The Perfect Escapade with Ambi Pur

As I little kid I always had this dream of running away somewhere with my best friends...on a journey far far away from civilization...in the country side..away from the hustle and bustle and camp for a few days. Well you can blame all my fantasies to Enid Blyton, who with her fantastic tales gave me the best childhood I could ever have wanted. I had always wanted to join Jo, Bessie and Fanny from The Magic Faraway Tree in their up-tree adventures to wonderful places like Land of goodies and Land of Do-as-you-please. How much fun would it be to escape to a land millions of miles away from daily life, from reality.

Countless time have I imagined to have an amazing life like Mike and Belinda and their parents from The Caravan Family who were always on the move discovering amazing wonderlands and new places all the time.

Growing up, those dreams metamorphosed into pleasure trips with friends. Moments spent with friends, however ordinary, seem special when we look back and take a trip down memory lane. Yet the moments which stand out most in our memories are the exceptional ones; and what could be more special that a road trip taken with your best friends? Many of us get a chance to visit different places with family, but not everyone has the luck to travel with friends. My idea of a perfect getaway would be a road trip with my bestest buddies. I have often pictured myself and my besties in that car advertisement where these friends take an impromptu trip to the hills just to have a cup of hot tea sitting on a hillock.   Dreamy stuff 

After we all graduated, and moved into different cities, it has been difficult to accept the idea that we won’t be seeing each other every other day. So taking some time out to actually be together in person again would be wonderful. I would choose three other friends of mine to take along on our escapade into the wilderness of nature - Emely, Drisha and Debopriya. All four of us are pretty tight and a trip like this with help us relive all those amazing memories of our past together all over again.

That is us- Drisha, me, Debopriya and Emely

Now for a road trip, we need a car...and I choose Jaguar F-Type. I just saw the advertisement on TV and I was literally gaping at it like those people in it. You  might wonder when in India does one find anything as outrageous as that thing? Well, some wise person said "dream big" and I take it very seriously...I make sure I do it big when dreaming. Since, this is a dream trip why not make it as outlandish as possible. I get to fulfill my dream of riding it...imagination mein hi sahi. 

Errmm...coming back to reality...I can't go for this one for this trip because it is a two-seater and I am taking three more people with me, so we need a bigger and more comfy one. Since I have a crazy love for Convertibles, I think I will go with a Volkswagen EOS . 

Okay, so now the destination. Since all of are extremely fond of hills, we decide on Lonavala and Khandala. Why this and not fancy places like Darjeeling and Shillong? Ah well, for one, these places are a little less crowded than others and more importantly, I can totally picture myself screaming that Aamir Khan song "Aati kya Khandala". Also a recent read of Piyush Jha's Compass Box Killer with the beautiful and rich descriptions of Lonavala and Khandala has made me want to go and get lost there.

We drive upside and stop midway during the ride and get soaked in the rain and dance to Bollywood songs. That Jab We Met song, "Hum jo chalne lage" would be so perfect in this setting as we drive slowly past the green enveloping all around us, the sound of the wind whistling, the beautiful rainbows in the sky before the rains, the fading fog as we ride through it and the wonderful sound of the cascading waterfall. *sigh* I can already imagine the four of us awestruck and enchanted by the resplendence of the elevated Maharastrian locales.  

The inviting lush green

The riotous green welcome us as we whizz through the valleys, uphill soaking in the beautiful smell of the earth as it drizzles. We sit atop at the famous Amrutanjan point next to Khandala Ghat munching on chips, eating candyfloss and sipping our dear cuppas of hot masala tea. Oh and not to forget click millions of pictures doing crazy Titanic poses. 

Duke's nose

We will halt over at the Duke's Nose , one of the most popular sites in the entire area. The place gets its name from the cliff which apparently resembles the shape of Duke Wellington's nose. This place is Heaven for a nature lover for it provides all three- forests, mountains and a vast water view from just one single spot as you stand at marvel at the bounty nature has endowed to this place. We sit munching on the famous chikkis from the area, roasted peanuts and sip on the delectable local drink, the thandai. A stop at the local waterfalls near the Lohgad fort is another thing we have been planning to do for a long while where we'll dance in the beautiful streams of water coming down from atop and get drenched to our heart's content.

waterfalls near Lohgad fort

We'll keep the hood open for the times when it doesn't rain and do crazy poses like filmy heroines, letting our hair fly in the wind, hold up a scarf and and let it flutter with the wind or do the Emma Watson pose from Perks of Being a Wallflower as Emely strums her guitar and sings a Taylor Swift number sitting on the back seat. 

With each of us taking turns to drive the car from time to time, we’d make sure no one gets to miss the scenery and the fun on the way. It would be perfect as we drive downhill with green fields on one side and the rocky green hills on the other as well as a clear blue sky above, Lady Gaga and Ke$ha blaring from the stereo. We would laugh and recall all the silly things we used to get involved in, and take pictures to capture the moment and sing along to our favorite tunes. Stopping at the roadside dhabhas along the way to taste the yummy vada pavs, we’d make sure to talk to people and hear their stories while sharing ours.

Since, we are taking the trip in the monsoon, we sure don't want the car to smell all musty and stale. And to make the car smell like a million bucks, we have the newly launched Mini car vents , thanks to Ambi Pur, the world's No. 1 car air freshener. I pick the Sky Breeze variant from the five exotic fragrances available. The reason why I chose this particular one is because it immediately reminds me of sands and salts...of beaches and mirth.

This post is a part of Indiblogger's Perfect road trip contest sponsored by Ambi Pur. A million thanks to both for letting me at least pen down my ideal road trip if not make it in real. 

For more info about the the Ambi Pur mini vents, click here.

Till next,

P.S- All the pictures except for the third one withall four of us are taken from google.