The Beginning
In March 2018, I was finally able to travel to Bali which was my first ever international trip. Two office colleagues and I had been planning this ‘girls only’ trip ever since we became friends after joining an MNC as freshers. You may say that 18 months is a lot of time to plan a trip. But we wanted this trip to be the most memorable and perfect trip in every sense. We planned and planned and planned!
The Planning
The travel agency involved in helping us travel went crazy with our bombardment of research of the most beautiful places in the world. Finally, we decided to go ahead with Bali because Bali is always a good idea according to everyone who has been there. We bombarded our travel peeps with our research knowledge on Bali and made sure our 7-day trip had every nook and corner of Bali on the itinerary.
The Anxiety
The trip began with ‘parents worried about their little girls’ leaving us at the airport and ended with us waving goodbye in tears to Rocki who was our tour guide for the entire trip. I have been living in Mumbai for over a decade now. The nature in its natural form has been manipulated by high rises and industries. Bali was our best shot to establish a connection to Mother Nature.
The Excitement
On our first day in Bali, after a long boring flight, our tired selves breathed Balinese air with the fragrance of frangipani and the sunlight freshened our senses strong enough to begin ticking off stuff on our self-made itinerary. We started exploring right away and thanks to our new friend Rocki, we ate Balinese food for the first time. We also ate the fruit mangosteen for the very first time. Over the next days, Rocki made sure he squeezed in places to explore that were not on our list. We explored places like Tanah Lot, Campuhaun Ridge Walk, Kintamani, Monkey Forest, Coffee Plantations, Pod Chocolate Factory and so on.
The Experience
Throughout the trip, we had the best experience in terms of food, adventure, and culture. We not only experienced Bali culture but we also made sure Rocki witnessed our Indian culture. We told him stories about our lives and we even treated him with Indian food on many occasions. Over days, we witnessed the spirituality of the people in Bali, the innocence they possess, the faith they have in their Gods(similar to us Indians), the kindness they share with one another and their caring nature towards us. We made friends everywhere we went. People in Bali are so friendly and adorable. In many instances, we were greeted by the people with statements like ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’, ‘Chalo Chalo’, ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’ and many other Bollywood references. We were surprised at how famous we Indians were worldwide
The Satisfaction
On the last day of our trip, we got to experience what Bali calls it as ‘The Silent Day’. On this day, we had to stay indoors and not even use our cell phones. The restaurants and shops had been closed for the day. Thankfully our hotel had a pool and us girls were just relaxing and bonding by the poolside. This has got to be my most relaxing and peaceful day where I barely touched my phone. I could feel my inner self talking to me through ideas and happy memories of the past. There was complete peace for the first time in my life. I wasn’t worried about what to do next, what to plan next, whether I should post on Instagram asap etc.
The Memories
They say all good things come to an end, and yes it was the end of our trip. We returned home to our anxious parents the next day. Battling our post-vacation blues, our lives got back to normal over the next week. Till date, the profound memories of the trip still gives me the chills of the wonderful experiences. The bond that we formed with Rocki was the reason our trip was so amazing. Even though we are miles away from him, we stay in touch with each other hoping that we meet soon. Life is too short for final goodbyes anyways ????
