This post has been wording itself in my mind over the last 5 days, so here I am, penning it down.
For the last 3 years, our Christmas and New Year's has been an amazing celebration. Starting with Dec 21 and ending on Jan 5, we're celebrating all the time. It's such a wonderful time. Jan 21 is Amit and my official wedding anniversary, the date we were legally married. We usually have our private celebration on this date. Jan 5 is our Vedic marriage date, and this is the date our parents, relatives and friends consider us officially married. It's our public wedding anniversary.
Amit and I completed 10 years of marriage this year. It has been an amazing journey together. We had planned our India trip meticulously this time around. I think we met a lot of our goals :-) We managed a 3-4 week whirlwind world tour spanning 5 cities in 3 countries: Bombay (India), Pune (India), Siem Reap (Cambodia), Chester (UK) and London (UK). I got a week of "me time" with my parents and enjoyed shopping without any responsibilities of husband and son. Amit and I got away for 4 days to visit the temples in Cambodia. All 3 of us enjoyed a week of bliss with my brother and his sweet wife in the UK.
Lots of things went well.
The flight timings worked out really good. I left mid-Saturday from here, and that gave us a good Friday evening to relax and unwind, and a Saturday morning to pack the bags. Amit and Rian left on the next Sunday morning, so Amit had a whole Saturday to pack the bags with Rian. Rian missed having people to play with as the better half was busy packing, but in the end it worked out well, Rian helped Daddy pack bags :-) Amit and I flew to Cambodia on a red-eye flight, after putting Rian to bed, and we were back on a really late night flight so when Rian woke up after 4 days, we were there with him. Our flight to London landed at 8am after a late night departure from Bombay so at least Rian slept well on the flight and we too managed 4-5hrs although in cramped seats. Good thing is we were fresh to go through all the motions of moving 6 big bags and 3 small ones, plus kiddo, through airport checkout.
Jetlag? What's that :-) We were in perpetual jetlag mode, after Amit and Rian landed in India. The stay in India for them was a mere 11 days for Rian, and 7 days for Amit (4 days in Cambodia). Their flight landed after midnight and it was 4am when we all went to bed. But everyone woke up at 8am and went to my cousin's wedding. We literally reacted as if there was no jetlag. Rian refused to sleep in the afternoons, so he was definitely a little crankier towards evenings, but he would doze off by 7pm and wake up 5-6am the next day. So pretty much he was all set. It was like the "zhatka" jetlag that we all have as adults -- we just look outside and behave that way!! Only caveat was we were super hungry in the mornings and had paltry dinners for 3-4 days while our tummys took time to adjust.
Virtually sickness free! Yup, all 3 of us did not get sick on this trip to India, Cambodia and UK. Ya there was that little sore throat for me and a bit of upset stomach for a day, but asides from that, touch wood, Rian was all well and so was Amit.
We met family! We are fortunate that our folks come and spend the summers with Rian. The kiddo enjoys grandparents' company a LOT. It makes huge leaps and changes in his growth. Aatya also comes and spends time with him, 4 times in 2012 alone :-) Rian is lucky he's close to her too. We had missed out on spending quality bonding 1-on-1 time with Mama and Mami, and this trip fixed that. We spent a week of fundoo time with both of these lovely people in the UK. We also met Shweta and Prashant in London. We met almost all of my side relatives at my cousin's wedding, and met my grandma. We made a special one day trip to Pune to meet Amit's grandpa and Amit's relatives. That made things complete.
10 years to us. Yup, unbelievable as it sounds to me, it was our 10th wedding anniversary. We had a wonderful relaxing and active trip to Cambodia. We relaxed a bit on the first day and explored the local food and markets. On the second day we explored temples all day long, ending with sunset over Angkor Wat. On the third day we did the main temples in Siem Reap, starting with sunrise at Angkor Wat, and we had a guide with us. On the fourth day, we went to floating village and flooded forest Kompong Phluk on the lake Tonle Sap there, and we flew out in the evening. It was a perfectly timed trip, and the hotel ugpraded us to their Apsara suite, so we had a wonderful stay. Food was very yummy and cheap in Cambodia (I'm thinking in $ here). We had fresh nariyal pani every single day.
No mosquitoes. We're always bitten, and Rian gets big boils from mosquitoes every time. This time around the mosquitoes seemed to be dwindling and good measures were employed to keep the houses mosquito free. For Cambodia, we were both on anti-malarial medications.
Some things sucked big time.
Lost luggage. Cathay Pacific lost one bag from US to Bombay for Amit. Luckily for us, that was our UK bag, so we didn't need any of that stuff right away in Bombay. It was delivered at our door step, thanks to Amit's efforts.
Beware of customs officials at Sahar. This one really pissed me off. They wanted Rs.23,000 from me for carrying MY OWN camera lens, iPad, and some of my jewelry (which I got to repair in India). Most ridiculous experience of my life in my own country, that too at one of the top international airports. Sure I understand, lots of people skip duty and bring in lots of things into the country. But hey, dare you touch me when I'm not crossing any lines!
Luggage situation. Yes this is always an issue when we go to India. The better half complains and complains and we fight every time we pack. But we enjoy the rewards as well. We took a decision to store our bags at UK airport which cost us a lot more money, but we saved some headaches, specially tube being unreliable on weekends. But we also learnt about contract cabs that should be called for more luggage - something to remember for next time ;-) Now we're enjoying the chakalis, shankar palis and candy at home.
Some jewels to remember.
Rian's non-stop badbad
How excited he was in airplanes, and how well he behaved in general
Mera sangeet, sabka meet - now we're listening to it every morning and evening
Push present revamped - yup I got it exchanged in India for a new one!
Lots of shopping done for me - 3 sarees, 3 dresses, 3 jeans, some western wear for me
Some shopping for Amit and Rian too - something unique that we do not get here in the US
Bonding with mama mami
Overall we all had a wonderful, although a bit exhausting trip. Now we're fully recharged and refreshed for the year. Happy New Year everyone...
For the last 3 years, our Christmas and New Year's has been an amazing celebration. Starting with Dec 21 and ending on Jan 5, we're celebrating all the time. It's such a wonderful time. Jan 21 is Amit and my official wedding anniversary, the date we were legally married. We usually have our private celebration on this date. Jan 5 is our Vedic marriage date, and this is the date our parents, relatives and friends consider us officially married. It's our public wedding anniversary.
Amit and I completed 10 years of marriage this year. It has been an amazing journey together. We had planned our India trip meticulously this time around. I think we met a lot of our goals :-) We managed a 3-4 week whirlwind world tour spanning 5 cities in 3 countries: Bombay (India), Pune (India), Siem Reap (Cambodia), Chester (UK) and London (UK). I got a week of "me time" with my parents and enjoyed shopping without any responsibilities of husband and son. Amit and I got away for 4 days to visit the temples in Cambodia. All 3 of us enjoyed a week of bliss with my brother and his sweet wife in the UK.
Lots of things went well.
The flight timings worked out really good. I left mid-Saturday from here, and that gave us a good Friday evening to relax and unwind, and a Saturday morning to pack the bags. Amit and Rian left on the next Sunday morning, so Amit had a whole Saturday to pack the bags with Rian. Rian missed having people to play with as the better half was busy packing, but in the end it worked out well, Rian helped Daddy pack bags :-) Amit and I flew to Cambodia on a red-eye flight, after putting Rian to bed, and we were back on a really late night flight so when Rian woke up after 4 days, we were there with him. Our flight to London landed at 8am after a late night departure from Bombay so at least Rian slept well on the flight and we too managed 4-5hrs although in cramped seats. Good thing is we were fresh to go through all the motions of moving 6 big bags and 3 small ones, plus kiddo, through airport checkout.
Jetlag? What's that :-) We were in perpetual jetlag mode, after Amit and Rian landed in India. The stay in India for them was a mere 11 days for Rian, and 7 days for Amit (4 days in Cambodia). Their flight landed after midnight and it was 4am when we all went to bed. But everyone woke up at 8am and went to my cousin's wedding. We literally reacted as if there was no jetlag. Rian refused to sleep in the afternoons, so he was definitely a little crankier towards evenings, but he would doze off by 7pm and wake up 5-6am the next day. So pretty much he was all set. It was like the "zhatka" jetlag that we all have as adults -- we just look outside and behave that way!! Only caveat was we were super hungry in the mornings and had paltry dinners for 3-4 days while our tummys took time to adjust.
Virtually sickness free! Yup, all 3 of us did not get sick on this trip to India, Cambodia and UK. Ya there was that little sore throat for me and a bit of upset stomach for a day, but asides from that, touch wood, Rian was all well and so was Amit.
We met family! We are fortunate that our folks come and spend the summers with Rian. The kiddo enjoys grandparents' company a LOT. It makes huge leaps and changes in his growth. Aatya also comes and spends time with him, 4 times in 2012 alone :-) Rian is lucky he's close to her too. We had missed out on spending quality bonding 1-on-1 time with Mama and Mami, and this trip fixed that. We spent a week of fundoo time with both of these lovely people in the UK. We also met Shweta and Prashant in London. We met almost all of my side relatives at my cousin's wedding, and met my grandma. We made a special one day trip to Pune to meet Amit's grandpa and Amit's relatives. That made things complete.
10 years to us. Yup, unbelievable as it sounds to me, it was our 10th wedding anniversary. We had a wonderful relaxing and active trip to Cambodia. We relaxed a bit on the first day and explored the local food and markets. On the second day we explored temples all day long, ending with sunset over Angkor Wat. On the third day we did the main temples in Siem Reap, starting with sunrise at Angkor Wat, and we had a guide with us. On the fourth day, we went to floating village and flooded forest Kompong Phluk on the lake Tonle Sap there, and we flew out in the evening. It was a perfectly timed trip, and the hotel ugpraded us to their Apsara suite, so we had a wonderful stay. Food was very yummy and cheap in Cambodia (I'm thinking in $ here). We had fresh nariyal pani every single day.
No mosquitoes. We're always bitten, and Rian gets big boils from mosquitoes every time. This time around the mosquitoes seemed to be dwindling and good measures were employed to keep the houses mosquito free. For Cambodia, we were both on anti-malarial medications.
Some things sucked big time.
Lost luggage. Cathay Pacific lost one bag from US to Bombay for Amit. Luckily for us, that was our UK bag, so we didn't need any of that stuff right away in Bombay. It was delivered at our door step, thanks to Amit's efforts.
Beware of customs officials at Sahar. This one really pissed me off. They wanted Rs.23,000 from me for carrying MY OWN camera lens, iPad, and some of my jewelry (which I got to repair in India). Most ridiculous experience of my life in my own country, that too at one of the top international airports. Sure I understand, lots of people skip duty and bring in lots of things into the country. But hey, dare you touch me when I'm not crossing any lines!
Luggage situation. Yes this is always an issue when we go to India. The better half complains and complains and we fight every time we pack. But we enjoy the rewards as well. We took a decision to store our bags at UK airport which cost us a lot more money, but we saved some headaches, specially tube being unreliable on weekends. But we also learnt about contract cabs that should be called for more luggage - something to remember for next time ;-) Now we're enjoying the chakalis, shankar palis and candy at home.
Some jewels to remember.
Rian's non-stop badbad
How excited he was in airplanes, and how well he behaved in general
Mera sangeet, sabka meet - now we're listening to it every morning and evening
Push present revamped - yup I got it exchanged in India for a new one!
Lots of shopping done for me - 3 sarees, 3 dresses, 3 jeans, some western wear for me
Some shopping for Amit and Rian too - something unique that we do not get here in the US
Bonding with mama mami
Overall we all had a wonderful, although a bit exhausting trip. Now we're fully recharged and refreshed for the year. Happy New Year everyone...
What a lovely update Mamata, good to hear from you after such a long time..
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