Travelling with our baby

Am just done putting our route on Google maps and my immediate reaction is 'phew!' Sure the technology is great but it does take a while to figure out the nuances of the application and am yet to discover how to backtrack on a line without deleting the entire route or how to get the markers / descriptions to appear in sequential order in the left column or even why my images don't appear with the descriptions! in spite of doing what the child like voice directed us to do in the maps tutorial. Phew!
But you do see our general map / route - not accurate though and all the details of the trip are posted here since formatting on the application page is tough and cumbersome to read if all in one block.
I hope we won't have to go by googles distances etc. Give me a map, the internet and a search engine and wave us off.
I started off wanting to talk about our trips with the baby. I know, if we get selected, no extra passengers will be allowed and we will miss our two year old sorely. This is a route we want to take him on and I guess if we are lucky we shall do it twice ;)

Both Ha and I have been taken on outdoor trips from the time we were little. Hashim has done Mumbai – Lucknow with his father in a rally prepared Fiat in the years when in India safety features in cars were non existent, the roads were potholed, rest stops with facilities like restaurants were few and far between and there was a serious lack of information on routes. The internet was still many years away.

I have swum in the Kundalika river that goes through Kolad often when I was a child, played with rabbits and chickens on a farm and my brother as a baby has been licked by passing goats while he blissfully slept. These holidays with our parents are what memories are made of and we want to create a similar memory album for Tarun and pass the goodness around.

There was never any doubt in our minds that we would initiate Tarun into travel at an early age. As long as he was healthy we were ready to expose him to the environment in the hope of him imbibing earthy, grounded values. We attempt to teach him to blend in with our lifestyle and hope that materialistic city living does not get the better of us.

Before Tarun was born, we researched the different car seats available in the market and settled on the Mothercare Lucio Thunderbird which has served us very well.

Taruns road trips began at two and a half months when he went to Pune to visit his great grand mother. Assisted by my parents, we set off for Pune with an overnight halt at a hotel in Lonavala. We learnt that we were seriously over packing and we needed a pacifier. It is a necessary evil. I remember, my Dad driving and all of us getting wound up as Taruns yelling between feeds got louder. Once we introduced the pacifier, baby was happy with his self-soother, we could interact much better and enjoy the drive. Interestingly, our tiny rambler at 18 months no longer uses or needs the choosnis as we called them. They have been donated to the Myna babies in the nest under the a/c.

After Pune, we did several car drives with Tarun to Kihim and Alibaug, beach side towns approximately 95 km from Mumbai. During the monsoon we introduced him to the concept of rain and lush green countryside with a day trip to an uncle’s farm near Karjat approximately 100 km from Mumbai. He thoroughly enjoyed crawling on the grass and looked in wide eyed wonder at the bugs and creepy crawlies.

At nine months Tarun was holding his head very well, so the car seat was fitted to forward facing that gave him a new perspective of the world. Suddenly we were on a ‘look Tarun’ trip, wanting him to see the cow and the dog and the bus and the mountains….. our adorable rambler loved it all.

It was also that time of the year when Goa beckons. We have been driving to Goa in November for the last couple of years and we decided to be brave and attempt a 555 km drive with Tarun.

We set off early in the morning, hoping to get to Goa the same day but we were flexible about that and would stop if we needed the break. By this time, Tarun was on semi solids and was in his weaning stage.We learnt the importance of his favourite music CDs. By the end of the trip both Hashim and I could sing the baby tracks backwards!

Palolem (South Goa) was our destination and we spent four days at the Palolem Guest House. This hotel is near the southern end of the beach but not on the beach itself. We considered staying at a beach coco hut but opted for comfort instead with an a/c room, geyser and efficient, friendly staff. Breakfast was followed by sea time and sunscreen really protected the three of us. Tarun found and held his first ever starfish and helped place it back in the sea. Most shacks are so cosy that we could actually lay Tarun to sleep on the hammocks and take turns at sea dips in the afternoon as well. The only down side was that most tourists smoke at these places and we were not happy about breathing the second hand nicotine.

On the third day we drove towards Karwar and past the Karnataka border. We had to skip checking out the secluded Om beach as the approach is via many steps off the side of a cliff down to the exotic beach. Without adequate time and planning to take all the baby essentials down that route would be like a trek and too exhausting.

Saswara the very stylish yet rustic resort is situated in close proximity to Om beach and we were keen on stopping there for lunch. The resort which is a part of the Cochin based Casino group is beautiful but frightfully expensive and if you consider the distance from the Dabolim airport I would be surprised if they had any visitors at all. We were taken on a tour of the property but “lunch is only for hotel residents” we were informed. Later we realized that the kitchen was probably shut as they had zero occupancy!

The manager did however direct us to the best place for local food, a place simply named ‘Auntys’ as it is run by a lady and her family in her old home in Gokarna. The husband dishes out the meals and the ‘aunty’ and kids cook up fried local fish, unpolished rice, chapattis, fish curry, sardine pickle and 2 vegetarian dishes all served in unlimited portions for a total of Rs. 30/- per head.

Tarun looked on in amusement, content with his - pre cooked in the hotel kitchen - khichdi from his high chair as we licked our fingers clean and a little pigtailed girl chatted with him in a dialect of the region.

This long car drive gave us the confidence we required to contemplate another adventure. By his first birthday, Tarun had many dry runs leading up to our favourite Indian ski adventure destination – Auli, Uttranchal.

Yes - we took the love of our lives on a drive from Mumbai to Auli up the mountain roads and through fabulous towns like Udaipur, Jaipur, Rishikesh and Chittorgard. More about this trip later.

For now - happy and safe driving.
Priya.