A Double Vacation in a Picture Perfect Paradise 

 My family and I  hadn't gone on a vacation for a very long time, First, there was the first wave of covid in the year 2020, then the second in 2021. It was rough for everyone, many people were stuck at home, and many people lost their job, lost their families, and friends. In 2022, I had my class 10th Board Exams and I was so occupied in that. When my Board exams got over I had finally taken a sigh of relief. So after my exams got over my family and I decided that we should go on a vacation that was much needed.

After doing a lot of research we all got to the conclusion that we will go on a vacation, In MANALI, amidst the hilly slopes, is a paradise for mountain lovers with spell-binding views, charming streams, the fairy-tale-like fog surrounding little hidden cottages, and a lingering scent of pines and freshness.

Delhi to Manali the route is a little over 12 hours(541. Km ), so we decided to first take a halt in Ludhiana which is in Punjab, where my maternal grandparents live ( My Nani House), we hadn't gone to meet our maternal grandparents in such a long time so first we stayed there for a few days and it was on our way to Manali, the distance left from Ludhiana to Manali was for about 10 hours and driving in hills at night is very risky so we decided to take a halt in Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, which was midway from Ludhiana. 5 hours from Ludhiana to Palampur and 5 hours Palampur to Manali.

Palampur is famously known for its tea gardens. The view from our hotel( RS Sarovar Portico) was absolutely stunning, the fresh air which we cannot find in cities. The greenery all around, The hotel had a revolving restaurant at the top from where we could see all of Palampur, it was breathtaking. In the same hotel as ours the Cast members of the Bollywood movie Sheershah which was about the inspiring and heroic acts done by our Indian Army in the Kargil war,

we were really inspired. We stayed in Palampur for just one night. On the next morning, We checked out of the hotel at 11 am and started our further journey to Manali. While going to Manali the scenery was bewildering mountains all around us, the fascinating Beas River that was moving alongside us, and tall-tall trees surrounding our path,

we were delighted.

We reached Manali in the evening at around 4, we checked in the hotel which was ManuAllya, the hotel was huge and magnificent. It had many different activities to do like a Badminton Court, Skating Rink, Swimming Pool, Rabbit Pen, Duck Pond, and a beautiful garden full of different kinds of flowers and many more exciting things. So once we checked in, we freshened up and ordered some snacks, rested for a while, and then decided to go to Solang Valley to see snow, we had never seen snow, so we were kinda worked up to see snow for the very first time, it took 15 minutes for us to reach there but there was no snow, we were all a little sad but we didn't lose hope, because we were told we would find snow in Rohtang Pass since it was very late in the evening so we decided to head back to the hotel. That night we had our dinner buffet and went for a 5-10 min walk in the garden and then decided to sleep as we all were very tired.

The next day, we woke up got ready, and went for breakfast, and after breakfast, we went to Rothang Pass, There we had to go in a taxi, as private cars had to first get a permit so we decided to go in a taxi since we had to go in the snow, so we required snow suits and boots, we took the snow clothes on rental and continued our journey to Rothang Pass it was about an hour drive, we were looking at all the snow-capped mountains and were very eagerly waiting to go and touch and feel the snow for the very first time. On the way when we were just 15 minutes away from Rothang Pass, the most unexpected thing happened; That was like the Cherry on top of the cake, snowfall started, we were not expecting snowfall at all as it was June and it never snows in June, we asked our driver and he said that this was the second time that it is snowing in June after 1956. As there was a traffic jam, we got out of the car and enjoyed the snowfall, we danced and screamed gleefully. After a few minutes, my brother's black cap had turned white. We were awestruck, we sat back down in the car as the traffic was moving along, we were now really enthusiastic to go in the snow now when we reached the snow mountain, we first had to climb a mud mountain to reach the snow mountain, we climbed the mountain and reached the snow, I quickly removed my gloves and felt real snow for the first time in my life, it was wonderful, I never imagined what it felt like always just saw in movies, its texture was not really soft but it looked like as if it was cotton.

In the snow, we did Skiing, Snow tube, had a snowball fight, lay down on the snow, and enjoyed a ton. We had to go back as it had just stopped snowing and started to rain, we all were shivering especially my younger brother, and we still had to get down from the mud mountain which was now really slippery, we had to get walking sticks to support us and prevent us from falling, we managed to get down from the mud mountain safely, and thankfully the taxi driver had switched on the heater and made the car warm for us as it was very chilly. After some time we stopped for some hot tea and Maggi, it was really delicious. On our way back we went through the Atal Tunnel which is the Longest Tunnel in Asia, it is about 9.2 Kilometers long. After a long day of exhilarating activities, we were all really hungry but we got stuck in traffic there was a long- long line of cars just standing there and not moving, we didn't know the cause but we got stuck there for over an hour and finally reached the hotel and just straightaway headed for the dinner buffet, we just devoured our dinner and went to sleep.

The next day, we decided to go Paragliding, but first, we decided to roam around the hotel we found the rabbit pen and the duck pond, and we decided to feed them. They were absolutely adorable, we spent most of the time with them but unfortunately, we had to go for the activity as the tour guide was telling us to hurry before the weather gets bad and then we would not be able to do paragliding.

When we went there we had to wait for a whole hour because all the pilots were not available at that time, so we just explored a little and came back just in time at the stall for the paragliding, the stall we went to, the owner of that stall was a national champion, had done army training, knew Rohit Shetty( The host of Kathron Ke Khiladi Tv show) and did stunts in movies, so we knew we were in safe hands. My brother couldn't do paragliding because he was very young so my mother was also not able to do it because someone had to stay with him. So only my Father and I did paragliding. We dived from over 15000 feet above sea level. We could see all the beautiful mountains, the apple orchids, the Beas river and all the houses from up there it was so breathtaking, adrenaline-pumping experience, we enjoyed it so much.

When coming from the activity we had a lot of time left so we went to the river, but since we didn't have a set of spare clothes with us at that time we decided to not get wet and just enjoy the scenic beauty, we skipped from one stone to stone and felt the cold water caressing our hand, and after some time decided to head back to the hotel. To our surprise there was live music and a bonfire there, we sang songs, laughed, had dinner, and then went back to our room. 

The next day, we decided to go to do River rafting and go to Manikaran Gurudwara where there is a famous natural hot spring, we also packed two extra pairs of clothes as we knew our clothes were gonna get wet. First, we went to do river rafting, it was a very stupendous adventure, the current was very fast at that time, we sang songs while on the raft, splashed water on one another, clicked pictures, made tons and tons of happy and enjoyable memories, the scenic beauty that couldn't get captured by a camera and could only be captured through one's eyes and imprinted in their memory forever. When we reached the end point of our we stopped there and collected some stones to take home, it was really exciting. 

After the adventurous rive rafting, we changed our clothes and went to Manikaran, while going there, the traffic was horrifying, the distance was for about 2 hours but we got stuck in traffic so it took us around 4 hours to reach there all, and on top of that it had started raining heavily, it was really hard to see anything, but still we somehow managed to reach there. 

There we first went to take a hot spring bath, there were separate sections for males and females, the water was so hot it was very difficult to even stand in there for one second but once you get inside then it feels normal, the hot water spring was a natural spring that was coming from inside the Gurudwara, when we saw the cold water from the Parbati river and the hot water from the natural spring colliding, steam as white as pearls was forming and elevating, it was true natures beauty, we could stand on top of a bridge and feel the hotness and the coldness of the steam at the same time.

After taking a hot water bath we went inside to the Shivji Temple and the Manikaran Gurudwara and asked for their blessings. And headed back to the hotel.

The next day, when we all woke up, we had tea on the balcony and enjoyed the view from our hotel, it was absolutely gorgeous, the hidden cottages, the greenery, the fresh air, the snow-capped mountains, it was lovely as if we were in heaven, we had to check out in the morning, we all were having some much fun and we didn't want it to end. 

This was the most unimaginable vacation that we all had, we got to experience the land, water, sky, rain, and most importantly snow.