My Favourite Vacation

My favourite and most memorable vacation is our school’s summer trip to Andaman islands. I loved the trip to the Andamans because it was the trip where I made many fond memories. It was a week-long trip and we travelled by air. We had to board two flights as we were travelling via Bangalore. At the Bangalore airport, we had to wait for the flight so we ate, played card games and clicked pictures. From Bangalore to Andaman, it was a long flight. We saw the islands below, and it was the most magnificent view I’d ever seen. Me and my friends were hovering over the window panes and the air hostesses had a lot of difficulty managing us.

Once we landed at Andaman, we got into Traveller vans to reach our hotel. The hotel we stayed at served us delicious meals. Our rooms were beautiful. We had almost two to three floors of the hotel to ourselves. We visited Havelock Island, Jolly Buoy Island, Radhanagar beach, Ross Island, and some museums during our trip. We travelled to different islands through small cruise boats. The hotels and beaches in all islands were lovely. We enjoyed swimming on the beaches. While swimming, fishes used to pass by us. It was so beautiful. Many of my friends did activities like Scuba Diving, Snorkelling and Glass Bottom Boating. I joined them In the Glass Bottom Boating. The Coral Reefs we saw were colourful and lovely. 

Our visit to the museums taught us a lot. Learning about the tribal groups was the most interesting, especially the Sentinelese. They have been living in isolation for thousands of years and it is said that though they live life like stone age people, they have found ways to withstand natural calamities like tsunamis. The guides made us aware about topics like how Ross Island has suffered due to plastic accumulation and on the other hand how the Jolly Buoy Island has been maintained by leaving it untouched for 6 months every year to replenish itself. The information was so interesting that I remember coming home and reading more about it.

During our trip, we visited the Cellular jail twice. We were very fortunate to have a guide who explained us everything, in a very interesting manner. We learnt about the architecture of the jail, the punishments that were subjected to the prisoners, how the prisoners fought and how they have etched their names in history, Veer Savarkar and the naming of Andaman’s international airport, what is the condition of the jail in today’s times, etc. A feeling of patriotism still sweeps over me as it had happened when I had been there. The famous Light and Sound Show was awe-inspiring. The Cellular Jail is a must visit for all.

Now, I would be sharing the fun part of the trip. Me and 5-6 of my friends were in our room watching Television and playing cards. The problem was that our teachers had not permitted boys and girls to be together in one room. On top of that, one of the boys in our room jumped on the bed and broke it into half. We ended up paying 12,000 rupees which we paid as 2000 rupees each. Our teachers gave us a piece of their mind. The hotel manager had come to see the bed, shaken his head, mumbled something and had left. We had a ‘DJ night’ on the last day of our stay in the hotel. I remember all the funny photos that were clicked, all the jokes that had been cracked, all the rumours that had been passed on, all the songs that had been sung, and all the lovely moments we had shared with rats, cockroaches and mosquitoes. But all this helped make our trip special and memorable.

Throughout this trip, I kept falling for the beauty of nature. Every little thing that we did there had been an experience in itself. The beauty of the clear waters made me realize that the entire world is filled with stupendous sights and that one must try their best to visit them. My trip was filled with a combination of all types of experiences and I wish to take more such trips with my family and friends in the future.