her know i have to say she is so cool! we've been doing fitbit challenges together & decided to catch up in bengaluru.




day 20 – started packing & weighing the suitcases, was nervous about leaving the kids behind. was done with most packing on thursday

day 21 – headed out to buy sweets and add that to the luggage. good bye to the kids was not bad, mom took them downstairs to play. hugged them and headed to the airport with uber. indian trip over! Bengaluru airport was impressive, not sure i would say the same about air india. passengers were badly behaved. food and service was ok. reached US on saturday!