The year 2020 hasn't been great for anyone and especially to the travel junkies it has been the nightmare. My last trip to Auli was in the month of January and my plan was to make a good trip in every 2-3 months but to my surprise came the coronavirus. Much like the world my plans were kept on hold. Coronavirus might kill people but what it can't kill is the spirit of traveling in a travel junkie. Since the month of April when the complete lockdown was terminated and the places were open but on restrictions so me and my friends were planning something.
Nainital was a great option because it was a weekend getaway for us from NCR. In between Work From Home Friday and Work From Home Monday we had 2 beautiful days of freedom where we could let free our wanderlust.
The plan was done the bus tickets were booked and all that was left to do was to get to the bus stop. We left our home around 9:30 and reached the stop. We were well prepared for the covid situations and so was the bus management they sanitized us and checked our temperature then let us in.
The bus ride was great but I couldn't sleep because of my excitement. Next morning around early 5:30 we were at Kathgodam in a small jeep to go to Nainital city. We had booked beds in the Youth Hostel which got promoted to a big ass room because of less check-ins in the covid times. It is the cheapest place to live in if you are planning to visit Nainital but don't eat there food is not that good.
Next day was planned for some menial tasks but it didn't go that way fate had planned a great day for us. We woke up, bathed and left the hostel to go visit the cave garden. It is great place if you are willing to move forward at all cost and ready to bend your body in postures to get out of the caves from cracks. Enjoyed the cave garden and went out to go towards the Nainital Zoo but we got a call from a friend who said Bhimtal was a must visit and go do the paragliding. So all we needed was the means to visit Bhimtal for which I took up the decision that even if it takes most of our money we must rent a bike to go to the place. And so we did we got the bike at cheap rates and rather for a longer duration than usual. Next thing we no we were riding a Avenger in the hills.
Bhimtal gives different feelings to different people if you enjoyed the hustle bustle of Nainital you probably won't like Bhimtal but if you were seeking peace in the midst of the Naini Jheel you will love the place. our main objective was to find a cheap deal to do paragliding which was met by some guys who offered us rides for about 800 per person. We went there on our bikes got locked in with the equipment and jumped from the hill.
We freshen up and leave for the city tour. Went to the Tibet market enjoyed it and then left for the Hike to Tiffin top around 5 km steep in the mountains. The hike got us all dying of the continuous walking on pebbles but the view from the top was worth it. While the photo session was going on we saw a few people going for rappelling in the 70 ft valley and we got exhilarated to do that.
After some adrenalin hit we ate the mandatory Maggie on top of the mountain. Came down the top and went back to the market for some time where we decided to go for boating in the Naini jheel on a row boat. After that we were completely exhausted and especially me coz i was awake for about 36 hours. So went to the very famous Shiva restaurant ate a big meal and dozed off.
After this our heart was pretty full with the emotions that it could handle. All that was left to do was find us some souvenirs and some gifts for the family, that we did in the remaining time in the Nainital city and on our way back to the city on our bikes. I want to emphasis on the fact that riding a bike in the hills at night was something of an enthralling experience.
That was all that we could do in the weekend getaway planed. Hence we got in our bus to Delhi and went back home, back to work 2020 style.