Vaishno Devi - When covid was at peak

Yes you read that right . Vaishno devi when covid was at peak in August. The temple have been thrown open for devotees on 16 th August. We first have obtained yatra parchi online on vaishno devi shrine website and helicopter tickets as well. We required a covid negative test as well
Let's go
We reached Indira Gandhi International Airport at 7:00 a.m. and our fight was scheduled for 8:40 a.m. We are not allowed to use trolleys so it was getting bad. We reached Jammu airport by 10 a.m. There we were again tested and then we were allowed to move forward. We booked a taxi from jammu to katra helipad @₹1600 after much bargain. Remember you have spare time as army keeps on closing roads in between. We reached helipad by 12:40 p.m. but much to our dismay the weather was bad and so we have to cancel our railway tickets and at 2:30 p.m we started our trek . ( Remember after corona the prices of helipad tickets have increased from ₹1045 to ₹1730 one way). There were no people surrounding us . Very sparse we met people. Most of the shops and sheds have been broken and rarely some are open .We took an auto from helipad to banganga @₹200. At 3 pm we had lunch of gobhi parathas and started trekking upwards. ( We were not tested at katra because we have been tested at jammu itself). At 5:30 pm we reached battery car point. They are available from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. now and prices were ₹354 for adhkuwari to bhawan and ₹236 p.p. for bhawan to adhkuwari. We reached bhawan at 9 pm as we have to wait for people as they run when full people come in one round. At 9:30 we again took a battery car and reached back to adhkuwari . Accomodation was not available at that time so we spread our blankets and slept there only. This marked the end of a tidious day

At 5 a.m. we started trek downwards and reached at banganga  And then took an auto from Banganga to katra bus stand because we have to reach jammu. ( Keep in mind to have spare days while going in covid months as you may miss your train). We have cancelled and again booked tickets from jammu to Delhi in Second ac @₹4000 approx. We reached jammu at 10 am. ( Bus fare ₹90p.p.) And then went to market for buying some clothes . Then we booked a guest house very near to railway station @₹900 for one day . Then we have breakfast lunch and dinner in guest house itself. We boarded Jammu -. New Delhi Covid special ( rather rajdhani) at 8 pm and reached new delhi at 5 a.m. in the morning . We were so happy to fulfill the holy trek even in the time of crisis. You may go but remember that only online booking is allowed and very sparce shops are open. All the booking can be done online only. People below age of 10 and more than 60 are not allowed. And current limit is 7000 persons daily. Horses and palkis have also started. May you have a good journey . Jai mata di