From a thirty-place wish list to a plan we actually enjoy.
- 10 min read
- Road trips, trains & flights
- Family pace
Our first trips were planned the way most of us plan: open fifteen tabs, copy a “7 days in…” list, and try to fit it all in. We came back tired. These days the planning takes a little longer, and the trips feel a lot shorter. This is the method behind every itinerary on Gujju Diary.
The five-step method
Pick the season before the place
Most trips go wrong on the calendar, not the map. We first ask “which month can we both get leave?” and only then ask “where is good in that month?” Hills in May, temples and coast once the worst heat breaks, deserts and Rajasthan in winter.
e.g. Kalpa, Sangla and Chitkul in May gave us snow on the peaks and open roads. A month later, the monsoon makes the same road a gamble.
Choose bases, not stops
We pick two or three towns to sleep in and treat everything else as a day trip. Fewer check-outs means fewer packed-and-unpacked bags, and the kids get to treat a room as “home” for a few nights.
e.g. In Scotland we drove between a handful of bases and did the lochs and castles as day loops, then took the train down to London instead of driving.
Draw the route, then add the buffer
We put the bases on Google Maps, note real drive times (not the optimistic ones) and add a buffer day for every four days on the road. If nothing goes wrong, the buffer becomes a lazy day, which is never wasted.
e.g. On the Kedarnath trek, the 16 km took far longer than the number on the map suggested. The spare day before Tungnath saved the rest of the trip.
Book in the right order
The things that sell out or take time (visas, trains, peak-season stays) go first. Things that are easy to change (local cabs, restaurant plans) go last. The timeline below is the order we follow.
Write the day-by-day sheet
One line per day: where we wake up, what we do, how long we travel, where we eat and what the backup is. It lives in a shared note on both phones, and it is the same sheet you see at the end of every itinerary here.
Our rule
One buffer day for every four days on the road. In the mountains, make it one for every three.
The booking order we follow
- 3 to 6 months out
Fix the dates and apply for visas. Book long-distance flights while fares are still sane, especially around Diwali and summer vacations. - 60 days out
Book trains the day the reservation window opens on IRCTC. Popular routes in May and October can fill on day one. - 6 to 8 weeks out
Book stays in the base towns. In hill stations during school holidays, the good family rooms go first. Prefer free cancellation even if it costs a little more. - 2 to 4 weeks out
Fix the car and driver, any permits or yatra registrations, and tickets for timed entries (temples with darshan slots, attractions with fixed time slots). - The final week
Load the forex card, download offline maps, check the weather and road status, share the day-by-day sheet with family at home, and start the packing checklist.
Veg food, sorted before we leave
For us, “where will we eat?” is a planning question, not a holiday surprise. Here is what works for us everywhere from Rameshwaram to London.
Before the trip
- Save a Google Maps list of pure-veg, Gujarati or South Indian places near each base.
- For long stays abroad, book an apartment with a kitchen. Our Dubai trip ran on a self-catering apartment.
- Learn the two lines that matter: “no egg, no meat” and, if needed, “no onion, no garlic”.
In the bag
- Thepla for the first two days (they keep well).
- Khakhra, chevdo and sev for long drives.
- Instant poha or upma cups and a small travel kettle for late arrivals.
On the road
- In the hills, dal-chawal and rajma are almost everywhere.
- In the south, a temple-town thali is the safest meal of the day.
- Abroad, supermarkets, Indian restaurants and fruit carry the day.
Planning with kids
- Plan around nap and meal times, not around sunrise points. A cranky 6 a.m. start ruins the whole day.
- Give every day one thing the kids are excited about: snow, a toy train, a boat, a palace with a story.
- Keep drives under four to five hours, with a stop every two hours.
- Choose rooms with space to spread out. One family room is calmer than two small ones.
- Pack a separate day bag per child: snacks, a change of clothes, a small toy.
What our day-by-day sheet looks like
Copy this layout into a note or spreadsheet. The “backup” column is the one that saves trips.
| Day | Base | Plan | Travel time | Food | Backup |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Manali | Arrive, check in, slow walk in Old Manali | Long travel day | Thepla on the way, dinner near the hotel | Rest if late |
| Day 2 | Manali | Atal Tunnel and snow play | 2 to 3 hrs each way | Packed snacks, lunch at a dhaba | Solang Valley if the road is shut |
| Day 3 | Manali | Buffer: Hadimba temple, cafes, nothing fixed | Local | Hotel breakfast, thali lunch | Use it for anything missed |
| Day 4 | Tirthan | Drive to Tirthan Valley, river walk | 3 to 4 hrs | Homestay dinner | Stay an extra night in Manali if raining hard |
What we got wrong the first time
We used to plan every hour. Now we plan every day, and leave the hours alone. The best moments on our trips, like a riverside chai in Tirthan or an unplanned evening on Pondicherry’s promenade, were never on the sheet.