The Unglamorous Face Of Vacations

The plane takes off and the vacation begins. Rest is something everyone is aware of. The spam of pictures on social media. The countless poses for those pictures. The travel diaries. The wanderlust hashtags. Inspiring quotes as captions. Delectable food stories. But there are things about vacations, nobody talks about, nobody shows off! I call these the unglamorous face of vacations!

The Packing Check-lists

The quality of being a planner, a diligent one while planning any vacation, also comes with the responsibility of packing wisely. The rise of road-trips in the last few covid-affected years have spoiled the packing style for sure, given the room for extra luggage in the trunk of the car! But as we returned to the 15kg baggage limit, the notepad was pulled out to create the not-so-fancy checklist for the stuff that should be packed and not about the stuff that can be packed!

The Mountain of Laundry

I like treks, I seriously do. But the kind of mountain I don’t prefer is the one sitting in the corner of the room staring at me. The time merrily spent in posing beautiful dresses is directly proportional to the height of this mountain, I can assure you! It is only at this time that any woman might accept that she actually has too many clothes! Ah, here goes the timer off of my washing machine after the nth round of laundry. Sigh!

The Thirst of Plants

We are not super-enthusiastic about gardening but we do proudly call ourselves plant parents to a few scores of pots in our balcony and around the house. This plant-parenthood leads to a bit of guilt when we have to leave these leafies behind, hoping they will survive without our love, and water perhaps. So far, our travels have not been responsible for the death of any particular plant-baby. So keeping our fingers crossed as we plan the next one.

The Re-stocking Game

Having to empty the fridge before setting it on vacation mode when leaving is a task in itself but then coming back to an empty one and going through the struggle of restocking it fully is another challenge all together. Why, you would ask. The empty fridge will definitely trigger cleaning sessions in the middle of a restocking session, as it happened when we returned from previous vacation.

The House Cleanse

It takes no time to turn a mermaid-by-the-beach to the maid-of-the-house! Indian weather leaves no scope for extended relaxation after a vacation, since the amount of dirt found in the house is directly proportional to the number of days the house has been locked. The house-help who enjoyed an unasked break herself doesn’t shy away from making a face when asked to put in extra efforts while restoring the cleanliness of the house. May God give you extra strength if you have open spaces in the house which would become bird sanctuaries, particularly for pigeons. Oh, the mess they create!

The Post-Vacation Blues

Sure the returning back to the regular dal-chawal life feels comforting after days of excitement, but the memories also keep haunting. The difficulty in returning to mundane life is directly proportional to the duration of the vacation. It feels like only the body has returned while your soul is still wandering in the mountains or taking a walk on the beach. When you start to forget the login credentials of work accounts, remember to plan a shorter duration for future vacations, or not! Who am I kidding!

All said and done, no matter how many pains a travel plan may invite, I would gladly bear them all for the simple joys of those few days away from everything. Oh, the buzzer at the washing machine went off again! Catch you later, after surviving the avalanche of the laundry mountain.

Tell me what’s your least favourite part of your vacations?