What is your next holiday destination, Mami?' asked Bharathi.
I said ' I and mama are not on the same page,' just to avoid the further discussion.
'Meaning?' she persisted.
' I want to go to on a cruise and mama wants to go to New Zealand.' I said, just for the heck of it.
'Oh! I will find you a cruise in New Zealand!!' her eyes sparkled.
At that time i didn't know that after a week or so she would phone and announce that she was visiting us after office time to make our NZ itinerary.
That is Bharathi! you utter the first syllable of any holiday destination and she sees to it that your air tickets are booked, accommodation taken care of, visa obtained and detailed itinerary and enough forex in your purse, and you find yourself on the airport happily wondering how did that happen?
Before this, Bharathi had arranged our Malaysia trip. During those days Air Asia used to have their famous sales, when Bharathi used to be ready like a hawk with her laptop grabbing the best deals. She had surprised us by getting a ticket to KL from Mumbai for 2500! (alas! those days have passed)
So off we went to NZ with a perfect, detailed programme. We are used to traveling abroad since our son stays in US, but when in US we are never on our own. This time we were going to a new destination without anyone to guide us. But we had a meticulously written document by Bharathi. It told us from which gate to come out of the airport where we could find the cab which she had already booked. We had reached Christchurch at night and the cab deposited us in front of the inn. Her notes told us that if we were facing the inn we would find that to our right on first floor there would be a room where we could see light, there the door would be unlocked, we were supposed to just go and relax!
We had a whale of a time in NZ. We spent 21 days covering both the islands. Christchurch, Dunedin,Queenstown, Aukland, Rotorua, Bay of Islands. we went on a cruise in Bay of islands. we drove down in the southern island. Enjoyed the food she recommended. went parasailing.
In short, we enjoyed thoroughly.
After a few months when Bharathi announced that she was arranging a 'all girls' trip to Bali Singapore, i eagerly said 'yes!'
Those 15 days were some of the happiest days of my life. i did some crazy things which i wouldn't have done at my age.....like snorkeling, white water rafting and swimming in an unknown river! Although Bharathi was very keen, i chickened out and didn't try diving.
Yesterday she gave us a book on Egypt. My husband had mentioned some time back that he wants to see the pyramids. Now that she knows that i am sure she will pack us off to Egypt very soon!
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