Summer of 2018

Among the plethora of diverse and often mutually exclusive(if I may call it that) interests that ‘D’ and I have, one of the common passions that we share is the love for travel. We’ve tried to keep up the zest and enthusiasm for travel, post kids, as well. Sometimes just the thought of traveling with two kids under 7 years of age can make exhaustion set it, before vacation starts :), if you know what I mean. The running joke in the family is that subjecting the kids to long flights and travel schedules could have one of two effects: Either the kids end up loving to travel and continue exploring nooks and corners of the world, well after us….Or they get so fed up, that the only kind of vacation they end up enjoying or seeking out, later in life,  are the ones that involve couching in:).  Oh well…'THAT' only time will tell...Though I fervently hope, it will be the former. For now though, they seem to be doing well and enjoying travel as much as we do…So fingers crossed…

This summer , wanderlust took us to the beautiful Eastern European country of Croatia. Believe it or not, we were there right in the middle of World Cup soccer fever. You can well imagine the kind of excitement on the streets, and among the locals, when their country of a little over 4 million people (a population less than that of the New York burroughs put together) reached the World Cup soccer final! Inspirational and fun!

On our way to Croatia, we spent a few days with my cousin and her family in The Hague, in the Netherlands. Growing up in India, I have had a very close connection and relationship with both my maternal and paternal cousins. We were always in and out of each others homes, and there were so many occasions to get together as an extended family, it was quite amazing. With ‘D’ and my extended families spread all over the world now, Raya and Rayan are not as fortunate. So they always love spending time with the extended family, whenever they get a chance. And what a blast they had with their aunt and cousins. We also ended up making some side trips back to Amsterdam (‘D’ and I were there in 2010, before Raya was born…and it was good to be back). We also visited Bruges, the little 'fairy tailish' town in Belgium, where I  spent a significant amount of time in the early part of my professional career. It was lovely to take ‘D’ and the kids back to Bruges, exploring all my favorite locales, indulging in some creamy, garlic mussels with Belgian frites, and not to forget decadent chocolate covered waffles .

As for Croatia....Spectacular natural beauty…gorgeous beaches and islands….awe inspiring history and monuments…delicious sea food from the Adriatic Coast…Dalmatian cocktails to die for…’GOT’ land….amazing hospitality…friendly, laid back, happy people…small country…big dreams…that’s Croatia in a nutshell….

Talking of ‘GOT’, just a disclaimer that I haven’t watched all the seasons of Game of Thrones yet. Hubby is a big fan and binge watched all 7 seasons, while I have just gotten started.  Nevertheless, 'I' being 'I',  did not lose the opportunity to scout out all 'GOT' locations in Dubrovnik and Split...“King’s Landing”, “The Staircase of shame”, “The basement of the Diocletian palace, where the dragons were kept”, to name just a few. The icing on the cake was however getting to see the filming of a few scenes of the upcoming season in Split….so now, when I am actually watching the series…it’s literally that surreal sense of deja vu:)

We flew into Dubrovnik from Amsterdam, spent a couple of days there, exploring the old town, the surrounding islands and the gorgeous beaches. Thereafter we drove along the coast from Dubrovnik to Split. That’s a super scenic drive lined with gorgeous coastlines, wineries and fruit farms. The Peljesac peninsula between Dubrovnik and Split is famous for it’s sun drenched vineyards(specializing in a wide variety of red wines), dramatic coastline /scenery and local produce, jams , juices directly sourced from the local farms. We made Split the base for the next 5 days. In addition to exploring the city of Split, we made trips to the beautiful island of Hvar, the UNESCO heritage town of Trogir, The Krka National Park and the Plitvice Lakes National park. The day trip to the the Plitvice Lakes National Park ,was by far, the one I was most worried about, given that it was a 3.5 hour drive one way, and then another two hours of hiking around the park, without a stroller. But I have to say, the kids made me really proud here. Rayan, specifically, was so excited by the aquatic life in the lake that for a major part of the trek, he was oblivious to the fact that we had left his stroller at the base, as he got busy pointing out, “Mama….look fishie…..look fishie..”:) 

Croatia has the absolute best ‘gin’ based summer cocktails…in terms of local fare, the “Brodetta” (Dalmatian stew) and “Peka” were our favorites. The beaches are gorgeous pebbled beaches (so having tight fitting water shoes handy can be a blessing here).

We often get asked, how we manage long flights, road trips and multi destination travel itineraries with two kids in tow. Let me start by saying that once the travel plans are set in motion, it really isn’t as hard or challenging as it seems, when you are just thinking about it. Also we do not micromanage our travel plans. Of course, we always have basic stuff planned for in advance like flight bookings, lodging etc as well as overall timelines in a multi destination itinerary. However we never plan apriori or in too much detail, what we will be doing on specific days of the trip. We keep drive times/train rides limited to a max of 4 hours or less per segment. And every afternoon we make sure we have some time set aside for some water fun, be it a trip to the beach or the  kids just lazing around in the pool. Both our kids are water babies, and it’s not too difficult to keep them engaged in sight seeing or other activities that 'D' and I enjoy,  as long as they have ice creams, a boat ride,  the pool or the beach to look forward to later in the day. Lodging wise, we made sure we had picked high rated apartments with ocean views for our stays in Dubrovnik as well as Split. This ensured there was enough space for us to spread out and  there was always a gorgeous balcony with an ocean/lake view to come back to, at the end of the day, and relax with a book/ a glass of wine. We used Booking.com to book our lodging and picked ocean view apartments with a rating of at least 9.0/10 (with at least 300+ reviews). This seemed to work really well for us.

By the way, ‘D’ and I , who before the kids, would travel with two huge suitcases for just one week long trips, managed to make this two week trip with just one small and big suitcase between the 4 of us. That’s quite an achievement, given my past inability to travel “relatively” light. And then of course,  it’s super fun too see that the kids enjoy the exposure to a wide variety of cuisines  in all such trips!! When coming to food, Raya is the more conservative and change resistant of the two kids. Little boy Rayan is quite the explorer in this regard. Rayan , after getting back from Croatia, on being asked what he wanted to eat for dinner, promptly replied, “ Octopus” ! LOL

This summer , we also made a short late summer trip to Asheville, NC…quite a gem out there in the south , in the Blue Ridge Mountain valley, with a great music, food and art scene.

So overall, it was a fantastic summer. Raya is back in school. Second grade already and turning 7 next week! Rayan is back to day care and enjoys being around the teachers and friends during the day. 

Little man Rayan(all of 2.5 years now)  is also turning into quite a hilarious little guy. A few weeks back after getting back from Europe, at the breakfast table, I was asking Raya where her summer camp field trip was….our little man did not even wait for her to reply…and quickly pitched in with his two cents …”Mama I am going to Amsterdam and Crosia “(At this point of time, he has an atypical accent that makes 'Croatia' sound like 'Croasia':). All the football fever in Croatia also got to the little man….and every time now, on tv, when he watches a game of football, tennis or any sport for that matter, he loves using the phrase, “Oooo Baba, that was close!” . His other favorite phrases are “Finito”…. and “That makes sense, Mama?”/“That makes sense Baba?” , which he uses sometimes in the funniest of contexts.

So that was the Summer of 2018(which included some quality time with the both sets of grandparents, in addition to travel fun)!! 

Leaving you with few a travel snapshots…May the wanderlust in you thrive and flourish!