I can finally say I am now a certified Project Management Professional!! 💃
This ball that I had to drop way back in 2014 because life was just too full, used to bother me at times. I finally decided I HAVE to get that certificate this year, if not for anything else, just for me, for me to get that self confidence that I can still do it, I am not yet irrelavant in the industry.
Phew! Done! Finally…
I wanted to start my 100 Happy days with Sam tales and a few good moments that are still making me smile.
The other night, he came to talk to me as I was about to fall asleep and said he made someone smile that day. I gave him the usual sleepy mom response “hmmm” and he says “that kid just needed some reassurance amma, so I sent him a message that he is awesome, becoz he was worried abt something. Everybody just needs a little reassurance sometimes, thats all”.
These days, with hubby travelling quite a bit, he keeps track of everything car related and since he calls me ‘kuLLi’ I take advantage of his height and keep calling him to reach the upper shelves 😉
He is now big enough to stay alone for an hour and heat up his own food after coming home from school while I am still at work. Though if I am home even the lunch dabba doesn’t get put in the sink.🤨 For someone like me, who never in all my school life was a latch-key kid and always had granny waiting with hot food, it feels like a big step towards him learning independence.
This time Sam has been reading my blogposts. Following everyday what I write-using his unwind time before bed to read them all. And he does not want me to stop!! He loved reading my old posts and suggested something brilliant! Read on…
Like always, I sigh a relief that I managed to post continuously for 31 days-even if it was all the travelogues? But this time, Im tempted to carry on, tempted to write more! I still have so much to write about! Books, music, movies- I never wrote about these?! How?
I’m also egged on ( to urge or encourage (someone) to do something that is usually foolish or dangerous) by the reluctance from all you fellow bloggers too who aren’t ready to give up yet. Yes, totally foolish maybe, but is anyone ready to take up the 100 Happy Days challenge again? That way we can just pop in here and write a couple of lines of positivity-for ourselves and the readers to smile and keep this connection going? It doesn’t have to be for the next 100days-something we can do through out the year? – This is what Sam suggested and to respect his thoughts maybe I am thinking I will take this up and start. Will you join me?
But for now, ciao, take care and alvida! Lets meet in the next post. Until then, thank you all for participating in the annual Jan blogathon and taking time to read and comment here! Tataah!
We still had 2 more days left in London after returning from Scotland, 1 of which was already booked as per hubby’s wishes – Wimbledon Tour. My brother decided to drive us to the tour booked at 11am as we had all not had the usual hours of sleep and were super sluggish that morning. The ticket again was just the 3 of us and N1 but thankfully my brother sweet talked at the office and the manager was kind enough to get him a ticket for the same tour as us. N1 plays tennis as a sport/hobby and despite being on the tour already she was more excited to walk us around and tell us anecdotes along with the tour guide 🙂 (Such precious moments). Also, I had managed to dress “formally” and even taken a dress just for this and as a write this, I’m wondering how we managed all our clothes and stuff with just 3 cabin bags!
One of the things on my list was the typical British high-tea experience that a couple of people had mentioned to us. We tried doing that one day at Fortnum-Mason but we had no time and other things to do that evening, so that day while we were at Wimbledon, my sweet SIL found a place closer home at Kingston-upon-Thames, on the river walk for the afternoon tea. My brother dropped us first and then went home to pick up SIL and N2. It is always suggested that we book the high-tea and give them specifications especially since they make it once we place the order and also because we have dietary restrictions being vegetarian and not eating mushrooms and such.
Then came the 3 hi-tea trays – 3 layers of savory sandwiches, sweet cakes and bread with clotted butter and jams and jellies. Along with hot chocolate for the kids and a selection of teas for all of us. We were all hungry, yes, but Oh My God! It all tasted heavenly and we devoured it all. If I remember right, only a couple of sweet ones were remaining that got packed for next morning. After all that food consumption, N2 who was not feeling too well, SIL and I decided to walk around and take some ‘insta worthy pictures’ then take the bus back home. The rest of them booked an hour long mini-golf and golf session and went there. The cheeky N2 realized her maama and Sam aNNa were not coming home with us, stuck to husband refusing to come to anyone else! He had to fake an emergency restroom to make her get off him and they all hid from her and ran! 😀 She was so upset and disappointed, that she kept asking who goes wee-wee for so long and cornered hubby as soon as they came back! We all had a good laugh at his predicament (I’m laughing even as I type this!)
I wrote in the very first post of this series about how much we ate and how we managed to walk it all off. SIL had also stocked the house with sweets and cakes and because I liked the elderberry tea, she even bought Elderberry juice for me. We all have a huge sweet tooth-my brother, N1,N2 and me so while it was difficult to keep the girls away, me and my brother hogged on all the sweets that were in the house.
The next day was easy and lazy, laundry day and packing, lunch at home and then N2 had decided to take me to the jui-jui (swings) and N1 wanted me to watch her play tennis. The weather gods had been kind to us through out the trip and the sun was out, so it was a perfect afternoon to go to the park and outdoor tennis court. We were out there for nearly 2 hours, after which husband and I took the bus while everyone else came by car to the Mexican restaurant for an early dinner. After yet another heavy dinner with Tres’ Leche for dessert (HAD to make my brother taste it!) husband and I were so full, that we decided to walk the 30minutes back home while everyone else went home by car. Like I said, weather was good, tummy was full and it was our last evening in London. This trip ended on a high-note.
It was hard waking up at 6am but we had to visit the remaining few places close to Portree before breakfast to avoid crowds. We had a relatively shorter drive as we were flying out of Inverness and we could not possibly leave Scotland without visiting the LochNess monster so we had the cruise booking for Loch Ness at 4.30pm that afternoon.
We rushed out at 7am to the Old Man of Storr view point, An leth-allt, Kilt rock and Mealt falls and drove up to the Quairang trail head and parking area for the views though we were not doing any hikes. Our idea worked out well because there was no one around and we again lost track of time and got back to the hotel just in time before the breakfast closed at 11.30am. We checkout with the intention of going back to see the Claigan Coral beach but this being a local spot preceded by farms, by the time we reached there, the cars were backed up for more than a mile with no parking spots available and we were running out of time to stop uphill and walk to the beach, we skipped it and started the drive to Inverness.
The idea was to have lunch in Inverness but we were so short on time that we managed with the car snacks and reached the cruise port with 15mins to board. The Loch Ness cruise was informative with plenty of geographic information-the water is always at 5C irrespective of the weather and no swimming is allowed because of its depth and apparently the water is very dark. We lived to tell the tale so we did not get to see the LochNess Monster 😀
Our flight from Inverness to London was at 8.30pm so the idea was to reach the airport by 7pm so we had ample time to return the rental car and figure out how to get to the airport. On the drive back from Loch Ness we were all so hungry that I looking for restaurants near the airport I found Saffron with good reviews. It was in a locality with all other shops and we reached there by 6.30pm. We were short on time and starving so we ordered thalis and the Bangladeshi chef came to us, gave us hot yummy food and told us to eat without hurry because in her experience we could get to the airport in 15mins and even if we reached by 7.45pm we could still make it to the flight! The food was fresh, hot,crispy with right spices and we polished the food off the plate!
We are known to cut our time short always on our return flights and the same happened. My stress levels had hit their highest so I did the mature thing and kept quiet while husband handled the return formalities and we got to know we had to be dropped by car to the airport! Thankfully we made it to the airport by 7.55pm and for some odd reason Sam’s shoes were searched because he had apparently stamped something suspicious and that took another forever (in my head) and we reached the small lounge area with just enough time for restrooms and boarding! My brother had booked a car for us to be picked up and we reached home again by midnight.
And then I’m speechless. Yes, speechless, me!
This was the most ambitious day I had planned-the longest, full day of driving along the Scottish Highlands all the way from Edinburgh in the east to Isle of Skye-the West most point of Scotland. When I first proposed the idea to SIL, she was very particular that if we were going to Scotland we HAD to see the Isle of Skye. Nothing else came even close, she said. The only caveat was, they had spent an entire week there, how were we supposed to do it in a day?
So I looked at the map, figured the distances, noted my must-see places and came up with the route. We knew we had a really long day ahead when we woke up at 6 and took the bus after a quick free breakfast in the hotel to the airport to pick up the rental car. By 9.30am we were on the road and on the way along the country-side.
No research, no insta pictures nothing can explain the beauty of these cloud covered mountains and misty, windy narrow roads and then suddenly the vistas that open up that the eyes don’t know where to look and the mind is trying to capture everything around and the heart is singing its own happy tune. One deep fresh breath of air. I had heard that Ireland and Scotland have so much natural beauty, read about them but I do not know how to express them in words here. What started with us feeling like we were driving the roads of Ooty or the mists of Kodaikanal soon turned into, where to look and what to see and how can there be so much heart swelling, breath taking beauty. Maybe the fact that there were no other cars around, just a couple that we pass through unless we are near a touristy spot or a village added to the charm. We pulled over on multiple road sides, took a million and more pictures of mountains and streams, valleys and greens and lavendar hillsides. Until it was noon, we were hungry and were not even half way through the journey! We parked on a roadside over looking a hill shrouded in clouds that looked like it was raining on the top, had the biryani that we had packed like a picnic lunch and this time started driving with the intention of not stopping anywhere. At the very next Loch all the determination just fell through and we had to stop again to enjoy the beauty and go touch the cool water and skip some stones. A search for clean restroom took us to a guesthouse/bar and to our surprise it was owned by Indians! In that remote place we were plesantly surprised and on talking with the person at the service desk, got to know that there are plenty of Indians across Scotland!
We somehow managed to get to some of the spots that evening though. I wanted us to be at a beach for sunset, but we dropped that idea but managed to see the Eileen Donan castle, Dunvegan castle, Sligachan old bridge, hiked to a couple of fairy pools and then ended up at the Neist Point Lighthouse to see the sunset. Since we had seen 2 castles already, we were not interested in paying fees to go inside these castles and the fact that none of these were too far from our route, we could manage to cover them all that afternoon. Given that the sunset was not until 8.30pm, we thankfully had enough sunlight and no rain to even hike to a couple of fairy pools. Neist point lighthouse was closed to the public but we can get onto the highest cliff around it to watch the sunset. The only drawback was here. I had read about small mosquitoes called midges during this season that can cause havoc but we did not realize how bad it was until we parked at the lighthouse parking. We noticed people wearing nets around their hats and spraying bug spray but even then we did not realize how serious it was. As soon as we got down, swarms of midges kind of attacked us! Except for our eyes, we tried to cover every part of our body (they were even getting into our nose!) and walked to the edge of the cliff to take in the views. Unfortunately there was no way we were prepared to stay there for another 30mins for the sunset. Neither could we just sit and enjoy the sunset in peace. So we took a few pictures and left the place immediately.
Which turned out to be a good thing because while during the day time we don’t realize, there are no lights anywhere, vast stretches of land with no other vehicles and winding narrow roads made our drive very slow and by the time we reached our hotel in Portree it was 10pm. We were tired and hungry and when I searched for restaurants, found an Indian restaurant that was open until 10.30pm and it was walking distance from the hotel! We quickly rushed and gave his last order of the day for simple dal and rotis. Such a relief after a long day journey to eat our food, hot and yummy. We even taught a young couple (looked like they were there on a date) who looked at us eating our rotis with hand and tried to emulate us with very little success. Poor girl dropped the dal on her white dress and I felt so bad for her. Back to the hotel and in bed by midnight.
We had planned to do 3 days of Scotland right in the middle of our 9 days vacation as the flights were cheaper and to give my SIL and brother a break from us and the running around. Our flight was at 7am in the morning, landing at 8.45-Edinburgh time. I had done my research and found out that we could just take the bus from the airport to our hotel that we had booked right in the heart of the city and avoid renting a car for that day, as once we got to the city, everything was within walkable distances.
Just the drive from the airport to the city gave us a glimpse of how the old and the new are so neatly merged and co-existent in the old city. We had booked the Edinburgh castle with audio tour for 11am so the idea was to checkin and leave. This hotel was so well integrated-the outside was old stone structures and inside was about 5 buildings joined together by labyrinths and bridges that we kept hitting walls and doors trying to figure out our room! We finally had to ask a hotel staff that was there and he took us to our room and now that we had the key card, he showed us the easy way to get to our room when we got back. The hotel is situated on a cobble stone street with small shops around we all picked up egg pockets for a quick breakfast.
We rushed out at 10.30am thinking that the walk to the castle showed 1.1miles and around 20mins only to realize that we had to climb a steep hill to get to the castle entrance. I had to be literally dragged and pulled along for us to make it to the top with 1 minute delay but thankfully we were allowed entry and given the earphones for the audio guide. We started our tour to the chapel, soldiers quarters, war museum and got to the top of the castle right by 1pm to hear the one-o-clock gun salute. We stood in line for another tour of the Scotland crown jewels some belonging to Mary Queen of Scots (if you have seen the series). The views of the city from the top were worth it though and true to Scotland’s nature there were mini showers and sun playing peek-a-boo with the clouds.
I had read about all the restaurants at the Grass Market so we walked down a thousand steps (it felt like) to have lunch there. Found restaurants there that were started in the 18th century and still continuing to be a happening pub and resto-bar kind of place. It was peak summer and tables were put outside on the square with all the restaurants serving food and drinks outside. I guess everyone prefers to sit out when the sun is shining which is a rare occurrence there! We were very hungry so we stuck to staple pizzas and hot chocolate and coffee to drink while people watching.
We again walked all the way around the Edinburgh castle to the Prince’s Gardens and the Ross Fountain to take the most famous picture of the fountain with the castle in the background, walked along the park to the 100year old flower clock that is still running and by then we had all run out of steam. We walked back to the hotel, took a nice long nap for an hour (I think the jetlag and the constant running around had caught up with us) and then started the walk to the Royal Mile.
Did I mention that, that was the week of the Fringe Festival? What an experience! That really made us feel that we should have stayed there for all the 3 days! So much activity, so much art, so many talented artists, drama, action, color and sound! Phew! We spent more than the time we thought we would there – watched multiple street artists perform and then as per plan walked to Calton Hill to see the National Monument and catch the sunset.
Beware of google maps! Seriously! It says everything is less than 2miles but the walks are all steep and take longer than 20-30mins. We did get to Calton hill before sunset but watching the clouds gathering I realized that we not only would not be able to see the sunset but would also get drenched if we stayed there longer and walked back.
Remember we tried to get a dinner reservation at Dishoom in London? Well, we figured out there was a Dishoom in Edinburgh too and hoping that, it being a weekday there would be lesser crowds. How wrong we were! But we were told that we could wait at their bar area until our table was called. The food was really good and so were the mocktails. We knew we had a full day drive the next day and we were not sure if we would be getting any good food options so we ordered jackfruit biryanis as takeaway for the next day. When I asked the waitress if she could pack it for us for the next day, she very generously also provided us with disposable cutlery and packed it in 3 separate boxes for easy eating. We really appreciated her kind gesture and that’s a big difference we see in the hotel industry here. Another 10mins walk back to the hotel along the rain drenched cobbled streets with the views of the castle ended our day in Edinburgh.
Scotland got out the poet in my son! I will write all about Scotland in the upcoming posts, but this should be a curtain raiser:
If Scotland was an energy drink and it said “with no artificial flavors” then it wouldn’t be lying at all.
If you see cliff and hills don’t be frightened; because on the other side are mountains and the sea that makes you enlightened!
If you are climbing up hills its an uphill battle; But beyond the hills you see the Edinburgh castle!
The only must do, today was to show Sam the change of Guards at Buckingham palace in the morning. It was typical London weather day-cloudy with drizzle when we left home which thankfully stopped by the time we got to the palace and throngs of people waiting for this. Bus loads of people, peak summer weather, it felt like all of London tourists were there. We somehow managed to find a spot near the circle and stood there for over an hour to watch the change of guards after which Sam said “oh, this is it? Why did we spend so much time standing to watch this?!” From there we walked to Trafalgar Square to meet up with my brother, SIL and the nieces and went in search of lunch. We did not get a proper lunch however had yummy brunch of Crepes at the hippodrome. Lip smacking delicious and there were a couple of savory varities for Sam, SIL and hubby who don’t have such a sweet tooth as the rest of us. We did a lot of walking and taking the train that day – Leicester Square for the Swiss clock, tried to go to Sky Garden that was hugely recommended on Insta for the city skylines but again too crowded and no time to take entry ticket, so walked to historic Leadenhall Market, ate croissants and had coffee at a French patisserie inside the market while little N2 napped in her stroller, walked around in the rain, saw my brother’s office building, went to Fortnum Mason inside Royal Exchange and checked out the expensive mall. We went in search of the red phone booth – which was so dirty, there was no way I would have entered it for even a picture. My brother kept telling me that I had these touristy notions and all these red phone booths were vandalized and used by the homeless but I had to see it to believe it!
We finally reached the famous Oxford street for some window shopping and like SIL said, a check mark that we went there too. There was nothing that I liked or excited me so while both hubby and me did not buy anything, Sam convinced my brother to buy him an expensive Air Jordon that we had said a vehement NO to. My brother and SIL very sweetly said that they agree its too expensive “you don’t buy it for him, you continue to be strict but this one time from us to him, let it go!” The boy worships those shoes – checks the weather now before he wears them anywhere! By 7pm we were done there and we had an early morning flight on Tuesday to Edinburgh so ordered Indian food delivery and reached home by 8pm, ate and slept. I have to add this last sentence-every side dish had its own unique taste-not the same tomato/cream paste that we get here.
This was our itinerary for Sunday morning. One incentive for hubby to go to London was the promise of visiting the Lords cricket stadium. Being a huge cricket fan, he tried to see if he could get tickets to watch any matches in that stadium but unfortunately there weren’t any scheduled that week. In a way it was also a boon that we got to visit the dressing rooms and the telecommunications room, plenty of anecdotes of who, what happened etc; The guide explained that every player had a favourite place and I went and sat where apparently Rahul Dravid used to sit and Sam sat where Joe Root sits.
SIL had given clear instructions to my brother on the train station, where to change,where to eat-everything so we simply got onto 1 train, went to Baker street and the place where SIL had suggested for food was too busy so picked up Subway. We saw a queue and wondered what it was for and realized that it was to enter the Sherlock Holmes museum! My SIL wanted us to see that but it was timed ticketed entry which we were not aware of, so we missed seeing that. We managed to ride the red double decker bus to Tower of London bridge – took some pictures as we walked on it, a postcard to send home to a friend and reached Tower of London where SIL and N2 were waiting for us. Another timed ticket entry for 4 of us while N2,SIL and brother would wait at the nearest Starbucks for us. The line to see the Crown Jewels was so long and we could not take photographs inside. Maybe because there are diamonds from Africa and the Kohinoor on the crown, jewels and artifacts from Nepal, Burma-so many colonies. The amount of plundering they have done!
We walked out of Tower of London to the banks of river Thames around 5pm, grabbed a coffee and walked along the Tower Bridge to catch the next train that would take us to the Thames river cruise we had missed the previous evening. It was a beautiful summer sunday evening and a joyful atmosphere all along the Queen’s walk where we saw the HMS Belfast in the river and the fun, colorful installation, malls and streets decked with flowers. My SIL made sure she took me to some of the ‘Instagrammable’ places. The cruise was pleasant with the guide showing us the difference between the actual London Bridge and the Tower of London Bridge, pointing out the old Shakesphere theatre and other monuments along the banks of the river.
We had heard of an Indian restaurant named Dishum that was supposed to be top-rated, so we took the train to Covent Garden. SIL had warned us that she could not get dinner reservations so we might not be able to get a table but we still decided to take a chance. Unfortunately the wait time was over an hour it was already past 7pm, so we ditched that idea but Covent Garden is such a happening place that we soon found another Thai restaurant for dinner. It had been a long day for us and N2 was hungry, tired and cranky and the service was too slow, they forgot an order so by the time we got home all of tired and changing 2 trains it was almost 11pm.
life's little twists 