Mahabaleshwar for a day

It's very difficult to keep oneself entertained and plan for interesting travel vacations when you're pregnant in India and have lack of resources or are paranoid like me. So after 5 months of being stuck in Pune and cancelling all our other travel plans for this little baby to come, my husband decided I deserved a treat and planned an overnight getaway to Mahabaleshwar. Now it's not like this would be my first visit to the place of strawberries, but this was going to be a different sort of getaway- one which just included being a sloth and one which didn't include any usual sight seeing or activities as you may call it. Hehe... This would be a first for me, you know a getaway with no agenda and no alcohol and eating healthy, but it would definitely be better than nothing at all, I thought :)

So, on 24th Dec, we had a heavy breakfast at home and then left home by 10 am for our resort. Mahabaleshwar is just 120 kms from Pune, which makes it closer to Bombay. So when we left, we thought it shouldn't take us more than 3 hours to reach, even with traffic, but little did we know. The journey onwards was just excruciating due to the traffic. There was roadwork going on along the entire route and it being a long weekend, there were almost thrice the number of vehicles on the road, just adding to the traffic and mayhem :( We had no other alternative but to brave it out and take a few rest stops along the way to refresh and stretch my limbs and go for pee breaks. So my tip number one for weekend getaways, specially if you're pregnant or traveling with kids is to have enough food and water in the car  and have planned stops for loo on the way, or avoid going out during the usual festive long weekends, just to avoid the traffic! Hehe

Finally, after 5 long hours, we reached our resort- Bella Vista hotel at mahabaleshwara - this is 5 kms from Mapro garden. And this place was just a treat to the sore eyes after all those cars and dusty roads! We were quickly taken to our room, which was non AC , but that was perfectly fine since it's quite cold during winters and you don't really need the airconditioning :) Our room was really pretty and had this view from the window, the bed was nice and the bathroom very luxurious too.

So we quickly freshened up and took a small nap to relax ourselves and then ordered in hot pakoras and tea for evening snacks! You see, the slothing had begun! Hehhe .. Once done, we stepped out to explore the resort and were pleasantly surprised. It's a small resort, but was nicely nestled between trees and shrubs and lots of colourful plants! They were so beautiful! They have a small lawn area and a sun deck near the restaurant and a Viennese style swimming pool with similar romantic settings :) we saw a lot of newly weds, pregnant couples and families with kids and concluded that this resort probably caters to this kind of crowd specifically, since they don't serve alcohol, don't use msg at all in any of their food and the entire premise was non smoking! So I was really happy :) We walked until sunset and took a lot of pictures! Hehe

We headed back into our room to relax and watch Fringe on our laptop until dinner time. We had such a lovely and quite dinner, of Chinese food since they assured us that they didn't use Msg in their food. There was a live band playing too and all that just added to the charm of the place and the night. I loved it! Post dinner, we took another quick walk to see the lights and the moon and then had an early night, so we could sleep really long and wake up on time for breakfast! Lol!

Next morning, we woke up to the sound of birds chirping outside our window and the view of a wintry misty mountain early in the morning! How I wish I could wake up to this all my mornings! Hehe But I guess that's why people have getaways , so they can appreciate the simple joys of nature more :) We quickly headed off for our buffet breakfast, which is complimentary and boy did they have a spread!! I hogged on puri, sabzi, idli, sambhar, masala omelette and coffee! Yes, you can call me a glutton but I don't really care! I was just so satisfyingly full! Hehe.. Post breakfast, we went out to the lawn to soak in some sun and walk barefoot on the grass and just sit and feel like we were meditating :) And at that moment I felt like I didn't want this sloth vacation to end just yet, but we had to head back sadly.

So we showered and checked out and stopped on the way to buy some strawberries too! The journey and road back was much better and faster and there was hardly any traffic, so we made it back within 3 hours, which was a boon again :)

So all in all, I thought a trip that feels relaxing and ends well, is a great trip :) And I'll probably recommend a two day slothing vacation Coz it's really easy to get used to doing nothing! Hehe

Travel Tips:

Stay- Bella Vista resort (great for couples, elderly people, pregnant women and people with children). A one night non AC room cost us 7k INR

Other expenses- 1500 on food, 1100 on diesel

Loo stops - Onwards to Mahabaleshwar -mc Donald's after the toll, food plaza just after the ghats, Mapro garden

Loo stops- onwards to Pune- Mapro garden, Mapro food mall just before you touch the expressway, lots many on the way too

Same state, different experience- Goa in the monsoon!

So it's monsoon in India and the best time to trek and travel around to soak in all the green. But people would not consider going to a beach destination for a weekend getaway during monsoons, I mean, what's the point of going to the beach if you can't walk on the beach to soak up the sun? But my cousins had a different idea altogether and wanted to visit Goa to celebrate the birthdays of two of my cousins, even though it was just for the weekend.

So we booked our buses and decided to stay at palolem beach- yeah during the non season time, even got a hotel booked near the sea- the beach resort, booked our buses and packed our bags and left Friday night from Pune 😊 The bus ride was quite uneventful and there were two loo stops on the way, which were dark, scary and quite dirty, but you've got to make do with whatever is available I guess 😊 we stopped at a place in the morning for coffee and loo and just the freshness and the view of green around marked the beginning of an amazing trip!

We reached Madgaon bus stand quite late, now hungry and dying for a shower and had to take the funniest Rick from there to reach our resort at palolem. However, the drive to palolem was again breathtaking and made us forget our hunger and tiredness completely! We had to pass through a small ghat and at the bottom of it there were these fluorescent step based paddy fields and the weather was cool due to the rains, oh gosh, it was just beautiful to the eyes😊 I don't have any pictures of this drive unfortunately , since the auto guy didn't want to stop on the way. So anyway, we reached the resort by 11 am, met our other cousin, freshened up and straightaway dived into breakfast and a much needed coffee for me. This resort is right on the beach so you can imagine the view we had for breakfast! It's my dream to eventually retire and settle down at a place where I can enjoy such a view for all my breakfasts 😊

Luckily for us it was nice and bright that time, so we changed and went ahead to take a dip in the water and walk the food off. I found the beach really clean and there weren't too many people either, maybe since it was off season, but whatever the reason it worked in our favour 😊 so we walked and ran and jumped in the water and took silly pictures.. It was just amazing!

We headed back when it suddenly got overcast and managed to get drenched in a sudden heavy downpour too, but even that was so much fun! We ordered some drinks while we waited for our other cousins to turn up and then went ahead and showered up. Now the funny thing was, we thought we'd have lunch at a different shack but found out that this was the only shack open in the whole of palolem beach area this time of the season! Hahah... And since all of us were feeling so lazy, we didn't want to venture out to look for another place in the city for lunch. So once our other cousins turned up, we just settled in at the same place, ordered tons of seafood and beer and other drinks ( since the alcohol in Goa is crazy cheap!!) and just alternated between eating, lounging at the beach side cafe sipping our drinks or taking a walk along the beach😊 oh it was blissful! Another thing we did was take a slow boat ride to the mangroves near the beach and even that is something that I would recommend to everyone traveling to palolem during the monsoons. It's not your typical Goa party and thrill fare, in fact quite the opposite, but it was as enjoyable as anything else. 

Finally we returned back to our resort and got down to eating, drinking and celebrating some more. What a lazy and amazing day it was!

We woke up on Sunday nice and easy, had a yummy breakfast of eggs and toast and coffee at the shack, went for one last walk on the beach and then showered and checked out around 12 pm. We hired an suv so all of us could fit in and headed out to the city side for lunch at this famous place called Mattin's corner. This restaurant turned out to be amazing! The decor inside was like a shack, not air conditioned, but still cool. There was a live saxophone music player entertaining the patrons and the walls were decorated with funny paintings by Mario Miranda! We ordered more seafood and more drinks, yes gluttony we did on this trip, which we suffered for later too.. Hehe, but it was worth it anywau😊

Post lunch, one of our cousins headed back to the station to catch his train back to Bangalore while the four of us went to Colva beach to lounge about until it was time for our buses and trains back to Pune and Mumbai. We had a final round of coffee at the cafe coffee day coffee shop by the beach and headed off to our transportations back to the reality and Monday blues that comes with going to work.. Heheh.. What a trip this was, short and sweet 😊Goa, I do love you!

Mode of transport- overnight sleeper bus from Pune 

Total expenses per person - about 3k only

Place we stayed at- palolem beach resort