Do you ever sit with old photo albums, flipping through pictures of your family vacations, taking a wonderful trip down memory lane? Most of us had the best family getaways in our summer vacations, courtesy of month-long breaks between school years – something that seems dreamlike now. As travel, across the globe, is slowing to a standstill, the best way to enjoy summers can only be through our memories. Summer vacations undoubtedly dig deep into the nostalgia of visiting Naani Ka Ghar, gorging on mangoes, playing all day in open spaces, trips to the beach, and so much more! Today, some of us may despise the season for the scorching heat and sweaty palms it leaves us with, but summer memories of unfettered fun from our childhood strike a chord that leaves us with wide smiles…
- Kacchi Kairi in Mango Season:
Summers are synonymous with the arrival of Mangoes, the king of fruits that we wait to relish all year long. While we enjoy the sweet pulpiness that dribbles on our clothes, how can we miss the tart taste of raw mangoes? Munching on pieces of kacchi kairi with red chilli and salt, winking as the sharply sourness tinged our taste buds and then laughing over it… oh the fun!
And to be living amidst a plantation of mango trees, right during the mango season would be reminiscent of your summer memories! SaffronStays Mango Huts by the River in Khopoli is where you can partake in this feeling. These 2 and 3-bedroom earthy cottages are surrounded by mango orchards and with limited network, you can spend quality time with family on a digital detox. It’s pet-friendly too, so get your pooch around to run around in the plenty of open space around.
2.Visit Ancestral Homes:
Summer vacations also meant going to native places, or long stays at Naani Ke Ghar, a child’s favourite place to be. We all at some point have related to that meme of a child returning fat and plumpy after staying at grandma’s home for a few days. The love with which our grandparents fed and pampered us, making us feel young, no matter how old we grew is a privilege we’ll be indebted to. Being late risers, playing in the courtyard, eating Naani Ke Haath ka khana stuffed with love, falling asleep to bedtime stories…, spending summer vacations in ancestral homes emulate the golden days of our lives.
If you no longer get to visit ancestral homes and miss that charm, you could plan a vacation at SaffronStays Asanji Wadi, a heritage home in Alibaug. Every corner of this 3-bedroom private villa has a story to tell. Take a trip here with your grandparents and experience the art of slow living, looking back at the good old days of your summertime.
3. Ice Ice Baby!
Remember how picking between ice cream, kulfi, gola or popsicles was such a tough choice to make? To overcome the ‘it’s so hot’ emotion, we would rush to the refrigerator to get our hands on cold water bottles. To slurp on a gola, choosing flavours of a popsicle or seeking permission to eat just a bowl of ice cream were our ways of being cool. With the temperatures still soaring, do you do the drill of, ‘I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream?’ That’s one of the sweetest summer memories, quite literally.
4. Cooling Down in the Pool:
Oh to be able to just jump into a pool right now, as you read this! Unfortunately, we have to hold on to that desire just a little longer. But spending time by the poolside, be it just dipping feet feels refreshing, like a cold shower at the end of a hot tiring day. Pool time in the summers spark happy emotions with fun, relaxation, or even exercise for some. A feel-good activity that not just cools you down physically but also mentally.
Once things start looking brighter, you can head to private pool villas in picturesque locales to enjoy an extended summer vacation with your fam.
5. Building Sandcastles IRL:
Summers feel incomplete without a trip to the beach. Look through your old sepia-toned photos, you might find some tinted summer memories of your beach vacations. Playing in the sand, building sandcastles and chasing away the waves from crumbling down your efforts, is a glorious reminder of summers in our childhood. Posing with sunglasses, clenching the sand with toes, navigating the ebbs-and-flows of the waves, these convivial memories by an oceanside only bring back smiles. You said it – a trip to the beachside is due this summer.
Maybe crafting a plan to visit safe private villas facing the oceanside in Alibaug, once things start opening up? SaffronStays By The Beach right on Mandwa beach is a luxurious villa with a large pool that overlooks the azure blue ocean. This 5-bedroom home is ideal for your extended family if you plan a sundowner reunion to relive the summer spirits.
6. Indoor Games All Day Long:
Staying safe indoors may have gotten us to install Ludo or Carrom on our smartphones today, but decades ago, summer vacations were whiled away playing these very games all day. Although tan lines were not a concern, indoor games with siblings and friends were a priority. Who won, who lost would result in rematches. Or did you have the video game consoles, with a cassette of games like Jewel Tetris, Duck Hunt, Mario, Tank, Contra… the list could go on, just as we delve into the pleasant memories of summers. Now, once again as we stay indoors, it’s time to sit together, take out the UNO or playing cards and share the precious moments with family. One game followed by another, and where every little win also feels precious. Time to relive those golden days all over right now.
We are likely to spend the Summer of 2021 indoors for each one’s safety. But this sweet nostalgic trip down the memory lane of how we cherished our summer days will instill us with a hope to look forward to better and brighter days of sunshine soon.
