This article is for the women who are afraid of going out with their kids alone. As I have felt many times, most Indian mothers are very scared of taking their kids out alone. They fear for the safety of their children.
I travelled solo to many beautiful, off-beat locations in public vehicles to save money and make the most of it. So when I adopted my daughter, I decided that I was going to travel in a similar fashion.
Me and my daughter have recently travelled to Kashmir Gurez Valley, an offbeat location, and that too in public vehicles. We travelled from Srinagar to Gurez Valley in just 800 rupees. We were probably the first mother and daughter to travel so far in public vehicles (as per the locals). They wondered how we travelled so far alone without a husband (they have no idea I am a single mother). So wherever we went, people were shocked.
My daughter enjoyed the journey of sharing cabs as there were other people and kids talking to her. She made many local friends throughout the journey.
Here is a brief overview of how we travelled from the airport to Srinagar and to Gurez Valley.
We took an AC bus from the airport to Dal Lake, which costed 70 rupees, and then from Dal Lake to Nagin Lake, which costed 200 rupees. We stayed in a houseboat for 1500 rupees per day with breakfast and a beautiful view.
After staying for 2 nights in Nigin Lake, we headed to the Gurez Valley, which is around 130 km from Srinagar and takes 5 hours to reach.
We started from Nagin Lake by auto till Parimpora, from where we got a sharing cab to Bandipora, which costed 140 rupees. After reaching Bandipora, we took another cab to Gurez Valley, which costed 250 rupees for the back seat or 500 rupees for the centre seat, so I paid 500 rupees anyway. The cab people took a break in between for tea and snacks. We reached Gurez Valley in about 5 hours.
And there we stayed in Geodesic Doms, one of the best and most beautiful views of Gurez Valley, and a clear view of the famous Habba Khatoon peak. You can connect with them here: @Kukoon (Javed +919149796010). We took a taxi to travel in the local area with an amazing person who took care of my daughter while hiking in my vigilance. We paid 1000 rupees for a complete trip to Gurez. You can connect with him at +919149730583. His name is Asif.
Do connect with both of them to get the best feel when in Gurez.
Suchi Ta is a Kathak dancer, a fashion designer, a big-time traveller (having travelled to many places within India and many countries), and a mountain lover. She runs her own holiday home in Himachal’s extremely beautiful Offbeat Village, Shangarh. She runs her fashion brand from there and makes Kathak training reels, yet she has a home in Gurgaon to reach out to family whenever she wishes.
