Trip to Vaishno Devi + Kashmir changed to Puri Jaganath + Bhuvneshwar in no time

Like every other IT employee even I had lot of leaves which is going to get expired by year end so had a very good thought of utilizing it to the fullest. Considering where my mom wanted to visit and where I never visited, we had multiple options 

    1. Isha Foundation 

    2. Tirupati 

    3. Vaishno Devi 

    4. Any International travel 

I have seen so many posts/videos of Isha Foundation that I really wanted to experience the peace, but when I actually visited Isha Foundation site looks like Isha Stay is booked for the whole month(coming 2 to 3 months as well) and it also says "please do not book any flight until your stay is booked" this sentence was more than enough for me to cancel Option 1. 

    Now I am just left with Option 2 and 3, so I started checking out Tirumala website to book Tirupati Special Darshan, but my luck was so bad that looks like tickets needs to be booked 3 months earlier and that too on a specific date and clearly it's not possible to find one, still I did not give up and googled about tickets and finally found "Breakup Darshan" was excited but in no time I went from this 😇to this😒, seeing that the ticket costs a bomb of 10K INR per head which is more than the price of the flight tickets to many other states in India. 

    This time I did more work on my itinerary for Vaishno Devi, checked out plethora of travel sites and came to a conclusion that I shall plan for Vaishno Devi + Kashmir trip for 5 days. The price of travel through sites was min 40k per head which doesn't include Flight charges and that to an average stay which was pricey. As this was a plan for myself and most importantly my mommy I wanted the trip to be little luxurious or a comfortable stay. Ditching all the travel sites I right away checked the hotels and flights only at Vaishno Devi location and booked both of them without any flexi benefits considering I would check with the hotel for further Kashmir trip. No sooner the tickets were booked 1 or 2 days later there's a news about snowing heavily and the same continued for a week, I had to cancel the flights and room right away considering the situation. 

    Now that my mind is already on the vacation mode and it's not even a week that my leaves are approaching I had to plan something. Remember the idiom "empty vessels make much noise", yes the same happened with me when all the plans got flopped, my brain was empty and full of chaos. I started checking for Option 4: International Travel like Dubai, Malaysia. After spending my night on this and sharing it with mom in the morning, tadaa my mom says why don't we go for Puri Jaganath(she had a smiling and exciting face when she asked this) like every other daughter / son Mom's happiness comes first 😍and also we already thought of visiting Puri last few months ago during the yatra but we couldn't make it. As expected, even Option 4 went in vain and I had to start look out for Puri Itinerary. Checked with my friend Swayam(Thank you for being there always) who is from Bhuvneshwar to understand which location to stay, the weather conditions and few must places to visit. Booked the flight tickets to Bhuvneshwar and these tickets also had an option to add the additional Bhuvneshwar to Puri cab(Puri is 60 kms away from Bhuvneshwar airport) and cab from my home to Hyderabad airport. I opted for this as I did not want to  hurry burry with last minute bookings. Also, this time I added the flexi benefits(+600 INR) in my flight booking which allowed me to select the seats for free(else 350/seat) + free food(else 400 / meal). Trust me please do include these benefits as the seats, food tickets got waved off and even any cancellations would make a smaller hole in my pocket unlike the Vaishno Devi flight cancellation which I had to let go with a smile as nothing could be done 😪. 

    Planned the trip on a proper Weekday as its "Karthikamasam" and heard from my friend that its going to be crowded. Few of my friends who ever knew I am taking leave are aware of my trip to Vaishno Devi and this is going to be a surprise to them as well as I went to Puri Jaganath+ Bhuvneshwar trip instead of Vaishno Devi + Kashmir trip.