Simplifly!

The word Vacation has such a lovely ring to it, don't you agree? It brings with it visions of cavorting on sunny beaches and relaxing in seafacing resorts...or for the adventurous amongst us, it urges them to pick up their backpacks for yet another trekking trip. Hill stations with their waterfalls and mountain cafés beckon us in summers, and sandy beaches or the houseboats in backwaters lure us in winters. Either way, its always fun to go on a vacation, and the way I see it, planning the trip is no less fun than going on the promised holiday itself.

My family loves taking holidays. I have fond memories of looking forward to summer or winter vacations at school as they simply translated to family holidays for me. It is small wonder then, that the idea of taking a holiday even now fills me with childlike excitement!

Much has changed about planning a holiday back then and now. My father loved planning our trips back then, but now, the reins of planning have been passed on to me. Of course, all it takes today is a couple of hours online to plan a trip, but I can't help but miss the chaos of planning holidays a decade ago.

For starters, the books would be brought out. Road maps, atlas, railway time tables, tourist handbooks...of course, a huge calendar would always have to be consulted to make sure we got the dates right. All of these would be meticulously perused and notes taken on my fathers notepad. I would trace the distance that we would travel with my finger on the map, and it would invariably fill me with a sense of awe.

Then there would be the phone calls. To friends, family and acquaintances in far off places, taking recommendations about accomodation and sightseeing. Being in the Army helped, as more often than not, we would land up in the Army Guest House at our chosen holiday destination.

The travel reservations were another painstaking affair. Air travel with family for a holiday was unthinkable and unaffordable, so it simply meant having to book our train tickets through the Defence quota to cut down on costs and time.

Years later now, I sit down to plan a trip with my family this summer, and it takes me little over an hour to get our flight tickets,  hotel bookings and sightseeing options confirmed. True, it is so much more convenient today to plan a holiday today...but I admit, I do miss the family discussions and the phone calls throughout the day, the tension of getting train tickets booked on time, the constant worries about the guest house being available during holiday season, the one month of going back and forth between multiple options before choosing the best bargain, the one comic book that I was allowed to buy from the railway platform bookstore but most of all, I miss the sense of feeling important and all grown up when I took notes on my fathers notepad with his letterhead on it :-)