Winding Roads & Never Ending Tales

Family trips, wrong turns and the places we still talk about.

Why I Started Winding Roads & Never Ending Tales

on

After almost thirty years in North India, I moved to Bengaluru. Slowly fell in love with the place, despite Silk Board, Graphite India and all the other traffic jams doing their best to stop that.

I am Abhinav, and this is where I write about our trips. Some go to plan. Others give me more to write about.

How this started

When I first wrote this page in November 2013, I had been in Bengaluru for about a year. I was still getting used to the city, but the weekend travel options had already got me interested.

Western Ghats, beaches, rivers, so many places to drive to. I used other travellers' blogs to plan our trips and thought, why not write down our own experiences too? Somebody might find them useful, just as I had.

Shinkansen train alongside a station platform
A later chapter: the Shinkansen to Osaka on our family trip in May 2026.

A few years and quite a few trips later

Since then we have travelled through Kumaon, taken our toddler to Bali, explored Thailand and Sri Lanka, and spent sixteen days in Japan. The planning has changed as our daughter has grown. So has our idea of what we can manage in a day.

Sometimes the small things stick more than the big sights. Buying new shoes in Ginza because our feet were hurting. Talking to a doll maker in Matsumoto through Google Translate. These are the bits I do not want to forget.

The bits that went wrong

And of course, the things we got wrong. There are quite a few of those here too.

Japan: I misread the airport bus timing and we missed our booked departure. Took a taxi and reached in time, but that was the end of the relaxed duty-free shopping plan. Not my proudest planning moment. Read how our Japan finale ended.

USJ: we were excited about the rides but had not sorted out food properly. Vegetarian options were limited where we looked, and fries and desserts ended up doing most of the work. Our USJ day, including the food problem.

Bali: taking a two-year-old to a waterfall sounded fine until we were carrying her on the narrow stairs at Sing Sing. The walk back matters too. We learnt that the tiring way. What our Bali plan felt like with a toddler.

Sri Lanka: our Negombo booking got cancelled because the property was having a New Year party. Later, around Arugam Bay, we found many eateries closed. Things you do not think about while looking at beach photos. Start with our Negombo arrival story.

We still loved these trips. I just do not want to write as though everything went perfectly when it clearly did not.

What is on the blog

You will find our routes, food stops, hotel experiences and family stories here. I have kept the places we missed in the account too, without pretending we visited them.

The longer trips have an overview and separate parts. Pick whichever place you are interested in. No need to read the whole holiday in one sitting.

Some posts are quite old. Please check current prices, timings and access before using them to plan your own trip.

Some trips to start with

Hope these stories help with your own plans. And if you have been to the same places, tell me how it went in the comments. Always happy to hear another travel story.

Happy travelling,
Abhinav

This blog began in November 2013. This introduction was refreshed in September 2026.

Enjoyed this story?

Comments

Post a Comment