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South Africa – Garden Route & Cape Town

The final leg of our summer adventure brought us back to South Africa, starting at Port Elizabeth where we rented a car and drove down the beautiful Garden Route over the next few days. This part of the journey was familiar as the Garden Route and Cape Town are very similar to California in every way.

We visited the Tsitsikamma national park with its stunning shoreline with waves crashing, very similar to Big Sur. We took a walk along the coast line walking over the three suspension bridges hanging over the waves. The kids enjoyed watching the cute rock hyrax comfortably nested on the rocks along our hike. Next morning we ventured on another zip lining adventure over the forest canopy and from one 600 year old yellow wood tree to another. Ayaan wasn’t satisfied so we took a Segway tour through the forest floor. The Segway was quite enjoyable and we also became pros after an hour on it. We stopped for lunch at Plettenberg bay and grabbed lunch overlooking the beach with oysters and sparkling wine. Ayaan enjoyed running into the cold ocean and jumping over the waves, while we walked the Plett beach. Our stop for the night was in Knysna, but we stopped on the way at the gorgeous Heads view points that reminded us of the cliffs in Ireland. We loved staying at the Chez Pierre b&b on Leisure island, that was identical to our town of Belvedere and Tiburon. We relaxed in our room, walked to the nearby beach, grabbed dinner at a local joint, and enjoyed some wine picked by Pierre. The breakfast was perhaps as the best of our trip with homemade Belgian waffles, baguette and croissant.

We woke up next morning excited for our adventure activity of the day – paragliding in Sedgefield with one of the most stunning views you can imagine. Ayaan was the first one to run off the cliff, sailing into the skies above us. Ariana was next, followed by Anjali. By the time it was my turn, the wind had died off and I landed up in a field on the floor! We’re so proud of the kids to be brave enough to go on this adventure. We stopped at Dolphin view point and walked along The Point at Mossell Bay, before driving 3 hours to our next stop at Montagu hotel. The kids got a bit antsy on the drive and we all were happy to reach our hotel, order room service and crash.

Anjali and I were excited about the next couple of days in the wine country region of Franschhoek and Stellenbosch. We spent the morning walking the massive 16th century estate of Babylonstoren, owned by Richard Branson. After eating a farm to table lunch at the outdoor Greenhouse, the kids fed the donkeys, we all strolled the gardens, and watched turkeys run around. The wine tasting room was modern and reminded us of Napa, with splashes of Cape Classique, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Rupert & Rothschild was a more exclusive tasting experience with three fantastic wines, two of which we bought. After checking into the Mont d’Or Franschhoek, we returned to Babylonstoren for one of our most memorable dinners at Babel.

In the morning, we drove to another 17th century wine estate called Vergenoegd Low. We took a tour of the property and while we tasted our wine, the kids played in the playground nearby and watched 350 ducks waddle around in the gardens. After lunch in the garden, we drove into Cape Town where we were staying in the center of town.

Cape Town has striking similarities to San Francisco with the fog, beaches, mountains, pier and food. We had a wonderful 3 night stay indulging in everything the city has to offer, including the Apartheid history. We spent the first evening wandering the W&A waterfront and pier, identical to Pier 39 though a bit more upscale, stopping to seals and nibbling through the TimeOut food court.

We spent our first full day in Cape Town driving down to the Cape Peninsula. An absolutely stunning drive along the coast, beaches and mountains, took us through Hout Bay, Chapman’s Peak Drive and Kalk Bay. We arrived at Cape Point hungry, and ate at the Two Oceans restaurant overlooking the Indian and Atlantic oceans. We spent most of the afternoon climbing up to the top of the Cape Point lighthouse, and the famous Cape of Good Hope. The highlight of the day for the kids was watching hundreds of penguins swimming and waddling at the Boulders Beach. This completed our wildlife viewing adventure for the summer!

On our last couple of days, we spent time exploring the different areas of Cape Town. The gorgeous sunset views from Lions head, Signal Hill and Table Mountain were magical. We took a couple of amazing walking tour: one of the colorful Bo-Kaap neighborhood, and the other an Apartheid tour that walked us through this grave history of South Africa. Both were incredible and highly recommend them. We also visited the District Six museum that gave us a deeper understanding of Apartheid. Although a very complex topic, Ayaan and Ariana were interested in learning about it. Anjali and I sneaked out for an incredible lunch at the acclaimed Fyn, African influenced Japanese food. We also had a delicious Indian dinner as a family at the highly rated Vadivelu. Our final activity of the summer was a few fast and fun Toboggan rides, that Ariana said was the most thrilling roller coaster she had been on.

After 2.5 months of travel, we spent our final hours on the local Camps Bay beach where Ayaan dipped himself in the chilly tidal pools and waves, while Ariana played with mommy on the beach. South Africa was a great way to end our summer adventure, especially since it’s so similar to home!

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Arizona getaway

Before Anjali started her new job full time, we decided to getaway for a few days to sunny Arizona, away from rainy and cold Sausalito. We knew this is likely our last flight together as a family until the summer when we go celebrate Dada-Dadi’s 50th Anniversary in Europe with the entire family. The kids were very excited to be on a plane again. We had the most amazing luck during our journey across 4 continents that all our flights were on time, no lost baggage etc. It came to an end when our flight was a couple of hours late and slightly messed up our plans since we were driving straight to Sedona that day. The kids did well on the short plane ride and had a nice nap. We rented a Jeep and drove 2 hours to Sedona that evening arriving to our hotel at night, a little past their bed time (Arizona is 1 hour ahead). Ayaan has gotten to the age where every few minutes he’ll ask “how much time left to reach?” It makes us wonder how we ever did our 10000+ miles of driving! (Luckily he only started on this trip). We stayed at the Sedona Pine Ridge resort that turned out to be super kid friendly and had a nice small cottage for us.

Kids didn’t sleep great though and Ayaan woke us up in the wee hours (he’s awake at sunrise). We ate some yummy Mexican breakfast and started our day hiking in Sedona. Weather was wonderful in the mid 60s and sunny, and we all enjoyed hiking the red rock Cathedral trail. I took the carrier, but I was very proud that both Ariana and Ayaan wanted and were able to hike themselves with little help. Ariana on the way back told me “I am having a lot of fun doing this with you daddy”. They are so attuned to the outdoors and travel at this point. We did another short trail to the bell, before grabbing some Tamales for lunch. The kids were quite tired so we headed back to the resort for a dip in the heated pool and hot tub. That got Ariana exhausted and she had a nice nap. I had to do some project work, so Anjali took Ayaan to the park and to play mini golf in the resort. They also went and bought some groceries so we could BBQ outside the room (inspired by our neighboring cottage who helped us set up) and have a chill night. Our last morning in Sedona, it was overcast and started pouring before lunch so we drove around, went to the Chapel of the holy cross and had some chai and listened to live music at the arts and crafts market.

Done with the rain, we drove to warm Scottsdale while the kids had a nice long nap for the entire time. We checked into the Westin Kierland resort and spent the afternoon in the lazy river and pool. Ayaan made a friend who had a water gun and Ariana befriended a couple of older girls that kept her smiling. The resort was kid friendly once again as we sat outdoors to grab dinner while listening to bagpipes first and then a live singer. A huge surprise was awaiting Ayaan, as they had S’mores – his absolute favorite! Anjali and I spent some together on the balcony of our 11th floor hotel room overlooking the Sedona area and the golf course, while enjoying the live music downstairs and discussing career decisions for me. I’ve been a bit stressed this trip as I decide amongst a few options. Our final full day in Scottsdale started with story time for kids at the resort. We then took them to Macdonalds ranch nearby. It was a super unique experience for us visiting a traditional western ranch with a petting zoo, pony rides and western games. The kids loved every bit of it. We ate Vietnamese for lunch and Ayaan was so happy to get Vietnamese crepes – his favorite from the entire journey over the last few months. After a nap, we spent more time doing the same as yesterday – pool time and live music.

It was a great short getaway and family time before we truly end our full time travel and start full time work.

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Transitioning back to normalcy

We’ve now been back to the Bay Area for a month and everyone asks us how it feels to be back to the real world. It’s honestly been wonderful to be back in the Bay Area – we’ve traveled all over the world to 20 countries during our journey, but the Bay Area holds its own in terms of beauty, weather (even though it’s been cold and rainy), food and drive. If anything, we appreciate it even more than we did before. It’s been nice to not have to rush back to work that was waiting for us, and slowly transition back to normalcy. Anjali did a fantastic job in taking the lead to make sure our transition was smooth by getting us a very nice, home-like serviced condo in Corte Madera on a creek overlooking Mt. Tamalpais. It feels like so much space even though it’s small, since we’ve either been in hotel rooms or at our parents’ place. We put the kids back in the same school as earlier in Sausalito, and they were excited to be reunited (Ariana never did go to school before our sabbatical but she went to drop off and pick up Ayaan that made her very familiar). We drove Ayaan through our old home and he burst out laughing as memories rushed to him. With the kids in school, Anjali and I got some “us time” to have a romantic lunch, hike the headlands or do an adult-trip to wine country. It’s been fantastic to reconnect with good friends who’ve helped us out by keeping our car or storing our stuff. For the kids, reconnecting with memories at the BADM museum and local parks has been amazing to watch.

Most importantly, Anjali was able to secure a job she feels extremely passionate about in SF at a company called Autocamp that focuses on outdoor luxury camping. With that we are super excited that we’ll be staying in the bay area and in fact ironically will land back in Sausalito at a similar home to the one he had earlier. I love Sausalito and couldn’t be happier than to spend another year in this amazing quaint town. Things are coming together well and I can now focus my search on finding something I feel passionate about.

Even though our international travels came to an end when we arrived in the bay, we’ve continued to sneak in short getaways to enjoy what Northern California has to offer. We spent MLK at the Westin in Napa on a rainy day as we visited our favorite Duckhorn and Paraduxx wineries with good friends and ate at my beloved Bottega. Honig was new for us but the kid friendliness made the experience fantastic. Since our travels were optimized so it was summer the entire time, we drove up to Tahoe for a night and stayed at the amazing Ritz Carlton to have the kids experience snow for the first time. They absolutely loved it making snowmen, snow angels, throwing snow balls, ice skating and taking the gondola (another unusual word added to Ariana’s vocabulary). The heated pool was very relaxing and even though we forgot their floats, the kids really enjoyed it and even made a new friend called Tessa. For Presidents’ Day, we drove up to Anderson Valley to our all-time favorite Goldeneye and enjoyed some indoor pool and hot tub time with the kids. California is just so fantastic!

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Central America – part 2, Guatemala and Belize

I forgot to mention in part 1, Belize is Anjali’s 50th country and Ariana’s 25th!!! The drive to the Camino Real hotel in Guatemala was just 1.5 hours and the immigration out of Belize and into Guatemala was annoying (since you had to do paperwork twice 100m from each other) but generally seamless. We had gotten papers for the car at the time of rental which made things easy. We arrived at our resort just in time for lunch, and were delighted to see the beautiful green-blue lake adjoining the resort. After some local Guatemalan shrimp and rice, we all jumped into the pool and hot tub. We also took a stroll to the Peten lake waterfront where the water was crystal clear and warm. The sunset was absolutely stunning over the lake. The kids were tired and had a late nap, and we had an overall relaxing evening ending with some time for me to read a book and drink some wine on the balcony.

Next morning we headed out to Tikal, the world famous 2000 year old Mayan ruins and the primary purpose of our trip to Guatemala. A quick 45 mins drive north from the resort, we arrived at the entrance of Tikal. It’s a massive area in the middle of the rainforest scattered with Mayan temples, and it reminded us a lot of our recent experience at the magnificent Angkor Wat. We walked what felt like a really long time through the forest to the first pyramid and ruins. A few 100m later, we reached the Gran Plaza – a breathtaking site with the most famous ruins and temples on each side. On one side stood the super famous Temple I or the Jaguar temple. Opposite stood Temple II that Ayaan and I climbed to get an amazing view of the on plaza. And the north and central Acropolis on the other sides, that all of us enjoyed climbing and exploring. Tikal is not super kid friendly with its climbs and long walks, but it worked out well for us since we didn’t have FOMO to see every single temple. Also luckily we got a ride back to the entrance. Tikal was a great experience, much like visiting Angkor Wat or Petra, though not as magical.

That evening we went down to the lake to feed the fish and turtles. Kids loved it as the fish jumped to get the food and a turtle came by to fill his tummy. We ventured to the island town of Flores, 45 mins away for dinner. Flores is a quaint, colorful, tiny island town in the middle of the lake. We really enjoyed our dinner overlooking the decorated boats on the lake and capped it off with ice cream for the kids.

Next morning was a travel day as we drove across the border back to Belize (crossing was just 15 mins), returned the car at Belize City, took the Belize express ferry to San Pedro (made famous by Madonna’s La Isla Bonita) and finally a smaller boat to our hotel called Portofino. We learned that Belize had just 340,000 people, a former British Colony 37 years old and is facing a referendum to remain independent or join Guatemala. What is super unique about Belize is that it’s a mix between being in Central America and the Caribbean. Portofino at Ambergris Caye is a boutique hotel with just 17 rooms and a private beach. It was a very different experience than our other beach stays, very relaxing with the pool, bar and beach right outside our room. On a different note, I find it amazing how the kids adapt to not having toys. For example Ayaan is obsessed with how they clean and fill the pool with a pipe at this resort.

We spent our last 3 days of our travels in our sabbatical relaxing at the beach (slightly disappointing with weeds although water is warm and a lovely color), the pool and spending our time with the kids. Ayaan and Ariana were fascinated that they cut the coconut from the tree, cut them and served them absolutely fresh. The food and cocktails were fantastic with freshly caught seafood and local rum. We ventured out to the town of San Pedro one of the evenings, walked around the tiny town and had some ceviche with local rum. We we’re so lucky to catch a double rainbow with Ariana wearing her “Chasing Rainbows” tee. The weather got really nice (“only perfect” as Ariana says), sunny and warm with a slight breeze. On our last day we went out to snorkel at Mexico Rock, a part of the Holchan preserve. Belize has the 2nd biggest barrier reef in the world after Australia. The snorkeling was one of the best we’ve done anywhere comparable to the Red Sea and Zanzibar. Our guide was fantastic and we saw eagle rays, barracudas, lobsters, sting rays, pink conch, rainbow fish, puffer fish etc. The kids were well behaved and enjoyed seeing the fish come up to the boat as we fed them. Overall an amazing way to end our travels in our sabbatical as we head back to SF via Houston tomorrow! Again super thankful for Ayaan and Ariana and grateful that we got to spend all this time with them.

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Central America – part 1, Belize

After a long, long flight from Mumbai to Houston via Toronto, we spent a week getting over jet lag and spending time with Anjali’s sister Dhara. They were great hosts and it worked out well as we got to acclimatize back to America and celebrate the holidays together including New Years, Dhara’s Birthday and a quick trip to Austin to visit the Art of Ice Cream Experience. Reenergized we took off for our last international trip as part of our sabbatical – to Central America for 10 days. Belize was a short 2 hour flight from Houston and it was great to get back to warm tropical weather. We rented an SUV for the first 6 days as we discovered the rainforest, ruins and Tikal in Guatemala. As we drove to the Cahal Pech Resort in San Ignacio, a 1.5 hour drive, we knew we were in for an adventure with bumpy roads and horses “parked” on the side of the road instead of cars.

The resort was rustic and local right by the Cahal Pech ruins and perched on a hill overlooking the city and the rainforests. We got a nice little hut to ourselves with a view and a hammock, that the kids loved. Belize was surprisingly not super kid friendly as the resort didn’t have a kids menu or a crib. It’s a relatively new country and is still building the tourism infrastructure. Our adventure began the next morning as we drove to Mountain Pine Ridge forest reserve. I was glad we rented an SUV as the road was non-existent for a majority of the drive and not for the faint hearted. 1.5 hours later we made it to Rio on Pools, a collection of pools formed from the waterfall and rivers. We had the entire place to ourselves which was amazing (and a pattern for this trip) and Ayaan and I enjoyed wading through the pools and to the waterfall. Our next stop was the Rio Frio Cave a short drive away that was a unique experience with a river and beach within a cave that also featured stalactites. We were pretty tired and had lunch at the Gaia resort which had a stunning view over the river and waterfalls. Our last stop for the day after lunch was the Big Rock waterfall, which were nice but honestly too steep a climb with kids. Exhausted from the hikes and the drive, we chilled at the pool and hot tub with an early dinner and bedtime.

Next day, not deterred by the roads, we set off in the same direction again to visit the famous Caracol Mayan ruins. A very bumpy 2.5 hour drive later we got to the ruins and were delighted to only see a couple more cars. We were told that we’d need a military escort on the drive since it’s on the border, but it works out just fine without one. Caracol was luscious green and the ruins were there for us to explore on our own – pretty incredible for the fact it’s Belize’s most famous site. The kids really enjoyed running from temple to temple hearing Tucans and howler monkeys and occasionally climbing the almost 1500 year old “pyramids”. Definitely worth the drive. On our drive back, after the kids napped, we stopped at the Green Hills Butterfly farm. This was a wonderful experience as the kids got to see different butterflies, and learn about its journey from egg to caterpillar to pupa to a beautiful butterfly. The evening again was uneventful as we relaxed in the pool and had an early local dinner comprising of fish and chicken curry.

On our 3rd full day we decided to take the kids to the Belize zoo an hour away. It was an awesome morning as the kids got to watch animals and birds they’ve never seems before such as the tapir, tucan, jaguars, macaws, coatemundis, howler monkeys and several other. Ayaan’s favorite part though was pushing the baby cart we had rented. That afternoon the kids didn’t nap much so we visited an iguana hatchery at the San Ignacio Hotel. Ironically on our way to the hatchery, we saw a hug iguana trying to breakdown the bathroom window in the hut next door! The hatchery was an incredible experience as we got to hold the huge male iguanas and the kids got to pet and feed them. We all had a great time being one with the animals and birds all day.

Our last day in the area began with a quick visit to the Cahal Pech ruins next door. It was a pleasant surprise since it was compact but really nice and once again deserted. The kids were able to climb up the temples on their own and we got some great pictures. After a busy 4 days in Sa Ignacio, we set off for the drive across the border to Guatemala …

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And we’re off!

It’s been nostalgic, tiring and exciting the last few days as we moved out of our beautiful home into a 10×14 storage, sold one of our cars and gave another to a close friend (thanks for helping out), stored our wine collection and some important items with another friend (thanks). I wrapped up work on Friday and it was bittersweet since I really loved it. But we are so looking forward to spending time with our monsters.

As we moved into a hotel after moving out so we could get our house ready for sale, it’s been amazing seeing the kids adapt so quickly and embrace our new lifestyle. It completely validates our decision.

Today is a big day as we leave on our journey to create new memories and a stronger bond while seeing the world. And we’re embarking with 1 and 1/2 suitcases, 2 small backpacks, a double umbrella stroller and 2 car seats. Ciao! – Gaurav

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The Journey Begins

‘Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.’ – Mark Twain

It was with this mantra that we embarked on our journey! Our boxes are packed and the movers arrive in a few days. We’ll be putting the best of our belongings into storage and leaving our home on 6/13 to check-in to the relatively new Springhill Suites in Belmont. While it’s a bit sad to be leaving our beautiful home in Sausalito where we brought our two children into the world, we’re excited for what lies ahead. We have a one-way ticket to Porto departing on 6/16!