This diwali, I wanted to do something different. This was Sid’s first diwali after all. Hubby has been overworking for a long time now, so I thought it would be great to go on a trip somewhere, the 3 of us. So I planned a 3 day trip to Wayanad (kerala). Had booked this homestay that I was referred to by one of my colleagues. It wasnt such a smooth trip though.
I was already feeling quite nervous since we were going on a long drive for the first time with hubby driving and also our first real trip with Sid. I was a bit unsure about how I was going to manage him for about 6 hrs. Sid actually behaved quite well inside the car, I took some of his favorite toys and when he would really get out of control and start crying, play his 2 favorite songsĀ – refer earlier post
But we lost our way a bit and the drive eventually turned out to be 9 hrs which was too much for me and Sid to take. I mean, I still cant believe I managed that restless kid for so long inside the car. And then the wrong route we took had some pathetic roads and hairbends which made me feel nauseous and made Sid cry, God knows what the poor thing was going through.
We reached Wayanad finally on Sat evening around 4pm. The homestay I had booked was nice, had a great view of paddy fields and plantations. The room was pretty basic, but the kitchen was closeby, which was really useful for me since I needed to sterilize the feeding bottles, boil water, etc. What I really did not expect was Sid’s reaction once we reached there. He just realized its a new place and started screaming the way I’ve never seen him scream before. It took us so much of our energies to calm him down, but he still woke up in the middle of the night and started yelling for no reason. The moment I left him in the bed, he knew it wasnt his and would come and cling to me. I’ve never seen him cling so much to me. He would be playing one moment and suddenly with no notice he would just start weeping the next moment. The whole thing was a big puzzle to me and I was sapped of all my energy by Sat night.
The good thing was we actually managed to see a few places the next day and even went for boating (I’m hoping no family member would actually read this) Sid seemed to enjoy the boat ride. But we had to skip many other places, since we didnt have the energy in the first place and also many of the places in Wayanad require some bits of trekking which isnt feasible with a kid.
We started back on Mon morning and the return drive was really awesome! Which made me more bitter mourning what we missed in the onward journey
Overall, a mixed experience if I think in a positive manner. I mean, people have warned me of the problems when travelling with a kid, but experiencing it first hand made a difference. Mixing milk and cereal every few hrs and putting him to sleep now & then and calming him down when he is crying — where is the time to enjoy the trip between all this?! Hubby isnt as bitter as me and still thinks it was a nice experience to talk about when you look at it now, but I think I’ll need some time to garner my guts again for my next trip.
urvashi
October 26, 2009 at 12:46 am
Oh you’re brave !!
sidcorner
October 27, 2009 at 6:26 am
Hey Urvashi, glad to know you’re visiting here. I read somewhere recently that bravery is pretending you’re not scared. Maybe this is what they had in mind.
Lavanya
October 29, 2009 at 6:43 pm
Somehow this post did not show up in my updates
Anyways, u are indeed daring to make such a trip..:) 3 monthsle train journey and now this..way to go !
Wayanad Traveler
May 9, 2010 at 4:05 pm
The name Wayanad comes from ‘Vayal’ and ‘Nadu’ which means the land of paddy fields. It’s really rich in nature with all those rolling hills and tropical rainforests. Edakkal caves are great too.