Travelling Light

Travel with children is a true adventure. They see everything with fresh eyes and don’t have the underlying anxiety about timing, will the van make it to the airport, surprise anti-terrorism measures including what model is your laptop please as a Mac Book Pro was used to obliterate an aircraft. They tend to bounce up and down yelping, anticipating new worlds to be discovered. We were headed for Leh in Ladakh and Kochi in Kerala, pre-Covid era. At that time of year Kerala has mosquitos and a higher chance of malaria. All the forums I scanned through showed people who took anti-malarials stopped within days as they felt so ill. So I loaded up on heavy duty mozzy spray and Cats Claw tonic, a strong herbal antimalarial. My daughter has always been a fantastic travel companion. She’s calm, curious, level-headed, and open-hearted. After a hair-raising landing in Delhi, scouting a taxi driver who actually knew where our hotel was and nimbly drove like a breeding-primed salmon the wrong way up a tidal wave of oncoming traffic, we moved rooms away from hotel building works and fell deeply asleep. Travelling with a 70 year old man and an 10 year old girl has its growth moments. One is risk-averse. The other wants to play with potentially flea-ridden kittens. It’s a one hour flight from Delhi to Leh over the immensity and snow-dusted wonder of the Himalaya. I sat next to a looming Indian couple. As I gazed through the plane window, tears streamed down my face. My heart strained against my rib cage. Stepping foot onto Ladakhi earth broke me open. The rawness and power of the terrain, its humbling vastness. I felt like I had come home after lifetimes of being estranged. I guess I am reminiscing in this current climate of lockdown. Today was definitely a day for dreaming up new adventures to be had. Tuning into soul calls from distant lands. Being grateful for past freedoms.