Travelling

December, the grand finale of the year, always seems to be packed with excitement and fresh hopes. My friend dropped by with his daughter, and we decided to make the most of the weekend by heading to the beach. Our initial plan to visit Alibaug was quickly swapped for the quieter Aravi Beach near Shrivardhan. We hit the road bright and early at 5:40 AM on Saturday. The 162 km drive took us about six hours, including a leisurely breakfast break and a couple of pit stops along the way. We passed through Mann Village in Hinjewadi and Tamhini Ghat, with mostly smooth roads—though there were a few bumpy spots to keep us on our toes. By 11:30 AM, we arrived at the peaceful Aravi Beach. This hidden gem was a serene escape, untouched by heavy crowds or commercialization. A handful of modest stalls offered snacks and refreshing juices, but the real charm was in the spacious parking and the unspoiled stretch of sand. After parking, we slipped into our swimwear and lathered up with su...

This is the final part of the day wise series of the Gujarat Trip planned in the month of December.  The days will then be merged for the final blog. Day 13 Saputara - Pune We left from Uday Hill Resort in Saputara by 6:40am and started our journey towards home (Pune). It was a 280km journey. It was dense fog till around 8:45am. The condition of the roads wasn't great either. After driving around 150km , we took a break at Crown Curry restaurant near Sangamner and had breakfast. The journey started again and we finally were back home by 1:30pm with sweet memories from the trip!! 😊😊🙏

Diwali season and friends visiting over. One such night while having conversations on varied topics , plan of visiting Japalouppe took shape. Japalouppe is an equestrian centre on the old Mumbai Pune Highway just before the toll plaza. They have horse riding training centre and a pet farm. We started from our home in pimple saurldagar at around 8:10am to reach Japalouppe by 8:45am on a Sunday morning. The tickets were booked online  in advance for the 9am tour. They have tours at different time slots throughout the day, choose the one that suits you best.  We got wrist bands from the reception which are mandatory for the entry. Someone from the crew escorted us to the breakfast area. They had a good variety of options ranging from bread butter, cheese sandwich to pav bhaji ,dhokla to pizza , pasta waffles and tea, coffee in beverages. The taste was good and the seating area was clean, tidy and shady ensuring good comfort to the guests. We had proper breakfast follo...