My First Ever Solo Trip

Hey everyone, today I’m going to share the adventures of my first-ever solo trip. It was to Manali.

This is a long overdue, very, very late post, but, hey, better late than never, right?

Anyway, first things first. It all began when a friend of mine told me about a solo trip she had taken to Udaipur with this travel company called ‘Wander Womaniya‘. I had been researching solo trips and ways to take one for a while by that point, and when she mentioned this company that caters to women solo travellers, it sounded exactly like what I was looking for.

So, I looked them up and I was not disappointed. They offer several domestic and international trips for women, all at fairly affordable rates. Moreover, it helped me reduce the stress of planning the itinerary, as it was my first solo trip, which is also why I decided to travel domestically and chose Manali. (Manali had been on my bucket list of places to visit for quite a while for two reasons; first my sister had gone there years ago and everything she told me made me want to visit, and second Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani. Enough said. :P)

Another reason I chose the trip to Manali is that it was quite short; only two full days with two overnight bus rides. We would board an overnight bus from Delhi, reach Manali the next morning, spend two full days there and catch another overnight bus back to Delhi. And I say ‘we’ here because three others were joining me on this trip. Since these were all strangers, it still counted as a solo trip for me (and for them). Ironically enough, they were all first-time solo travellers too.

Anyway, Wander Womaniya are good at what they do, so there was a WhatsApp group for all the trip members, started by our tour buddy from the company. Of the remaining three travellers (apart from myself), only one of them lived outside Delhi. She was to arrive at the Delhi airport a couple of hours before me, but agreed to wait for me so we could go to the bus stop together.

I actually requested this of her since I am not very familiar with Delhi, and I’ve heard terrible tales about safety for women after dark. Perhaps I was being paranoid, but I wasn’t willing to risk it. Besides, the waiting proved to be a great thing because I made a good friend. It turned out that my trip partner and I shared many similar interests, which helped me make a new friend.

Once we reached the bus stop (with terrible bathrooms but not-so-terrible food options, which is typical for Delhi, or so I’ve been told), we met the other two joining us on this trip. They were both Delhi locals and so had less travel time to get to the bus stop. Our Wander Womaniya tour buddy was also supposed to join us from Delhi, but was unable to do so because her mother had to be hospitalised unexpectedly. So, the four of us were on our own until we reached Manali, where we would meet her replacement.

The bus ride offered the four of us an opportunity to get to know each other better, and we used it until we were all ready to sleep, which was pretty soon after the ride started. I had sat with my cab ride companion on the bus, and we ended up talking some more. We even watched some of the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice (one of our mutual favourites), which she had on her phone.

We arrived at Manali the next morning to spectacular views, as expected. We also met our tour buddy, who showed up with a small tempo. She took us to our place of stay, which turned out to be a cross between a hostel, a homestay, and a bed and breakfast as far I could figure. It looked like a pretty nice place for such an establishment – on the side of a mountain, with apple orchards around, and some fairly spectacular views. It was called “Rustic Retreat” and booking rooms there is easily possible through all your usual booking sites.

Anyway, the owner was out when we reached, and we had to wait for a few hours before he showed up to open our rooms for us. Our tour buddy used that time to get us to a nearby restaurant/homestay for breakfast. There were quite a few similar establishments on that mountain. The thing about all of these places is that they’re all run by locals who generally don’t have much training in hotel management – they usually just learn on the job. So, everything was very rustic, which just added to the charm as far as I am concerned, though the waiting time for our breakfast to arrive was a little irritating, mostly because we were all very hungry.

Over breakfast, we decided to expand a little bit more on the offered itinerary since all four of us travellers wanted to explore more than what was given. Our tour buddy was quite happy about this because she lived in the area that we wanted to explore, and being an avid traveller herself, she liked that we wanted more than what was offered on the itinerary.

Once breakfast was over, we headed back to our place of stay and had some more time to kill because the owner wasn’t back yet, so we took a small walk around that area. We managed to see the apple orchards up close, though the fruit wasn’t in season. Eventually, we found a place to sit and talk near our place of stay, and got to know each other better. I even found some time to read the book I’d taken along for the trip.

After a couple of hours (nearing noon), the owner of the establishment we were meant to stay in came back and opened our rooms for us. We finally managed to get freshened up and got ready for our exploration of Manali. The itinerary had only included Mall Road for this part of the day, but we went to Old Manali as well.

Old Manali is where most of the first half of Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani was shot. As YJHD is one of my favourite movies, I was quite excited about visiting this area. One of our stops was the Hidimbi Temple, which is where the famous ‘Bunny ko shaadi se allergy hai scene’ of YJHD was shot. This temple is actually dedicated to Bhimasen’s wife Hidimbi, who was an asura woman.

The story goes that Hidimbi’s brother Hidimba was an asura king who ate human flesh. He ruled over an area of forest that the Pandavas stopped to rest at during their period of hiding. He sent Hidimbi to lure them into a trap, but she betrayed him because she caught a fancy for Bhima and wanted to marry him. Hidimba was understandably furious and came to kill her, but Bhima challenged him to a duel and killed him instead. Then he married Hidimbi because she had saved his and his brothers’ lives and had his first child, Ghadodghaj, with her.

Anyway, apart from this temple, we also visited a Buddhist monastery, though that was closer to Mall Road than Old Manali. The other thing of import that we did that day was shopping – for ourselves and as gifts for people back home. One shop we visited had all these dreamcatchers and jewellery. It was really beautiful just for its lighting and ambience, apart from its wares, all of which were handmade or so they said. Overall, it was a productive, if tiring, evening (the shops were along roads that all went either uphill or downhill and fairly steeply at that).

We got back to our place of stay, nearing 10 PM, which is quite late for the area. There had been a bonfire on the small grounds behind the hostel that we decided to miss because we were all quite tired. Besides, the next day was to be our main event, the trek to the Sissu Waterfall, which also promised to require some exertion.

Sissu is actually a small village outside Manali, and it was a couple of hours’ journey from Manali to there. We went by car (an Innova our tour buddy hired) and had a lot of fun on the way. We stopped for the views a couple of times, and we stopped at a spot that let us try a few adventure activities. Paragliding, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), cable cars and so on.

I chose to try the ATV with one of my tour mates, while the other two went paragliding. We had all been on cable cars before, so we deemed that unworthy of the little time we had there. That is how I drove an ATV through a forest path and over a bridge. The views were expectedly spectacular, and I did something that I would not have normally done. I was too scared to try paragliding that time, but decided that next time I wouldn’t be.

The next interesting point was that we passed through the longest tunnel in the Himalayas. It cuts straight through a mountain and is some 8 kms long. There was a hanging bridge after it, which we stopped at for the views and to shoot some pictures and videos. We also stopped to buy some beer and snacks, which we shared during the car ride.

We finally reached the township of Sissu by early noon and had a quick lunch of Maggi, which seems to be a staple of tourists at high altitudes in the Himalayas. Though the warmth of Maggi in the cold of the mountains is not to be underestimated, both for comfort and as a vibe.

Anyway, post-lunch, we headed to the waterfall and discovered that to actually get there, we would have to zipline across a riverbed. That was an adventure as well, because that was my first time ziplining as well. And it was a trip. I enjoyed it very much.

And so, we finally reached the actual trek part of the trek. It isn’t a very long or difficult trek; it’s only the altitude and the elevation that may cause trouble for those who are not used to it. We were all people who have been on treks like this before, so we made it most of the way up before quitting. And that was only because we didn’t have enough time, as we had to leave by a certain time to catch our bus back to Delhi.

If we could have spent an hour or so more there, I’m sure we would have all reached the waterfall itself. As it was, only my cab ride partner from the airport managed to make it a little further than the rest of us. Our tour buddy stayed with the group. She, of course, had already been there many times before.

We had to hurry back a little to catch our bus back to Delhi. However, this time it was only three of us as my cab ride partner from before had decided to extend her stay by a day or two. Our tour buddy agreed to host her. Anyway, the three of us that actually got on the bus managed to reach Delhi by around 6 in the morning.

My flight back was only around 11, so I had some time to kill before I could enter the airport. I used this time to visit India Gate and Raj Ghat as both were on my way to the airport from the bus stop. I’ve been to both these places before, but visiting them that early in the morning was an experience, especially since the lighting afforded me some really great pictures.

Ironically, in spite of my detours, I was still too early to enter the airport by around half an hour. So, I spent that time sitting outside it like a homeless person; only I had luggage. It was an adventure, especially since I was hungry after my morning exercise of walking through Raj Ghat and its surrounding gardens.

Finally, I was allowed to enter the airport and do all the necessary to get past security check, where I could find sustenance. I was still early for my flight, and so had time to properly enjoy my breakfast. And thus ended my first solo trip.

It was an enjoyable experience, and one I’m unlikely to forget anytime soon. 😀

That’s it for now. Until next time folks!