Most Unplanned Trip- Matheran January 2020

Plannings can be tedious at times and sometimes it's just better to no to plan anything.

The best way to plan a trip could be having no plan at all.

Planning involves too much discussion and very often it doesn't turn out as it's supposed to be.

With everyone busy in their office routine, we only decided on the dates and there were no further discussions involved till T-1 day.

Since it was a two-day trip, we couldn't think of going anyway far.

Usually, the ideal location for such trips is Lonavala, but this time we finalized on Matheran, there was no discussion at all, we all wanted to go somewhere nice.

For this instance, People mattered more than the place.

Living in Mumbai for over 21 years, I never went to Matheran even once, and this was the case with all of us.

Although we were almost there in 2016, not all misplanned trips end up to be well, that could be a story for some other day.

The trip was scheduled to start at 7am on 15th Jan.

We had no plans, no bookings, no travel arrangements no itinerary, etc.

On 14th we decided that we will look for a place to stay when we reach there. About travel, we weren't clear about it.

The train was a feasible and cheaper option but it kills the fun. We wanted to go by car but we didn't have a car, also none of us could drive.

Shail was supposed to land in Mumbai from Australia on 15th 1am (6 hours before our schedule). He was the only one who has the driving experience.

We wanted to go for Zoomcar but we were not sure if Shail should drive or not, with a long flight and jet lag it wasn't a wise choice to make but we had no other option and we had to make a quick decision.

We couldn't reach out to Shail to confirm him as he was on the flight.

So we had to make the tough call without him knowing or the heads up.

10 hours before the trip we made the booking for the car.

The Zoomcar pick up destination was the International Airport so we went to the Airport to pick up Shail and informed him that we have the Scorpio waiting for him to drive.

Zoomcar charged us 230rs for the Airport Convenience fee, however, there was no Convenience included.

We had to walk about 500meters to the MCGM parking to get the Car. So I didn't get the concept of charging for Convenience when instead it was an inconvenience to us.

We were supposed to crash at Aditya's place for the night but that's the thing about having no plan at all.

He moved furniture to accommodate 4 people but we instead crashed at my place.

We left for my place and had a few hours of sleep before we started the journey.

3 hours of sleep was all that we could get.

The next day we started on time.

After grabbing the famous basundi from Aarey colony we stopped at Powai lake and continued the journey.

Fast forward to the entry point.

Just as we entered the entry point Matheran ghats, a person on the other side of the road asked us to stop.

It seemed as if certain mandatory permissions needed to be taken from certain authorities.

Then he came and told us that the roads are risky and that's why hiring a local driver is mandatory.

We replied that we don't need the driver as we already got one from Australia and moved ahead.

About this, the roads are actually risky so if you don't have a very good driver, it's better to hire one, it costs 200 or 300 I guess.

The roads are curvy and at various points, it's very steep so driving can be a little difficult.

Just as we reached near the parking a group of 15-20 youth came running towards us with sticks.

At this point, some felt like a celebrity while I felt that they are going to attack our car since we did not hire a driver ( probably the result of watching too much news).

Since Matheran is a no vehicle hill station, no vehicles are allowed beyond a certain point i.e. Aman lounge station.

From there it's about 45mins walk or toy train is available, which costs 45rs per head.

As we parked the car, there were a lot of people that surrounded us asking us to book stay at their location and also for a horse ride, that explained the sticks.

Those people were adamant and were kind of forcing us to book stay at their reference.

We said that we have already made our booking. To which they asked us where and how much and all.

At this point, it became very irritating.

That kind of adamant behavior called for a suitable response, but since we were going to park the rented car unattended for over 24 hours we could not afford to take take the risk.

Somehow after long talks, we got away.

We were right on time for the toy train but we decided to take the walk. We decided to walk through the railway track as it was more beautiful than the regular road which was a few meters away.

Beware that the place is full of monkeys so if you dare to open any food-related items or even your bag, it'll be gone in a flash.

We walked for about 45minutes and reached the Matheran station. Now we had to find a place to stay.

A person walked by and gave us a card from the hotel.

We first went to a hotel that we initially thought about booking, it was out of our budget so we tried to bargain but no point.

Then we decided to visit the next hotel which was a few meters ahead and there we bargained in accordance with our budget and confirmed the booking.

Since it was a weekday, we got to stay at some decent price.

It was already late afternoon, we checked in, and went out for lunch and then to explore the places.

The place was really calm and soothing, without vehicles, this was another level of peace.

We walked into the jungles searching for the Echo point.

We had two soda bottles with us, and since the place is full of greedy monkeys one came at us and snatched it.

I watched it open the cap and drink Sprite and thought this was it.

But no, he came for another bottle as well, we resisted and tried to trick it but it didn't work that well and he got the other bottle as well.

This was the time when I realized that we humans have indeed evolved from monkeys and that's why we have similar traits.

We moved ahead, and reached the echo point, couldn't get any echo, although none of us tried because none of was wanted to be the subject for jokes. Other people tried and we couldn't hear any echo.

The location was decent.

Next, we headed for Charlotte Lake, I don't know if we reached there or not but we did manage to reach an all lake/dam.

We clicked more than a few pictures over there and had some snacks. By then it was the time for the sunset, so we stayed at a point from where the sunset was clearly visible and enjoyed the Amazing view.

Quickly it started to turn dark and we were very far from our stay.

We headed back, kept following the trail, it was darkish and was turning scary as well since there was no one else around, just us wandering in the jungle and trying to find a way back.

We were about 4-5kms far.

We reached back at the hotel around 7pm, we split our tasks, some went out to get food parcel while I and Prakash decided to collect the wood for the bonfire.

The hotel staff told us that he could get us the woods for 100rs but we decided to go and collect it ourselves.

It wasn't the best decision though since it was already entirely dark.

We went a few meters ahead of the hotel and realized it.

No visibility, a house that seemed haunted, that was it.

We went back to the hotel and asked the staff to get it for us.

By 9 pm we had our dinner and then lit the bonfire.

This time I wanted to try a Barbecue so I got some chicken for Tikka which I earlier kept for marination.

I carried paneer too for the veg, but being lazy I mixed it up with the chicken and it's not recommended.

We lit the coal alongside the bonfire and started to barbecue. Surprisingly it turned out fine.

Clear sky, cold weather, surrounded by trees, a bonfire, some good music, and the Best Friends.

We had everything we needed and it was one of the best experiences ever had.