I have always enjoyed trips that I had taken with my friends. I have even had a fabulous time on my solo trip. But, I have always wondered what it would be like to take a trip with my mom! Would it be fun or would I get irritated the whole time, would she enjoy or rather would she LET me enjoy, what would be the curfews!? I had never really travelled with just my mom before, so there were a million questions running in my mind while boarding the bus to GOA. Yes, that beach place where most would consider visiting with their best friend, boyfriend or girlfriend as their ideal travel partner, I decided to party with my mom. Goa has always been my personal favourite since my childhood days. I had been to this beach town with my family, with my friends but this time the excitement was entirely different.
As I wanted to see Goa beyond its beaches and usual crowd, we decided to explore south Goa. The slow paced life, exotic beaches, heritage villas and Konkan lifestyle are just perfect for any laid back traveller. Taking this trip with her, where it was just the two of us, gave us time and opportunity to have conversations about anything and everything in life.
We visited some of the most beautiful offbeat beaches in the south. Of all the beaches we had seen in Goa, Utorda tops the list. It has a long coastline; amazing white sands dazzling under sun shine and some green and dense palm trees fringing the beach. Be it chilling at the beach in Colva or clubbing at Margarita, savouring the seafood at Benaulim or sitting through sunsets at Utorda and sipping the drink of our choice at Agonda, we definitely had a ball of a time together.
But it was not always an easy task; we had to bend a little to make things work. I wanted to eat, see and do as much as possible whereas she wanted to relax and chill. When I wanted to walk, she wanted to take a rick to drive us to the place, which was hardly few meters away. Though if you ask her about the trip she will have complains that I walk too fast, play in the sea uncontrollably or make her taste all kinds of stuff. For the record she enjoyed tasting the feni, until I told her what it was!
But one thing that she kept saying was how impressed she was with the trip plan and how matured I had become in handling issues. I think the admiration is mutual, for all her kvetching, my mom's a really good sport. One thing that I admire in her is her strength and confidence. For a person who is scared to soak her feet in the sea, I watched her play along the big crashing waves. For a minute my heart skipped a beat when I couldn't find her among the powerful waves but when she finally emerged, scrambling back to the sand, I could see her grinning ear to ear.
Most of us think we knew our mothers well, cause we have always been around them for our entire lives but what we tend to forget is we have not known them for all THEIR life. And taking this trip with her made me realise that. I got to see a different side of her, the crazy unseen version of her, the carefree mom who can be the perfect partner in crime.
She wants to go to Varnasi next! I know we will have our own conflicts, but am sure we'll strike our deals and meet somewhere in the middle so that it works for both of us.
Have you also travelled with your mom? share your experiences here..
