So this time it was after a very long time we decided to do a family trip and visit a very good friend of mine whom we have not met.

It was decided that 3 of us me. Aditi and Tiya will take a flight on 14^th April and will be back by 16^th April being Saturday. What we thought of taking a rest on Sunday so that we all can join back Monday with proper rest.

So the place was set as Vishakhapatnam and see Rajan and Nandita who are very good friends of ours. The best part is their daughter Nitara and Tiya are also very good friends so everyone has company and no one will be bored.

My friend is working In the Indian Navy so we knew what was in store. I will try to share as much as I can but trust me it was much more than what I can write here.

We started from Gurgaon on the 14^th morning. Our flight was pretty early at 6 am so we started early from home at 3:30 AM so that we can reach the airport on time.

For Tiya it was a nightmare but she was eagerly excited to meet Nitara so to my surprise she was ready much earlier than I expected.

Our day started with a surprise when Blu Cab did not turn up and as a Back up I had to call Uber.

The cab was shit as the driver was not ready to listen and started playing his Haryanvi songs to which I objected he closed them finally.

We reached the airport and after doing a bit of shopping in a short time (we could manage to shop from 3 stores in such a short time) we boarded the plane.

The overall Plane experience was good and for most of the journey, we were sleeping only. It was supposed to be a flight of 2 hours 30 min but we reached early Vishakhapatnam at around 8 Am.

Since it’s a small airport and very less traffic we got our luggage very fast.

Aditi told me that Rajan and Nandita are coming to pick us up which we denied but they had already left home to pick us up. It’s these small gestures that actually count.

We had some leisure time in our hands so were just clicking here and there and also the view just outside the airport is good with mountains in the background.

At around 8:30 they came and picked us up. Their home was nearby and was around 14 km which took us around 30 min to reach home. We were staying with them only in their house and enjoying the stay at Naval Base.

After having breakfast and a small Nap we decided to move out as Rajan has already made plans for us. He took us to his office which is inside the Vishakhapatnam dock stays and we as civilians are not allowed to go there unless we have prior permission.

He had already sorted that out for us. We went to his office which had a great view. After office, we also went to INS Shivalik

NS Shivalik (F47) is the lead ship of her class of stealth multi-role frigates built for the Indian Navy. She is the first stealth warship built by India.^[5] She was built at the Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) located in Mumbai. Construction of the vessel began in 2001 and was completed by 2009. She underwent sea trials from thereon before being commissioned on 29 April 2010. ( Credits go to Wikipedia for this.

After seeing we realized how big is this and how difficult is the life of a sailor.

After INS Shivalik …we went to see INS Vella. It’s 1 of the most advanced Submarine in the Indian Navy. We were not allowed to explore it all but yes I could say it was more than what we expected.

After seeing these 2 and many other ships what I can think of is as if I am standing in between avengers as every ship was so big and we were just a dot in front of them. The capabilities of the Indian Navy is much more than we know.

We were fortunate to have lunch at INS Shivalik at the same table where all sailor eats. It was chicken rice daal and 1 vegetable and bread.

We were so full that we were just looking for a place to lie down. We came back home around 4 I guess and we were dead-tiered. We had a rest for around 1-2 hours and after that, we decided to head out again and have dinner at the Navy Club.

In all this we were actually late and reached the club around 9, I guess. There we met 2 more friends who had joined us for dinner.

It was a beautiful place. There was a breeze which was going …weather was ok and the company was good. It was wine and dine weather…Children were busy among themself and we were busy among us…Since we reached late and there was a cut-off time so we had to wind up early but then we decided to continue this party at Sandeep’s house( we met him there only) and he invited all of us to his home where we can continue the party.

What else we could have asked for. There were 4 families and an I guess 5 kids. Everyone was busy playing and enjoying each other’s company.

We left there at around12 Pm types and reached home in around 20 min as there was no traffic and very few cars on road.

Our Day 2 started a little late as we slept pretty late. After having breakfast at home, we thought to go out and spend some time exploring the city, and then the final plan was to reach the beach by 4 PM types and enjoy the rest of the day there only.

We moved out of home at around 12 and headed straight to Spenser’s where we had to look for Icebox and beer and a few other things.

We got the beer from there but there was no icebox thereafter initial research we thought let’s check some other stores and since Hamleys was also there so it became auto-stop for us with Tiya and Nitara it can’t be skipped.

While addy and Nandita were busy shopping in Lifestyle I and Rajan went to check for Icebox and Hamleys.

There was a local gift store and we found an icebox there but since it was huge at 32 Litres and the cost was around 2500 we thought to skip it and ended up buying a 10 lit cool Kage which was for 1000 rs and was full filling our purpose. We took it and headed straight to Hamleys.

Both the girls bought something from Hamleys. All thanks to Rajan for the same.

Finally, we decided that now let’s go to the beach but the ice hunt was still pending so as suggested by someone we won’t to the LIC building and there was an ice vendor there. He couldn’t understand Hindi or English and after waiting for some time I got the ice.

Ice was for 20 INR and petrol burned for ice was close 100 Rs.

Since we had not eaten anything since morning apart from breakfast so we decided to pick biryani on the way which we would eat at the beach.

Finally, we reached the beach around d4:30 but it was beautiful. The private beach was all cleaned. Shore was fantastic. It was just us only that beach.

This beach was actually reserved only for Navy Families so we were the only one. We had food, drinks, mats, lights and wine and we were all set. We stayed there for almost 8, I guess.

It was a full moon day so the night was clear with light and we could see each other, All the lids were busy making sandcastles. We came back around 8-8:30 types. We were so full that we skipped dinner that day. Day 1 was exciting but Day 2 was equally exciting. Day 2 finished with a couple of drinks at home.

Day 3 of the final day was the last day pf trip. Rajan had to leave so he was the one who got up early and got ready. He left around 9:30, I guess. We had full day in hand as our flight was around 11 pm.

After having breakfast, we headed out for some shopping. Nandita took us to Navy Canteen and we bought small-small stuffs. On the way back we picked up biryani from a restaurant suggested by Nandita as Alpha biryani. It was supposed to be spicy so for kids we also took some pizza.

After doing all this we came back around 3 types. We ate biryani and after watching some move I dozed off. It was decided that we will leave for airport by 7:7-30.

Playing the role of perfect host Rajan arranged cab also for us. We left house around 7:30 with a promise to meet again soon. These 3 days were great for us.

We reached back to Gurgaon house around 12:30 in night and that’s how we called the day off for us.