Shimla-The Queen of Emotions

It was always a dream, not just being in that journey but writing about it on my own blog. It feels joyful doing that damn thing which you have been waiting for more than a year.

From traveling inside a toy train, seeing the snow-capped Himalayas, riding through the pine and apple farms, smelling snow for the first time, experiencing the air of 1 degree, being at 4000 ft altitude, and actually summing up these things feels so momentous.

I am summing up part by part so that you guys don't get bored!

1. Iternary:

Our Iternary doesn't go the way we want. We planned in a way that we can cover everything easily but it doesn't happen over there. The entire plan was done on the basis of google and other recommendations, but when we landed and got local support, they told us, it cannot be done this way. The places were the same but they were arranged in a different manner. However it went, we came up here with snowful memories and a handful of happiness.

TIP NO 1: Always seek local support for planning so that you don't get surprised on the spot. It is always better to go with some organization if it's your first time.

Day 1: Junga, HP. This is the place where we can tick off our bucket list -"Paragliding".

Day 2: Kufri and Narkanda. Kufri is not an impressive place to visit other than its off-road horse rides and the road trip it offers. The place doesn't offer you great things.

But Narkanda is heaven. Here is where you can bathe in snow and feel the temperature hustling between 1 degree to -1 degree. The road trip from Shimla to Kufri and Narkanda is never a miss. Such scenic off roads, curvy lines, riding closer to the great Himalayas, landslide boards, tons of pine trees, beautiful sunsets. One of the best road trips you can have in your life.

Day 3: This was the luckiest day because we could actually experience the snowfall. The entire Shimla got its first Snowfall after a year on this day. We covered all the local places on day 3. Seeing Shimla covered up with big clouds and mountains was the highlight of this day.

Day 4 & Day 5: The next two days were spent in the capital- Delhi. Unluckily we couldn't cover up our most wanted places due to covid restrictions. Bangla Sahib Temple, Red fort, Birla Mandir, and Sarojini Market were the places we covered in Delhi.

This does not bother us much because we learned that every north trip must be passed via Delhi so we can surely cover it up next time.

2. How did we reach SHIMLA?

Reaching Shimla was quite difficult because the only way you can visit is by road or by toy trains. (Not even the express trains) One can choose the way where we can touch the nose indirectly and that's the way we chose. The only reason behind it was, we were so determined to travel by toy train.

Chennai - Delhi, Via Flight
Delhi - Kalka, Via Train. If you need to travel by toy train, the only possible train is from Kalka.
Kalka - Shimla, Via Toy Train. So the entire traveling time was around 16 hours.

The second option is directly touching the nose by taking a flight to Chandigarh and traveling via Car to Shimla.

3. Toy Train:

Should I write an entire blog about this was my primary thought? Cause it was one of my favorite train journeys of my entire life. Covering around 8 states in a train, I haven't felt so lively other than this one train. Also, we got separate tickets and I got the long waited self-time on this train.

Crossing around 90 tunnels, seeing the beautiful sunrise, spotting the kindest humans of Himachal, sighting "The great Himalayas" and a 6-hour journey of spending alone, such a heavenly and a gifted ride it was.

4. How did we convince our first trip?

I have to answer this because we got a lot of messages on this one thing. Touchwood We did not put a lot of effort into asking permission to go. My dad was like you can even go alone if you're traveling to any southern part of India but I will not send you to the North if there are only 2 people coming. That's how the gang started to be 4 and then 5. Even my friends didn't expect an immediate yes from their parents. They were like, let's ask and get scolded instead of not asking. But the reverse happened and yeah that's how we made our first trip.

It's about taking the first damn step and being courageous to ask. I prepared dialogues for 1 week to just ask permission. But it felt so easy than we thought. That's when we understood they are just concerned about Safety and permission was just a small part. We crossed a lot of VIVA, advice sessions to be honest.

5. Takeaways from this entire trip:

Always have an "OFF DAY" when you are traveling. Don't pack too tight because we need time to breathe and always our body conditions don't work out for changing climates and temperatures. So keep a "Leave day" and later use that day for covering up places you haven't covered.

Always be friendly with your team and locals, drivers. Cause you need to spend the entire trip with them so be good with them. Also, we had a very safe trip and I felt people are always better than we think.

Few journeys are needed to be taken with the best people and few journeys are need to be taken alone. Since I traveled with my best friends, I didn't get a lot of opportunities to talk with the local people of that town, find stranger friends, and be local. So there definitely needs a distinction of what you are seeking from that particular journey. If you're seeking a vibing and enjoyable trip, then who can be best other than your friends? Or if you're looking for an off-route solo trip, then you can combine yourself with an organization where you will meet people for the first time, and it's a different feel. So I learn the biggest difference between traveling in a group and solo.

Watch more than capture it. There is a famous TED talk that goes "If you're capturing things with your lens, you're actually missing the real moment". I learned this one thing in the best possible way and captured things only after my eyes scanned them.

The last and final lesson was that "It wasn't easy". Let me be honest, being closer to negative degrees wasn't great. It was freezing cold. But traveling is all about it. I have seen myself and my friends throwing those gloves away when it was snowing. We posed for every picture with a smile of cold. So traveling is all about learning to be in the most uncomfortable situation and handling it in the best way. And this one journey was a small part for a girl who wants to climb every damn mountain in this world. So it wasn't easy and that's the sweetest part of traveling.

I am not missing the place but I am missing that one damn thing-"Blowing air while talking". Now I cant do it in Chennai and if I do people will find me crazy. That's a different feel. That's it. It felt so lively to be freezing and smiling at the same time. Also, a special thanks to all of our parents who gave us a thumbs up. Of course, my best friends, thank you for being so great and mature. You guys are awesome and of course, we will not end with this one trip.

Himachal, Thank you for being so kind and cold. It's just the beginning and for sure my next trip would definitely be to "SPITI".

Thank you for tolerating with me for these 6 days. Thank you for reading till the end and have a fantastic 2022.

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Lots of love,

Sai Aparna.