Every travel has a story to unravel

Simply breathtaking...A lake and forests around, make this place heaven on earth!

Recently I went to Yercaud with my family. Though the intent of the trip was to escape the Bangalore heat, we were in for a mild shock. Yercaud was no better!

Nevertheless, we decided to enjoy ourselves as my kids and I deserved a break. Exams done, well done, was reason enough for my kids to enjoy. Kids wanted to enjoy, and that was reason enough for me to enjoy. With two strong, ready-made reasons already available, my husband had no reason to find his reason to enjoy.

All set to enjoy the summer we went to the various spots in Yercaud. We tried our hands at archery and shooting, which was fun. To my surprise I found that I could do both well and that boosted my self-confidence, which, I realised was good thing to happen, especially when you are on the wrong side of 40’s!

The trip was, but for a single day. But the insights that this one single day provided, were immense!

Several of my myths stood broken after this trip.

Myth 1: Vacations, only when planned well, act as stress-busters! 

This unplanned trip was much more enjoyable than most of our other planned vacations. Till we hit the road we were uncertain of where we were headed to!

Myth 2: We cannot see anything worthwhile in a single day!

By the time we realised Yercaud was as hot as Bangalore we had seen the lady's seat, the gent's seat and the children's seat (the latter two seemed more of a new addition!). We even managed to hire a pedal boat and ride it around the Yercaud river. It was an enjoyable experience.

The monkeys at the lady's seat were obliging and posed patiently to the delight of his young fans...

Myth 3: My children may not enjoy my passion!

I had purchased a camera, with my first salary. I still enjoy clicking away to glory. But it never occurred to me that my children, one day, would usurp my camera! What came as a pleasant surprise to me was when they taught me how to secure the camera better around my wrist while clicking from a moving car!

Myth 4:After sight seeing and trekking, we have no energy left for shopping

After visiting all these places, we went back to our room, packed our bags and checked out the hotel. We stopped to have lunch. It was a weekend and the waiters in every hotel were pushed to their wits' end. They had to serve and serve fast, for hunger, very often is root cause of anger!

After the late lunch we continued our homeward journey. On the way back, we decided to stop at Salem to catch up with our shopping. Salem is fast becoming a shopper's paradise. Starting with stationery items, we shopped for almost three hours, picking up clothes for the entire family!

Twenty four hours, as I realised by the time we reached home. is a lot of time!

Even the afternoon sun seemed to enjoy the shade of the trees in Yercaud!