Trip to an unknown city- Coimbatore

 This city was calling me for a long time! One day, as I was suggesting my friend- 'Go take a break, go to an unknown city, spend a few days and you will be a new you' and I thought well, not a bad idea to implement it myself! Only change, I asked Viaan and Vibha (now 7) if they would like to join. Reluctant at first, to leave their 'Summer Holiday' mode, they agreed. And we started planning our 'Unschooling Expedition' to a city we have never been before. Coimbatore: Here we come! One week- No agenda, no checklist.

Sharing here a few takeaways, from planning and execution which I feel helped us 'Enjoy the trip' inspite of being the solo grown up with kids.

1. The Planning Stage: Like any other work, this stage is important to plan any holiday for that matter. What were our objectives in doing this circus of travel? No it wasn't a luxury holiday. My objective was to get myself and kids an experience, an experience to understand: We have never done this before, but we can, Travel doesn't necessarily have to be money draining, decision making irrespective of age etc With these baseline we started planning for the trip!

a. The House Responsibilities: Tejas being held up with quarter end work was staying back with the pets. So I was completely anxiety free about household chores.

b. Stay: We were open for farm stays/ volunteering stay options/ simple hotels, service apartments. Basically any place which was safe, clean and reasonable. We found a nice little room to stay in the prime locality in RS Puram. The aunty is very loving, having many common interests we had lots of interesting discussions as well, on plants, soil, education and more. She also lent her scooter for local commute. We also got the opportunity to stay at the Isha Ashram for two days. Lovely rooms and very reasonably priced.

c. Places to visit: The homeschooling community and friends helped us with a lot of suggestions. Everyday me and kids would assemble, jot down names, locate on map and prepare a rough itinerary and refine it

d. Who does what: This was an important element of planning, as it is important for each individual to play a role, to take up responsibilities to make the trip enjoyable. Like always, kids had the basic responsibility to pack their bags (we usually carry one backpack per person) and to take care of it and the belongings until we reached back. This helped them plan better and take only the stuff they needed.  Then the basic ground rules reiterated- staying safe, discussion before decisions, agreeing to daily 'work time slot' where everyone gets to do their work on a DND mode. We also set a mutual responsibility of recording our daily expenditure in an app and took turns to enter the data.

e. Commute: For the intercity travel we evaluated air, train and car options and found that in all the 3 cases time taken is almost the same. Doing a cost vs. benefit analysis, we decided the rail route. Kids booked the tickets all by themselves under our supervision and this was a very empowering step in the process. 

We did a basic research of the options available for commute within the city too. There are a couple of scooty renting services in the city, which I feel is a great option. We did a mix of scooty (on most days), ola auto (they ask extra money on top of the ola estimate- then ask to cancel the booking and demand payment in cash), red taxi (great service), local bus (crowded but fine).

f. Food: I follow a plant based diet while kids do not follow any particular restrictions. I found out some amazing places to indulge in good plant based food. While we loved the south Indian options, we starting craving for 'food other than south Indian items' and still managed to get some great options (More in the specific section on this topic)

2. The Packing Stage: A simple math on the blackboard- 8 days, lets say we wash clothes once and repeat each set twice how many do we pack? Apart from packing clothes, kids had to prepare a 'SOS note' with their basic details, address, emergency contact details. Personal hygiene, personal entertainment and notes related stuff too. Books they packed came in handy to survive the longish train journey. 

3. Places we visited: Frankly we set out with absolutely no agenda, but having said that, we had a direction. We looked out for museums, planned to meet people, and observe the varying culture, lifestyle and ways of a different city. Basically live the city! Below are some places we picked and visited:

a. Car Museum: For my curious car lover. He had a great time looking at old and new types of cars and observe them

b. Science Museum: A nice collective of various inventions and a few hands on experiences.

c. Insect museum: Very well maintained, clean and beautiful manifestation of the bugs kingdom. Would be enjoyed by curious kids and adults alike.

d. Forest Museum: Eggs, fetuses of animals, seeds, stones, weapons, tree barks, this place has a glimpse of everything from the wild. Currently kids being crazy about different types of stones, they had a great time here. The campus is lush green and you can spot plenty of peacocks here. Even if not museum, this is a nice place for walks and to spend time.

e. Marudamali Temple: This is a Skanda temple on a mountain outside the Kovai city. We went there on scooty till the foothills and took a local bus atop. Lot of people visit this temple. Beautiful views, calm place. Prasad (sweet pongal) is served to all and the area is clean and well maintained. The weather was pleasant when we visited, but its best to visit during morning hours otherwise.

f. Anuvavi temple: Another Skanda temple. Very less crowded and has some mythological importance as well. Around 500 stairs to climb that leads to a beautiful view and two temples, one Shiva temple and another Skanda temple. Kids had a great time playing with the goats on the way. The highlight of this visit was the Annadanam- a simple, filling but tasty South Indian style prasad served to all the people visiting the temple, at 12 pm.

g. Omni books library: The library as such is not open for visits, but with a special request from kids, we were allowed to spend a couple of hours reading. Its a big library, clean and with a wide variety of books for varied age groups

h. Isha Foundation: We spent about two days at the Ashram. Splendid experience for me, little difficult one for kids as they found it a bit hard to maintain silence most of the times (well you know how much happy I was with this ;)). From adoring the magnificent Adiyogi statue and the light show, to mediate near the 'Dhyanalinga', being present at the Aarti at 'Linga Bhairavi', morning chanting, yoga session, taking a dip in the 'Chandrakunda' to the Annadanam, I was in a different state of mind. Apart from the 'keep quiet' requirement, kids too loved the experience and this visit led to a lot of open conversations about religions, beliefs etc 

i. Meeting people: The Snugbub community is a bliss, because you can have friends in many such 'unknown cities' :) We met a few Snugbub moms and kiddos during our visit. Apart from these warm meetings, I also had a few work related meetings, this one I can't skip to mention- 'We Little' clinic. The team was understanding and welcomed me with kids as a package deal ;) It was indeed a special visit for me too, to receive the Functional Tongue Tie certification from Dr. Shifa herself and to work with her. Well kids now want me to take them to Coimbatore more often - We Little what magi have you done ;)

4. All About Food: Food culture is something one cannot miss to experience when exploring a new place! Coimbatore has a population which is a beautiful blend, you will find a mix of Tamil, Kerala, Gujrati, Marathi and Kannada people. Hence the city has a wide variety of food options. We had done our homework and with the help of few friends picked some 'Not to miss' places. Considering my plant based food preference, I was skeptical in the beginning, but woah this city has lot of nice options for vegans too. Let me jot down a few places we loved:

a. Padayal: No boil, no oil restaurant. The thali and vegan coolers were nice. The thali had everything
even rassam and sambar made using this method. Must visit for people seeking simple Satvik and filling meal.

b. Kootansoru: A place to enjoy mock meat delicacies! We tried the 'veg fish fry' and 'biryani'. We loved the mock meat fish, however found the Biryani too spicy to our liking.

c. Rotolo: An icecream parlor that serves vegan bubble tea. Lots of flavors and customization options.

d. Four Cups: A multicuisine restaurant with a menu separately marked 'V' for vegan food. We thoroughly enjoyed their fondue. 

e. Kanchan Kitchen: A typical Gujrati food place. Simple but has a wide variety of menu. After all the idlis and dosas, we had pav bhaji and dhoklas and dabelis 'Jee Bharke'

f. The Tiffin House: A very humble place where we went for breakfast. Zero waste, food is served on banana leaves, food is very tasty and reasonable.

g. Mud Idli: 'The best podi idli I have ever had' as describes Vibha. They have a unique way of making Idlis on a Matka. Idlis are super soft and tasty. This place is open only in the evenings though. 

h. Chai n Gupshup: We loved their variety of green teas with some tangy, spicy and cruncy chat options and Maharastrian snack variety like vada pav, sabudana vada etc

i. Other places: From the more popular 'Sree Annapoorna', 'Anandhas' to local cafes like 'La Cafe', roadside momos and waffles. A special mention about the satisfying meals at Isha Foundation and the Annadanam at Anuvavi temple, a humbling experience. We had a great 'Food Trip' overall. 

Apart from these the roadside 'Palm Juice' coolers and 'Coconut Apples' (Sprouted coconut were refreshing too. So yes if you happen 
to be in Coimbatore and looking for some good vegetarian/ vegan food options, you know where to land up. Oh and don't forget to check out Vijay Sweets for their plant based mithais and delicacies. Watch this: Vegan Food exploration: Coimbatore

5. Key takeaways:

People ask 'How do you travel alone with kids- That too without gadgets? don't they trouble you? Summarizing the key things which helped us successfully complete the travel which once sounded challenging. 

a. Enough prep and planning- not alone but with kids. Let them be involved to be able to feel responsible

b. Less luggage. Load was never the 'load' point in the entire journey

c. Being flexible: with kids you cannot have rigid timetables. Though I was working most of the days, I had reserved this time post 8 pm and we were all on same page. Which helped them respect my space and prepare for bedtime smoothly.

d. Early rising and early sleep: This helped us explore places before it getting too crowded or hot.

e. Toilet issues: We usually carry the tissues, sanitizers, 'Travel Loo' and disposable toilet seat covers with us. This time the 'Travel Loo' was a big savior. We had a bus to catch to Isha Foundation, leaving in 5 minutes, and Vibha was feeding giddy, wanted to vomit. Presence of mind- pulled out the travel loo and we were sorted. It apparently is eco friendly and bio degradable too.

f. Entertainment: Kids chose the books of their choice to read during the long train journey. We also carried one book and stationery each which was used for playing games/ drawing etc. They also engaged each other in some riddles and music. While observing others in the train and innumerable questions around it is a given!

Kids and I had a great learning experience through this one week change. Now they already want to plan another Coimbatore trip to explore the town together with Tejas :)

Hope this summary helped you to some extent in planning your travel too! Don't think anymore- Just Do It.