Lonavala Trip Journal

This was our first trip after moving to India from the US. It was the first trip in over a year and this was the first trip after our son was diagnosed with autism. So the way this trip went would probably dictate rest of our travel life. We wanted to keep this to a simple weekend trip to test the waters and get re-acquainted with travel. We picked Lonavala, a hill station about an hour drive from Pune for our first trip. My mother and the three of us were part of this trip.

• Day 1: 12.02.2011 Saturday

Woke up at around 5am and got ready for the trip. Pranav woke up at around 6am. We gave him milk and mixed half an Avomine in it (we hadn't started the GFCF diet). We started at around 7am and reached Karla Caves parking lot little before 8am. We ate the packed breakfast there and fed Pranav curd rice. We started walking up at 8:30am. It is a stiff 20 to 30 minute climb to the ruins. I had to carry Pranav about 3/4th of the time. Rest he walked. We got down from the ruins and checked into our Hotel (MTDC Karla Resort) by 11 am. We had booked a special suite which was a two-bedroom detached home. The space was sufficient and cleanliness was reasonable. We fed Pranav Bread-and-Jam sandwich and put him to sleep. My mother kept an eye on our sleeping son while Aparna and I went to check out the nearby Bedse ruins. Pranav woke up around the time we returned. We fed him dal-rice (rice and yellow lentils) bought at the only restaurant available at the resort. In the evening we took the scenic boat ride that the resort offers to its guests. We gave Pranav curd rice again for dinner and we slept around 9 pm.

• Day 2: 13.02.2011 Sunday

Everyone woke up at around 6:30 am. We gave Pranav milk and cereal and rest of us ate some fruits for breakfast. We went to Baje caves and reached there around 8am. We had to climb about the same distance as the previous day and I had to carry Pranav about a similar distance. Before the hear became unbearable we returned to the hotel. We kept Pranav's day exactly same as the previous day. We fed him the same meals at around the same time. We did the same boat ride in the evening. Aparna and I went and checked out the view points in Lonavala and Khandala when Pranav slept in the afternoon.

• Day 3: 14.02.2011 Monday

Woke up at 6am, gave Pranav Avomine+milk, drove back to Pune, got lost and reached home by 8am.

• Making sure Pranav only had one serious outing a day kept him quite happy. This will only work if we have a handy baby sitter as we did this time.
• Food options in Karla Resort was not bad. The only place available in the resort served decent food although the service was quite slow. You can always work around slow service by going early.
• Reaching the sites early in the day helped us to beat the crowd and heat. We had the sites all to ourselves around the opening times. Pranav really loved running around the stupas.
• Directions back from Karla isn't good. You can easily find yourself on the Dehu road if you aren't careful.