Planning a Trip Is Definitely Fun !

My sister and my best friend are experts in planning a trip and I always thought it is a more challenging job than what cooking was to me 5 yrs back ! It has been a while since we made an International trip and as the little one is now almost 4, we thought a trip to Singapore would entertain her. Hubby gave the responsibility to me to decide on everything regarding the trip right from hotels, flights and even places to visit. However he set an budget for the trip and I had to fit everything in the budget ! 

Having no previous experience of planning a trip myself, I was totally blank. I had approached a couple of travel agents to send me a quote and most of them failed. Few of them couldn't get a 4 star accomodation for my budget and the rest sent a standard format they already had [Singapore 4 Days 3 Nights Package or Singapore + Malaysia Package] with them without even going through my requirements. Those mails directly went to the trash. 

I googled, googled and googled and had a list of places in mind and wanted the trip to be for 7 days when the rest of the travel agents just skipped most of the places and added places of their own interest like museum, temple, etc ! These mails went to trash too. It was shocking how lazy or reluctant these travel agents were. So I decided to go on my own and it was a bold decision according to me :D

So I looked for some deals for flights to and fro and since we were travelling with a child we skipped budget airlines like Tiger Airways. The next best deal was with Indigo and to and fro for 3 of us it came to 45k approximately, in spite of booking it almost 30 days before the trip !

Next comes the hotel booking, the most challenging one. Since Singapore is a very expensive city we either had to compromise and go for budget accomodation or else we should be ready to spend 1/3rd of our entire budget on accomodation !! I was too confused so after selecting 3 hotels - 2 budget and one 4 star, hubby gave green signal to go ahead with the 4 star one. This is the best decision we would have ever made and we realized it only during our stay. Will share details in the coming posts. We decided to go ahead with Albert Court by Far East Hospitality in Bugis which was an amazing location. Just few kms away from Little India and Bugis, a shopping hub ! Yay ! The cheapest deal available was on Ibibo and we booked a room that came with break fast and free wi-fi. For 6 nights and 7 days the cost was 75 K. Phew ! But I repeat again that was the best decision made EVER :D

Since I had already decided on the places to visit all that was left was to schedule which place to visit on which days. For Eg - Sentosa tickets were expensive on weekends so we had to schedule it for weekdays and we planned to do shopping and city tour during the weekends. This way we saved on our entry tickets to various places which was again very expensive !

All was well planned and we were ready 1 day before the actual date of departure. Trip Advisor played a major role in deciding the hotel and places to be seen.

Wait for the next post on our flight journey and Day 1 experience along with few pics too :)

♥ Aarthi ♥

Reading, Writing and a Cup Of Coffee

I keep changing my routine as I can't do anything in the same pattern, same way for more than 6 months time. Well, 6 months is the maximum time I can hold on to. Though I am a full time mom and a part time blogger I follow a schedule/routine for myself and I like to work that way. So, often I change my routine to make my work more interesting. Here, by work I mean everything I do in a day - cooking, managing the kid, dropping her and picking up her from school, gardening, writing, reading, shopping, cleaning the house, re arranging things and so on. 

As a recent addition to my routine I have started reading again which I am resuming after full 3 years !! As the little one grew, she does keep herself occupied for some time and I take that time to go through a nice novel or it might be even flipping the pages of a magazine. Having a little of 'my' time does give a lot of happiness and satisfaction and that little break keeps me going for the rest of the day.

Neither hubby nor my daughter would be happy to see me having a dull or sad face. This 'Me' time helps me a lot in having a happy face all day. Very recently I found a comfortable place on my dining where I sit with my laptop and a cup of coffee every evening. The window by the side gives a great view of all greenery and faint sounds of birds chirping adds more fun to the 'Me' time. I approximately spend some 1 hr here, say from 3.30-4.30 PM, which is all I need before I gear up the energy to tackle the kid who would wake up anytime with full energy and craves for some great physical activity. I am glad this recent change in my routine [in the past I would just bury myself in the bed or will be slouching in a couch !] has helped me be more active and energetic, which makes my daughter and myself so happy.

Wondering what is my point here?

Well, just find some time for yourself and don't have the same routine for a very long time. Minor adjustments to your routine can change your life totally. Try working out or even just a walk in the evening would help, try gardening or at least buy few saplings and water them everyday. Just do anything that would interest you and do some little things just for 'yourself'. Just give it a try ! Have a 'Me' time.

For me Reading, Writing and a Cup of Coffee is my 'Me' time :D

♥ Aarthi ♥

People Change & So Do Their Preferences !!!!

I really don't want to write the same old story about how I missed being here and promises [fake] on how I will be regular here after.. Shame on Me !! But.. Still.. I just feel like saying a small secret whisper - 'Miss You' to this little space.. my Utopia :(

I am really surprised to see some obvious changes in me as I grow old - be it good or bad it just happens and we live like that - with changes within us or even around us ! When it happens to people around us, sometimes it becomes a bit hard to accept it. Have you ever felt it ? I am going through one right now.

One of my best friend who always loved me more than I did and who always said that irrespective of how I am she would still be the same to me, changed overnight ! Or might be the change happened gradually but I just didn't realize it :p We have always been there for each other and there were no secrets between us. If you know me you would know her too and vice versa ! But what got in the change? Her financial growth ? The people around her? The society she is exposed to? I don't have an answer !

I had all the rights on her and it even extended to her close circle until one day this random 'X' came into her life. We both felt that her life without this 'X' would have been much much better as it was truly like a pain in the ass [PITA]! It was always there, how much ever she tried to get rid of it. One random day (say after an year or so) we ended up talking about 'X' and I was surprised to see her opinion towards that PITA had changed completely. Knowing about 'X' [all from her] I couldn't stand it when people change their mind so often ! We got in to an argument on how she can't go praising all of a sudden about 'X' and how can she forget how X = PITA a while ago !! For all my doubts, anger, frustration, curiosity and confusion her only answer was - 'It is better you don't talk about 'X' any more '! Gosh ! I was taken aback... Because I had all rights to talk about her, her mom, her dog and every single living thing around her but not 'X' !! 

It was a total shock initially but now, after a couple of months, I learnt how to handle this. I just ignored everything that happened and I had to accept the fact that 'People Change And So Do Their Preferences' !!

 I feel so much better and light when I started accepting the change :D