Revenge of the Mummy (Singapore): June 2019 - 12.8 year old Sid's second trip to Singapore (the first one was in 2009 and can be seen here). This 12 day trip was filled with loads of fun at the Universal Studios, Madame Tussuads and other attractions that were not present in 2009. One highlight of our trip was the ride "Revenge of the Mummy" - considered as one of the top rides in the world; it was a scary, but at the same time an amazingly adventurous experience. Staying on the top floor of the Marina Mandarin (now called ParkRoyal Collection, Marina Bay) in a Marina Bay Suite made our stay exceptionally luxurious, especially while balancing the lazing around with roaming around at a very leisurely place - of course it burned a big hole in the pocket, but was totally worth it!!!

City of lakes (Udaipur, Rajasthan): November 2018 - 12.2 year old Sid's first trip to Udaipur. Staying in a lake view room at The Lalit Laxmi Vilas Palace for almost a week, walks and dinners around lakes, feasting on the delightfully unique Rajasthani food, visits to numerous forts and palaces, visual treats - both naturally occurring and human made, lessons on our cultural heritage and history, and loads of shopping summarize this extravagant trip. Beautiful sunsets, moonlit nights with reflections of the city lights in the lakes and visually stunning artwork everywhere were the real highlights of our experience.

Roadhouse Blues (with due credit to Jim Morrison and the Doors), drive to Jim Corbett National Park (Uttarakhand): May 2018 - 11.8 year old Sid's second trip to Corbett and first self-driven road trip with outstation stay. Having gained confidence in her driving on the highways of India, Shweta took us out for an amazing roadtrip to the Jim Corbett National Park - ~500 Km return journey. This was our second visit to the place (the first one is at the bottom of this page). The drive was fantastic and staying on the banks of river Kosi was as much fun as the first time. One of the highlights of this trip was Sid and me riding a tandem bicycle.   

"Sholay" (Murthal, Haryana): March 2018 - 11.5 year old Sid's first "only family" road trip. We bought our first "SUV" (petrol version) in November 2017. While I don't drive, my wife (Shweta) is the transportation in-charge of the family. This was our first long drive outside Delhi (without any third party driving us) - ~250 Km return journey. We drove to the hub of speciality north-Indian foods - Murthal, where we had a gala time at the "dhaba" called "Garam Dharam". This is a theme-based eating outlet with the theme of the 1970s classic movie "Sholay" starring Dharmendra (playing the character "Veeru") and Amitabh Bachchan (playing the character "Jai"). Sholay's significance to Indian cinema is probably much more than than the significance of "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" to western cinema. It was fun to sit on a replica of the bike that Jai and Veeru used to ride. The food was also yummy. The outing was capped by a lovely picnic at the Karna lake. This trip opened the joyful world of self-driven road trips to Shweta and of course us!    

Paradise (Majkhali, Uttarakhand): March 2017 - 10.5 year old Sid's first visit to Ranikhet. Majkhali is a beautiful and pristine place at an elevation of ~1850 m (6000 ft), near a popular holiday destination called Ranikhet. We made a short visit to the place for a  few days - the drive to and from Delhi was amazing. Photographs do not do justice to the magnificent views of the majestic Himalayas, especially the revered peaks of Nanda Devi and "Trishul". A bright orange bird was nesting somewhere nearby and frequently posed for us. Clear skies, fresh air, green meadows, amazing views! Hope we're able to build a hut in this place at some point of time!!!

Jai Mata Di (Vaishno Devi, Jammu & Kashmir): January 2017 - 10.3 year old Sid's first visit to Vaishno Devi. It was fun to travel in our own "room" ("Coupe" in a train) during the Delhi-Katra-Delhi journeys. It was a short, but beautiful trip to Vaishno Devi and Shiv Khori. After reaching Katra in the morning, we enjoyed the local cuisines till afternoon. Then we climbed up ~15 Km (on well developed walking paths) to reach the shrine well past midnight. After that Sid got a little shuteye on the walking path in his sleeping bag next to a bonfire. We came down from the shrine in the morning by an exciting ride in a helicopter (first such ride for the three of us). It was a quick trip, but loads of excitement and fun!

River of dreams (with due credit to Billy Joel), banks of river Kosi and Jim Corbett National Park (Uttarakhand, North India): January 2012 - 5.3 year old Sid's first stay on banks of a river. There was no tiger sighting, only tiger paws on trails, but we saw several beautiful birds and other animals.