Welcome to July; welcome to Part Two of 2022 after an outstanding Part One of the same. I am sorry for not writing anything for almost a week. I promised that I would write about my solo trip before June ended and couldn't do it because it was the month-end. And when July began, I wasn't feeling well for two days since it is the fever season. I am fine now though not completely but certainly better than before. And the possibility of the fever wasn't because of the trip to the mountains but because of the unpredictable weather conditions which my body isn't able to handle well.

Initially, I thought I would fall sick if I had gone to the mountains since I have an allergy and so consulted an ENT specialist beforehand. But the doctor was so chill and said that there is nothing to worry about and asked me to go have fun and carry some medicines just in case. Well, that's what I did. It was all fine in the mountains and I didn't have a cold or fever as I thought I would have and I think I only had one tablet during the entire trip. I am thankful to him. 

Now about the trip, the plan was for three to four days which extended to almost a week including the travel by calculating the train ride but later dropped it due to lack of experience that too for a long journey. Because of that, I went a day early and left a day later because of the decline in the ticket price. In a way, it was good, because I also happened to meet a celebrity and took a picture with him. 

All was fine from boarding a flight to Kochi to reaching Delhi and taking a cab to reach the bus stop to go to Manali. The sudden transition from being surrounded by Malayalam-speaking people to Hindi-speaking people was too much to digest. I can understand but I had a hard time communicating with the bus conductors or the staff at the airport and so on. 

I was the only passenger from South India on the bus and I was fine if I was left because I wanted peace and wanted to reach Manali as soon as possible. The estimated hour of the trip was 12 hours which extended to 15 hours and I was very impatient, and so were the others as there were a lot of vehicles traveling at night. 

I was in touch with a guy there who owned a campsite and a homestay recently; the same place my friend stayed when he visited Manali and so I contacted him. He arranged a taxi for me when I reached and took me to the homestay. The place I stayed wasn't exactly Manali as it was more of a city and it was so crowded because it was the peak season. I visited Manali in June, not because of the peak season. I visited because I wanted to celebrate my birthday in a city that is not Kochi. 

The place I stayed was called Sethan Hills which was very far from Manali and is on the top; a much more peaceful and relaxing for people who want that. I certainly wanted that and I am glad I went there. It was still chilling even though it was sunny and that is still more adaptable than the Delhi climate. OMG!! 

Day One was more of a relaxation as I stayed in my room, walked around, and had meals and a lot of chai. There were very few guests who stayed in Sethan Heights and some passed by it for trekking and other activities. The guy in charge was very friendly and approachable and always asked me what I wanted to do every day. He was from Himachal and I was glad he could speak English as there were very few who spoke English including the guests who were very warm and friendly. Some were very surprised because I had come alone and it was my first solo trip. Some even thought I was a vlogger or something. 

Because there was WIFI, I could speak with my family and my mother told me that my father was proudly telling his siblings that I had gone to celebrate my birthday in Manali and they were stunned because I had spoken to them the day before I was leaving and even while I was at the airport and I never disclosed anything. 

Maybe I like surprising people. Rather than telling them, I am going to do this, I would rather do it and tell them that I did it. All things aren't applicable to this case. I informed my parents of the trip a week before the trip or even lesser, and my father said that he would have been happy if I told it earlier. I also agree and I was worried about bringing it up.

This is probably to longest I have ever written. I wanted to fit it all in one blog but then it requires two parts, or three. 

Stay tuned!