Don’t you just love impromptu holiday plans that just materialize out of the blue?
Well, I do. This holiday of mine was planned in a few hours and we booked tickets before anyone changed their mind! 😉
It was my birthday weekend, and I really wanted to go somewhere this time. I didn’t want the usual boring birthday that comes and goes each year. I wanted it to be different this time, and what better than an impromptu trip!
P.S: My birthday was in March and I had posted this blog sometime by end of May. But sadly that post got deleted and hence I had to re-post this again. Can’t believe I’m posting a travelogue update almost 4 months later! But better late than never right? 😀
Coming back to the trip…
We left for Delhi on 20th March – which was the morning after my birthday. I spent my birthday with family and friends and went back home with the excitement of leaving for a holiday the next day. We had a couple of places in mind, but we finally zeroed in on Delhi.
Our initial plan was to just shop around, eat and explore Dilli to our heart’s content. I have been wanting to shop in Delhi from quite a while now, but I never really got an opportunity or the time to do so. Shopping plus a little exploring was what we had in mind.
Also, I had heard so damn much about Delhi’s street shopping that I just had to check it out myself. I had done enough research about shopping and eating destinations in and around Delhi and had completely mapped our days out – just so we didn’t waste any time! 😛
Delhi was unbelievably hot with 40+ deg temperature. I almost had a heat stroke on my very first day there! 😐 Our initial few days in this city only revolved around shopping. We explored quite a few markets there and made it a point to visit all of those famous markets that I had heard so much about – Khan Market, Babu Market, Lajpat Nagar Market, Karol Bagh, Chandni Chowk and finally the most hyped of them all – Sarojini Nagar Market. To be honest, my shopping experience in all of these places was quite average. None of them lived up to my expectations. I frankly don’t understand what the hype is about! I would trade these with a trip to our beloved commercial street any day! 😀
After we were done with our shopping, we still had a couple of days left. So, we decided to visit the Taj Mahal once again and also pay a visit to Lord Krishna’s birth place (Mathura) on our way back. We were thinking of visiting Jaipur too, but since we were short of time we decided to skip it.
No amount of words can describe the beauty that is Taj and photos don’t do any kind of justice to the actual sight.
After snapping a million pictures and staring at the beautiful structure for what seemed like an eternity, we finally made our way out. We did some shopping in and around Agra and finally headed towards our next destination – Mathura.
Mathura is one of the oldest and holiest cities in India. It is also the birth place of Lord Krishna. This city has always been in the middle of various political and religious controversies and hence you should be prepared to go through a series of tight security checks before you reach the main temple. The hotel staff and the driver had already prepared us for various situations/problems that might crop up. But thankfully we didn’t have to use any of that knowledge or tips during our brief stay there as everything went off without a hitch.
Overall, my short birthday trip to Delhi was really exciting and I managed to buy quite a few goodies during my stay there! 😀 I am glad we decided to squeeze Agra and Mathura through our itinerary at the last minute as well. Impromptu trips always have a happy outcome and I ‘plan’ to plan more such trips in the future as well! 😛
Until my next travel adventure….. its adios from my end!