It was sometime in April, 2018 when I decided my Mom's 50th birthday had to be special. It might have been the fact that we don't really make a big deal out of birthdays in family, that we decided it was time we celebrated her like she deserved. I don't actually recall her asking or 'wanting' for anything, ever. So I did a quick check with my sister (who is the more socially aware one) as to what my Mom would really enjoy for her 50th. Between suggestions like a pair of new slippers, to jewelry, which I was sure would not really appeal to her, we landed on the jackpot - a vacation. But where?
We had just been to Leh - Ladakh the previous year, and the altitude did not agree with her. Secretly, she has been telling me she wants to go there again. Badass, mom! She had also done all the major hill stations/ beaches in the South, Goa/ Gokarna, Darjeeling in the East, and the Himalayas (Manali et al.) in the North. Only the North-East was remaining. But I felt like I needed to do more. I wanted to tell her how much we valued her, and appreciated everything she had done for us. And the North-East just felt underwhelming. Not in my wildest thoughts did I even think of an international trip. I didn't think we had the budget (blame the finance guy in me!). So, the North-East it was going to be. She had kept harping on Sikkim a lot, so I thought of checking for ticket prices to Kolkata, and maybe take a car from there to Sikkim-Meghalaya-Assam. So I downloaded the Skyscanner app again that I had uninstalled after our Leh trip was done. Tickets to Kolkata were not expensive - about 10k return per person. This was going to be a surprise, so I was discrete about it. (Discrete - In my family, discrete is defined as "Let's keep it a secret, till we no longer can, and end up telling the other person to act like they were surprised.")
So, here I was in April, trying to book a flight to Kolkata. Skyscanner has this feature where you can see the cheapest destinations from a particular departure airport for a particular month. I started playing around with it. Singapore, Malaysia, Bali were cheapest from Chennai. Turkey and Greece from Bangalore. Milan from Mumbai. Kiev from Delhi.
Wait, Milan? 2 hours away from Amma's dream destination, Venice? (Cheap - We define cheap as "Do we have to spend so much? Do we? Do we? Do we? Okay, we do. But is it worth it? Is it? Is it?") Blame the finance guy in me, again! So I found this crazy deal in Air Italy to and from Milan for less than 29k. It was affordable. But I was scared. I had a horrible reputation booking airline tickets. I manage to mess up even the basic ticket bookings. Sample this - when we went to Leh, I messed up so bad, the four of us were flying in three different airlines. Ditto to when I booked my mom's ticket to my CIMA convocation in Mumbai. My reputation was not good at all, when it came to ticket bookings.
I was still unsure if we had to spend so much. I asked my sister, who was NOT the finance person at home. She did most of her thinking from the heart. She asked me if it was really a deal. I told her we would find no better! She thought we should go for it. I remember vividly when she said, I have 7k in my account, we can manage. She was, very obviously, not the finance person at home. All heart! And that got me thinking - money is not the problem. I should stop overthinking it. And so I booked my tickets. Before I booked, I asked the cousins, and they unfortunately couldn't join. One had his board exams, one had just joined CA articleship, and the other a new job. Vacation days were not going to be easy to get. So we were doing it alone!
The dates were in November, which gave us enough time to plan it. I would return a little later, considering I had more vacation days in hand (Yay, Goldman Sachs!) I planned a mini solo trip for myself over a week after the rest of the family left. I wasn't sure when and where I was going - just the dates. We were flying out on November, 01 to Milan, and my parents and sister were returning on November, 13. I was due to come back on November 21. All tos and fros from Milan, Italy. We were flying out of Mumbai.
The plan was on. It was a secret. I even faked it and told my mom the tickets to Kolkata were booked. She felt bad I had spent so much. It was 40k for 4 people after all. I was laughing on the inside. All we had to do was keep it a secret.
The day arrived. Amma's 50th was on May, 26. I got the tickets printed and enveloped. We were meeting for dinner in this fancy North Indian place in Chennai. The entire family was there. I had no presents for her, or that's what she thought.
We had dinner. I gave her the gift. It went well. We managed to keep it a secret. She was super happy! You know what they say about the major moments in your life flashing before your eyes before you die. This would be one of those, for the both of us.
All we needed to do now was get a visa, pack our bags, and leave. So easy no? NO. Things were going to be a tad more difficult..
But that is a story, or a blog for another day. Keep watching this space.
We had just been to Leh - Ladakh the previous year, and the altitude did not agree with her. Secretly, she has been telling me she wants to go there again. Badass, mom! She had also done all the major hill stations/ beaches in the South, Goa/ Gokarna, Darjeeling in the East, and the Himalayas (Manali et al.) in the North. Only the North-East was remaining. But I felt like I needed to do more. I wanted to tell her how much we valued her, and appreciated everything she had done for us. And the North-East just felt underwhelming. Not in my wildest thoughts did I even think of an international trip. I didn't think we had the budget (blame the finance guy in me!). So, the North-East it was going to be. She had kept harping on Sikkim a lot, so I thought of checking for ticket prices to Kolkata, and maybe take a car from there to Sikkim-Meghalaya-Assam. So I downloaded the Skyscanner app again that I had uninstalled after our Leh trip was done. Tickets to Kolkata were not expensive - about 10k return per person. This was going to be a surprise, so I was discrete about it. (Discrete - In my family, discrete is defined as "Let's keep it a secret, till we no longer can, and end up telling the other person to act like they were surprised.")
So, here I was in April, trying to book a flight to Kolkata. Skyscanner has this feature where you can see the cheapest destinations from a particular departure airport for a particular month. I started playing around with it. Singapore, Malaysia, Bali were cheapest from Chennai. Turkey and Greece from Bangalore. Milan from Mumbai. Kiev from Delhi.
Wait, Milan? 2 hours away from Amma's dream destination, Venice? (Cheap - We define cheap as "Do we have to spend so much? Do we? Do we? Do we? Okay, we do. But is it worth it? Is it? Is it?") Blame the finance guy in me, again! So I found this crazy deal in Air Italy to and from Milan for less than 29k. It was affordable. But I was scared. I had a horrible reputation booking airline tickets. I manage to mess up even the basic ticket bookings. Sample this - when we went to Leh, I messed up so bad, the four of us were flying in three different airlines. Ditto to when I booked my mom's ticket to my CIMA convocation in Mumbai. My reputation was not good at all, when it came to ticket bookings.
I was still unsure if we had to spend so much. I asked my sister, who was NOT the finance person at home. She did most of her thinking from the heart. She asked me if it was really a deal. I told her we would find no better! She thought we should go for it. I remember vividly when she said, I have 7k in my account, we can manage. She was, very obviously, not the finance person at home. All heart! And that got me thinking - money is not the problem. I should stop overthinking it. And so I booked my tickets. Before I booked, I asked the cousins, and they unfortunately couldn't join. One had his board exams, one had just joined CA articleship, and the other a new job. Vacation days were not going to be easy to get. So we were doing it alone!
The dates were in November, which gave us enough time to plan it. I would return a little later, considering I had more vacation days in hand (Yay, Goldman Sachs!) I planned a mini solo trip for myself over a week after the rest of the family left. I wasn't sure when and where I was going - just the dates. We were flying out on November, 01 to Milan, and my parents and sister were returning on November, 13. I was due to come back on November 21. All tos and fros from Milan, Italy. We were flying out of Mumbai.
The plan was on. It was a secret. I even faked it and told my mom the tickets to Kolkata were booked. She felt bad I had spent so much. It was 40k for 4 people after all. I was laughing on the inside. All we had to do was keep it a secret.
The day arrived. Amma's 50th was on May, 26. I got the tickets printed and enveloped. We were meeting for dinner in this fancy North Indian place in Chennai. The entire family was there. I had no presents for her, or that's what she thought.
We had dinner. I gave her the gift. It went well. We managed to keep it a secret. She was super happy! You know what they say about the major moments in your life flashing before your eyes before you die. This would be one of those, for the both of us.
All we needed to do now was get a visa, pack our bags, and leave. So easy no? NO. Things were going to be a tad more difficult..
But that is a story, or a blog for another day. Keep watching this space.
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