As I was brainstorming ideas for today’s post, I realized that I’ve never formally introduced you guys to my dad. I’ve mentioned once or twice how he loves backpacking and how he is extremely adventurous when it comes to travelling. But apart from that, I’ve never really talked about him much on my blog. And what better opportunity there is than to write about a recent trip taken by just me and my dad than writing it on Father’s Day (in all fairness, I started writing it yesterday).

So my father is a former footballer and is well-known in my state. Every school, every college, every hostel and every workplace I’ve been at, people would often ask me ‘You know, there’s footballer with the same last name as yours who also belongs from your hometown, do you know him?” And I’ve always been like” yeah… He’s my dad” and I can’t lie, I used to enjoy the following conversations. Whenever I had to go to a sleepover at a friend’s place or wanted to hangout with a friend’s family I would just have to tell my dad “don’t worry my friend’s father used to be your fan and kindda knows you” and I would get the permission because he does kind of know everyone in town, and everyone in town knows him too. He is also extremely hot headed and is known for getting in fights. But he is also known for being always right, if you get beaten by him, people will automatically assume you did something really bad. So that’s my dad, and now he’s a successful businessman. His business is also related to football as he sells everything sports related. As you can already guess, I idolize him too much, but much to his dismay I am not taking over his business because even though I got the business genes from him, I’m not very interested in sports. And guess what? My dad did the same to his dad. My grandpa had two thriving bakeries, but instead of taking over an already successful business, he did what he loved. So my case is strong, my grandpa did what he loved, my dad’s doing what he loves, and so am I (and my sister).

However that didn’t stop my dad from investing when I decided to be a blogger. When he learnt that I was planning to purchase a new laptop while setting up my blog, he purchased me this laptop I’m currently typing in. When he learnt there was finally a Korean store in India, he flew me to Delhi, when I decided to quit my job to become a full-time blogger even before I started earning from my blog he took care of my bank balance.

Apart from sports and business, the other thing he loves is travelling, my whole family does. So today I’m going to talk about a recent trip that just my dad and I took. Just a month or two ago when his USG report came bad, my mom and I rushed him to Chennai and my sister came down from Bangalore. After a thorough treatment we travelled a bit more and came back exhausted. But then an uncle who lives in Mumbai and is bed-ridden wanted to see my dad. So my dad decided to visit him in July. In the meanwhile I got the invitation to Mrs. India Grand Finale  and even though I’ve been their official blogger for over a year, the formal invitation came pretty late, just 2 weeks before the big event. My husband couldn’t accompany me as we’ve just been to Mumbai and also because he’s not doing well either. So when my dad learnt that my husband is not going to Mumbai with me, he pre-poned his plan and asked me to get the tickets together.

However, a couple of days before our flight, he started having severe throat pain. He was diagnosed with salivatory stones right before his USG report came bad. So while treating his bile duct related issues we forgot about the stones and his even his doctor said that the salivatory stone issue isn’t severe. Turned out, it got severe when one of the stones got inside his throat. The day before our flight, the doctor told him that he needs a surgery. But instead of going through with the treatment he went to Mumbai knowing it was important for me, and I only realized how severe his condition was once we met at the airport.

We went to Mumbai anyway and the morning after my event we went to my aunt’s place at the outskirts. We had 4 days to kill and knowing that my cousins and nephews won’t be home except for the weekends we were brainstorming what to do on these 4 days. It wasn’t even proper Mumbai, so we couldn’t even hangout at marine drive or at the beach. There are some beaches near my aunt’s house and we had plans to visit them on weekends with my cousins and my niece and nephews.

And then my dad told me that visiting Lavasa has been on his bucket list since he learnt about the planning from the news. I have been reading some articles about online psychiatry and the importance of unwinding every once in a while and I thought what a better way to unwind than to visit the planned city of Lavasa? So we talked to my cousins and booked a 1 day trip to Lavasa.

To be honest, the road trip was extremely long. This March my husband and I went to Lonavala from Mumbai and Lavasa was twice as far. We left at 8 in the morning and after a 5 hour long journey we finally reached Lavasa. We had done our apartment booking online. Turned out, the resorts only open during the monsoon, and we visited off-season. Which was not an issue because there were hundreds of apartments lined up, waiting for guests to book them. Our apartment was pretty nice too. It had a huge bedroom with an entire wall of glass windows to look at the magnificent view. A huuuuuuge hall that also had a sofa cum bed adjacent with a nice balcony. A decent bathroom and a fully equipped kitchen. The apartment had way more furniture than we needed and all for 2400+Rs taxes. We called dibs on the hall bed, because it looked soooo alluring, to lay on the bed and look at the view outside, but then we decided to offer our driver to sleep there, which he politely refused.

Anyway, we ordered lunch and can’t say that the vegetables were very fresh. Turned out the planned city doesn’t have a fresh supply of veggies, but their meats are fresh. After showering and a quick nap, we left to explore the city. The entire city looked like nothing but a ghost down. Hundreds and thousands of identical apartments lined one after another but only a few had lights on. For every accommodation for 100 visitors, there were about 10 visitors. Our driver as well as the security guard said that monsoon season sees a hike in the number of visitors.

For a lover of all things creepy, it didn’t take me a second to fall in love with the ghost town, planned and built in the style of an Italian town. We drove down the town hall and the senior living facilities and then asked our driver to leave us there because we wanted to walk those alleys. The main road in front of the town hall had some Indian styled dhabas but once we walked down the lane we discovered a street lined up with Italian styled eateries.

About 80% of the eateries were closed which is not surprising given to the fact that the entire project has failed and there were more incomplete and ruined buildings than there were complete buildings. We had tea from a Dosa stall and kept walking until the sun set. It was hard to believe that we were in India, because it really felt like we were walking down an alley in Italy and when my dad asked where would I like to have dinner, I joked that we can’t eat at a dhaba while we are at Italy, right?

It was past 8 and we realized that none of us had brought our pre meal meds so we started walking towards our apartment. After the sunset most people had retired to their rooms and it felt more like a ghost-town than it was feeling at the afternoon.

We came across a grocery store and I suggested that since we have a fully equipped, we can just purchase a loaf of bread and a packet of powdered milk and can have breakfast at our apartment. Being a caffeine addict, I am always grumpy until I have my first sip of tea or coffee. Let alone talking, I hate doing anything before that 1 sip. So while travelling the one thing I hate is to get ready and go to the restaurant for breakfast.

So after a little shopping, giving us the feeling that we are actually staying in Italy, we walked down the hauntingly beautiful and creepy road to our apartment.

Once we reached our room, it started raining. I was so glad to be able to enjoy the rain in Lavasa because everyone told me Lavasa is beautiful in monsoon and we sat at the balcony for like an hour. To our convenience, the rain stopped around 9.30 and we went out for dinner. We chose an American Diner where I had the most delicious Chicken Pot Pie I ever had in my life.

Once we came back to our apartment it started raining again. Dad retired on the bed on the hall and I opened my laptop and pulled the curtain away and did some photo editing while enjoying the rain.

The next morning I woke up a little late than I have been throughout the trip and toasted some breads and made some coffee. Whenever I receive anything in small amount I keep it for trips. So when I received peanut butter sachets as samples from Bigbasket I kept it in a bag that I always bring to my trips. Though we’ve never stayed in any apartment while travelling before, I still always carry that bag just in case and it was the first time it came handy. I had sachets of powdered sugar, coffee and peanut butter and we had the most relaxing breakfast we could have asked for.

The checkout time was 11 so we showered and packed our stuffs. This was my dad’s first trip without my mom (except for his business trips) so we’ve been talking about bringing mom to Lavasa. While leaving I requested our driver to drive across the lane that goes beyond the senior living area. It’s a beautiful scenery with identical cottages standing up in line.

My dad said he’s going to stay in one of those cottages when he visits with mom. To be honest, I would love to some day stay in one of those cottages with my entire family: my parents, my husband, my sister and her fiancé.

Lavasa isn’t a big town and there’s not much to see. However, if you are looking for some place to relax, unwind and to keep your mental health steady, there can’t be a better place. Because it’s a planned town, there are almost no locals, just tourist and the shop owners mostly seemed to be from outside. Staying at Lavasa I felt like living in one of those strategic games where you can build a town and stuff. It was such a unique and amazing experience. However the 11 hr journey didn’t seem worth just 1 night of stay. So the next time if we visit, firstly we’ll go via Pune, secondly, we’ll stay for more than 2 days and thirdly we would like to travel in group because since it’s a small town, it will probably get boring after 3 days if just 2 people travels. However, going with the entire family, renting an entire cottage or an apartment, staying for 3+ days… ah!!! I can just dream of it.

So thanks to my dad and his last minute plan, we got to have such a unique experience. The whole trip was unique. Also, I missed the return flight, and it was completely my mistake, I confused A.M with P.M. And again, dad paid for the new ticket (and also the one we missed) and waiting for the next flight at the airport for 6 hours he didn’t utter 1 word blaming me (except for mentioning once that he asked for the e-ticket and I didn’t sent him).

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