Stroller Power

Our daughter celebrated her first birthday a few weeks before our trip together as a family to Mauritius. My wife and I debated on the need to take the baby stroller with us. Convenience for the baby was the only argument for taking it whereas we could list down quite a few reasons not to take the stroller including the hassle of carrying it, extra luggage etc. to name a few.

Guess the emotional element of baby’s comfort finally overruled every other argument and we ended up carrying the stroller with us. Little did we know that the one year old who ‘convinced us’ to take the stroller was doing us a favour without which the entire trip would’ve been a disaster!

For all the young parents out there, stroller is one powerful accessory you should definitely include in your luggage. Here are some of the quick benefits we realized with this magical vehicle which contributed a lot to our peace of mind during this trip as well as the future ones:

Carrying the little ones

It is probably the most underestimated task especially if you’ve not experienced it before. When on a trip, carrying the kid in your hand can literally be dangerous for your health since sooner or later you’re going to figure out how much of a colossal effort that is! Placing the kid on the stroller not just helps you to be free but more importantly is extremely comfortable for the kid as well. Also, if you are a parent with two kids with minimal age difference you could alternate the usage of stroller so that you don’t tire out the elder one too much.

A push cart

Strollers though are designed primarily to carry kids, many parents use them as a push cart as required. This is even more applicable and useful when you are on a trip. There will be quite a few items that you may be required to carry which can all possibly be supported by this wonderful ride. 

Managing the stroller

Remember the hassles I mentioned earlier that we were debating about carrying the stroller as an extra luggage? If you are taking a flight, many airlines today allow you to carry the baby on the stroller itself till the point of boarding where they’ll take the stroller from you to check that in. A few other airlines’ take the stroller at the Check-in counter itself which you could collect at the destination. Do remember that due to the size of the stroller, it may not be arriving on the same carrousel / belt along with your luggage, instead could be arriving on the over-sized luggage carrousel. This again could be different for different airports.

On the other hand, if you are travelling by train or by road, you could easily find a spot to park the stroller either below the seats or in a luggage holding section if available. In any case, the good news is that managing a stroller isn’t that difficult as what we expected. The benefits a stroller provides definitely outweighs any inconvenience it may cause.

Having said this, there could be certain types of trips where you may want to consider twice before you plan to take a stroller. If your trip is to a beach destination or a challenging trekking expedition, taking a stroller may not necessarily provide you with the benefits cited above. On the contrary it may in fact add to your luggage making the trip more strenuous.

As I strongly believe, you can read or listen to the experience of others but never forget to apply common sense from your perspective to see what is best for you!

Bon voyage!   

Trip Elf: Your Travel Buddy

When it comes to travelling, there are three types of people in this world. Those who love to travel and explore the world around them is the first category. There are others who hate travelling for multiple reasons, mostly personal ones. We then have a third category who are occasional travellers.

Irrespective of the category you belong to, this is an attempt to share a few tips related to travel in general. If you are one who loves travelling, I’m sure you may have experienced some of these yourself and are welcome to make use of the rest. If you hate travelling, I’m positive that you may find some of these tips to help you to rethink on your resistance to travel since you don’t really know what you are missing!

This is a series on such tips that I keep gathering over my trips and am more than happy to share them with you. These will evolve over a period of time and I’ll keep adding to this series as and when I have something worth sharing.

Happy reading and enjoy your trip!

Travel Tips 01 – Planning Your Trip

Idly-Vada @ 45 miles

Exactly a decade back, with all the excitement in the world I stepped on to the soil of Atlanta for my first ever on-site assignment in life. Accommodation was arranged in a beautiful duplex house where I had a studio flat for myself! Considering the bare-minimum-living experience till that date, I couldn’t ask for more. It was sheer luxury! Soon I started getting adjusted to the American way of life which was the case to be for the next three months. As days passed, deep down in me I could feel a craving building up. There was one thing missing among all the glory, our very own Indian food!

I had enough of all the junk I was having day-in day-out. Soon I realised that a few members in my team shared the same feeling. We all have been longing to taste the delicacies from the good old cuisines of India. Somehow we figured out the presence of Saravana Bhavan, a well-known restaurant famous for South Indian specialities. The GPS in the car warned us about a long ride of 45 miles. We were determined.

Soon enough we parked next to what looked like heaven to all of us. The aroma of idly and dosa filled the air. Never in our lives have we noticed eyes sparkling with the sight of tiny bowls of chutney and sambar. We all ate to our hearts’ content and returned home as a bunch of happiest young minds. The 90 miles journey that day, was worth every moment though till then I never imagined that one day I’ll travel a distance such as this to savour one of the simplest of the dishes in India’s wide range of cuisines.

Looking back, the trip that we did years back reminded me of a valuable lesson in life. As cliché as it may sound, a pair of idly and vada taught us that there is no challenge in life that we can’t overcome if we are ready to push ourselves that extra mile. How many times in our lives we might have given up on something stating it is too difficult a task? How many fights we would’ve had with our loved ones saying it is not possible? How many opportunities would we’ve let go saying it is too far-fetched for me? All these are the moments which if we stretched ourselves a little more would’ve helped us relish the fruits of our labour.

I recollect a recent conversation at a social gathering by a friend who said you could be happy and write all these as long as you don’t have to face issues in life. All what I wanted to tell that friend is, God has not placed us on an altar preventing all the challenges from reaching us. Instead, we’ve our fair share of issues that we faced in the past and we continue to face challenges every other day. It is a combination of prayers, love and care that guides us forward, especially during trying times.

Happiness is not a constant natural state of mind. It is the result of our efforts we put in, just the way we drove 45 miles to get idly and vada. It is important that we consciously take an effort every day in our life and for sure it will return us the investment in the form of happiness. No one other than us can continue to create the magic of happiness in our life. Many a times these extra efforts we put in is more like a long term financial investment. We may not see an immediate result but for sure will see the result soon if we are patient enough. When it comes to investing in relationships, at least we can clearly be happy that our waiting time won’t be that long as the usual market funds.

Remember this always, when the going gets tough there is always a plate of happiness waiting for you at a distance. You just need to reach out for it and experience the bliss though it may seem an impossible thing to achieve.

God bless!