9th October 2024
AHMEDABAD
Our First Trip Together
Our first trip, and we very quickly realised that we are made for each other.
Arey bhai, travel style ki baat ho rahi hai.
See, it doesn’t matter if you’re soulmates, chaddi baddi, best friends forever, or you know each other from janam janamantar. What actually matters is your travel style. Which, trust us, can either make or completely break a friendship.
You’ll understand this dynamic in all our stories. Ab jab hum story ka base bana hi rahe hain, toh this first story felt like the right place to tell you all this. Coming back to the story after the entire background.
How We Planned This Trip
Priya has a dream… okay fine, had a dream, to visit places during their festival season. After coming back from her one year job tenure in Bangalore, the nearest festival was Navratri. So baithak hui: trip kahaan jaana hai?
Ideas pitched: Ahmedabad ya Kolkata, because Navratri ke time aur kahaan jaoge?
Ahmedabad somehow turned out cheaper.
Now comes the real problem: how to convince parents. In our families, festivals mean staying together. No travelling. Puja ke time ghar pe rehna is non negotiable. So ek aur baithak hui.
Decision: Let’s take one adult with us.
Pro Tip: If your family says no to your trip, take a family member along who is also a trip enthusiast.
In our case, Priya’s mom.
Day 1: Delhi → Ahmedabad
(9th October | Saptami)
So we, Srishti, Priya, and Mata Shri, flew from Delhi to Ahmedabad on the morning of 9th October.
Reached Ahmedabad, booked a cab, and arrived at Hotel Sparsh Divine around 10 AM.
Why this hotel? Because it was the cheapest during Navratri season in 2024.
Pictures were perfect. Price was perfect. So obviously… something had to be wrong. Half the property was under construction. Ab samajh aaya cheapest kyun tha.
Anyway, we were taken to the third floor. And to our surprise, the deluxe room having one double bed and one single bed was actually good. So not a bad deal, despite crossing under construction first and second floors.
Thoda fatti because: No hotels or houses nearby.
Hotel was literally next to a petrol pump.
(Which, trust us, became the best part later.)
After check in, we did the most sensible thing possible: Absolutely nothing. Ideas bahut the for Day 1. But out of all places in Ahmedabad, we chose doom scrolling in the hotel room.
After some rest, some scrolling, and a lot of “bas thoda sa late ho gaye” energy, we stepped out in the evening for lunch (jo hua hi nahi) and a very necessary DMart run. Because snacks are emotional support.
And har state ki market mein kya alag milta hai, yeh dekhna zaruri hota hai.
We bought flower diya type souvenirs and random snacks. Srishti bought a dupatta and sandals, very necessary for Garba night. All of this? Just filler.
THE REAL REASON: GARBA
We had booked our Garba passes on BookMyShow and confidently thought:
“Ahmedabad jaane tak YouTube se Garba seekh hi lenge.”
That day never came. Big mistake. Seekh lete toh experience 100% se 200% ho jaata.
Minor Detour (Obviously)
If Srishti doesn’t get held back somewhere, trip kaise complete hogi? For some reason, Srishti’s QR code wouldn’t scan. Priya’s worked. Mata ji’s worked. All tickets booked together. But Srishti? No entry. 20–30 minutes gone.
Tip: Reach by 6 PM = Venue khaali. But kya karein, khoon mein hi time se pahuchna hai.
Garba Night Energy
We went to food stalls because we hadn’t eaten properly all day. Surprise surprise, everything was expensive. Water bottle: ₹100. Lesson learnt immediately: apni bottle leke jaana.
Water Bottle… ₹100
Jamun Shots (4). ₹100
TOTAL: REGRET
We saw jamun shots. Bad idea. But ₹100 ke chaar mil rahe the. And we were three. Bas phir kya. You can already guess kiska idea tha. Yes. Priya’s. We did it. We regretted it. And the person whose idea it was had to take the fourth shot. Because galat idea admit karna? Impossible.
When the music starts…
The show started with aarti. Then the music. The melody. The artists. Songs were in Gujarati. We didn’t understand everything, but you feel it.
Nothing prepares you for that moment when Gujarati music over, Garba starts happening everywhere. Around you, in front of you, inside you. Everyone dressed in ethnic colours. The joy was contagious. Remember: hume Garba aata hi nahi.
We convinced ourselves “ho jaayega” and entered one of the 20 circles. People were kind enough to let us in. One round later… We realised we were ruining the entire circle. We exited faster than we entered. Stayed there for 2–3 hours, and immediately crashed.
That night set the bar so high that Ahmedabad had already won.
Day 2: Calm After Chaos
Day started with poha and coffee at the hotel. Surprisingly good. Then we went to Sabarmati Ashram. Instant shift in energy. From loud music to calm silence. River flowing next to you. Museum dedicated to Gandhiji. Even a small Khadi store inside.
Later, we went to Parimal Garden. Honestly? It’s fine.
Bas kuch corners avoid karo, log apna moment jee rahe hote hain. We respectfully left.
Lunch hunt started, wanted Gujarati thali. Didn’t find anything fancy, so entered the first calm café we saw. Ordered pizza and three drinks. ₹800–900 ka pizza is expensive in our dictionary. Especially if it’s mid.
Walking, Walking, and More Walking
We read somewhere about boating in Sabarmati River. Auto liya. Walk kiya. Turns out boating was banned due to an incident a few months back. So we walked near Atal Bridge instead. And walked. And walked.
ENERGY: 2%
The entire route was beautiful. Clicked lots of pictures. Sat near the river and enjoyed the evening atmosphere. But mind you, Priya hates walking. By now, she was dragging herself.
The Plot Twist
Then by pure luck, we noticed Akshar River Cruise. She went to ask the price, without telling us..And when we called her. She said, “Cruise book kar rahi hoon.”
₹900 per person. Next day lunch cruise. Paid already. Excitement PEAK!! Back in the room, we Googled reviews. They were horrible. Sapne toot gaye the. So we slept. Taaki dusre sapne dekh sake..
Day 4: Soft Ending
Later, we went to the Science Museum, unplanned, but fun. Half of it was under construction, but the aquarium made up for it. Last day was slow. We visited Adalaj Stepwell, then Akshardham Temple. Calm, grand, perfect ending. Metro back to the hotel. Bags picked. By 5 pm, we were on the train back to Delhi.
Final Thoughts
It wasn’t a packed itinerary. Didn’t follow anything dot to dot. Wasn’t fancy. But it was our first trip. Chaos, calm, laughter, walking, food, silence, everything worked out.
And honestly? That feels like the best way to begin.
Oh, and remember the petrol pump? It had a mini shop with snacks. After Mata ji slept, we’d go there and stock up. Yes, Swiggy and Blinkit exist. But we enjoy looking at packed shelves.
About the food…
We survived on poha, coffee, some snacks, and cruise food. We are foodies, but while travelling, food fully depends on how tired we are. Adults cannot survive on vibes and chips alone, so no proper dinners happened. We completely failed at finding Gujarati thalis when hungry.
Ahmedabad fed us enough to survive… And we’ll come back better prepared (emotionally and with a thali plan).
Camera Roll Moments
