I am penning my blog after almost 6 months. I am not sure why I stopped but the vacation made me think about reviving it again. I like blogging; it is therapeutic for me and I liken it to Pensieve, as described in Harry Potter. I love going back and reading and reflecting on it.
This June, we decided to go on a family holiday. Most of my holidays are planned months before, and this one was no different. I planned and booked in September the year before. My main motivation was that I wanted to create some fun memories with my son who is almost on the brink of adulthood. It was also the yearly visit to see my family in India.
This was the first time we were visiting India in summer, so I was excited and a little bit sceptical at the same time. Excited for the summer things that are typical to India and if you haven’t lived in India, you would not be able to understand. Sceptical coz the summer heat is unbearable and my son who has never been exposed to that weather might not be able to cope.
Our trip started in Tokyo, Japan. We had all been sick the previous week with a really bad strain of flu. So by the time we landed in Tokyo and reached our hotel, we were knackered. The hotel rooms in Japan are not the most spacious but we had 3 good beds and that helped get good night sleep.
The next day was to visit Disneyland and we were super excited. We did reach slightly later than we had planned but all that disappointment dissipated when we reached there. It is such a magical place. The Japanese are passionate about Disneyland and it was heartening to see people dressed as their favourite characters. We had planned the lands and our favourite rides and for the next two days, and we did just that! The Disney app is amazing and we enjoyed all the lands, the rides and the shows. The Disney parade, both during the day and night was the highlight for me. It was busy and milling with people even though we had planned in the lean season.
yeh third day we visited Disney Sea. It is the only one of its kind and built facing the sea with a lot of lands and rides based on the best marinas around the world. I enjoyed it but it was not as big as I had imagined. There were some parts that I really liked but some other parts were meh. Definitely worth one visit but we covered most of it in half a day and returned back to our hotel to prepare for the next leg of our journey.
During our stay in Japan, another highlight for us was the food. The fresh food options there are amazing and you don’t have to go to a restaurant to get that. There are fresh food options in the convenience stores dotted across the city – seven-11, Lawson and family mart all sell salads, sandwiches, fresh bentos etc. We loved the restaurants but also enjoyed the food from the marts. We ate a lot at Disneyland too but most of it was burgers and ice creams, though the novelty was that it was shaped in Disney characters.
Our next leg was travelling to the home country. I was travelling in peak summer after 20 summers and it was Yash’s first experience of Indian summer. Landing in India is always exciting. Since I moved to Australia, every time I land there, I see the changes with both love and objectivity. I love the fact that the Delhi airport is now the site where it can somewhat tackle the travellers that transit every day. The immigration system and the people at the desk are sharper and better. They treat you like customers and are helpful. There are so many apps, it truly is digital India. But it is still chaotic, traffic is a nightmare in spite of wide roads. A little rain or office traffic can cause jams for hours and the unpredictability heightens my anxiety.
But it is where my family is and all that dissipates when I see them. They were fun filled few days. My parents, my sister, my brother, my brother in law, my niece and us were under one roof after a very long time. So it was laughter galore, reminiscing about old days, teasing the teens and creating memories over food, conversations and masti. It was super hot, so we stayed at home the entire time and it truly was the soul food I needed.
I also ate a lot of summer foods typical to India and only available for these few months. I loved eating Falsa, kakdi, jamun and other summer delicacies after almost 20 years. It was like I was reliving my childhood.
After spending ten blissful days with my family, it was time for the second leg of our trip. We went back to Japan to visit Universal Studios in Osaka. We landed in Tokyo where rain was lashing heavily but we managed to reach the station and catch the Shinkansen to Osaka. Japanese are known for their sense of order and punctuality but safety is above that. So our Shinkansen was delayed by an hour to ensure passenger safety.
We reached our hotel in the evening, navigating the various trains in Osaka, so were very happy to see that we had been upgraded to a bigger and better room and the hotel itself was next door to Universal studios. The next two days were looking promising.
We loved the Hogwarts Castle and Nintendo World at universal. But the rest of the place was just not for us as it is grilled towards thrills and rides and neither attract us. But we created memories with characters, had fun at some of the other worlds like Despicable Me, watched shows and ate amazing food.
And just like that the holiday came to an end and it was time to come back home. But we felt good having created so many memories together with each other and our family and friends. I am already looking fwd to our next one in December.
Here’s a snapshot of our time on the holiday.