Pack your bags and leave!” That is what travel means to me and I am happy with its definition in my life. So this time too when my mum, sister, and I decided to take a family trip to Andaman, there was nothing different except for one thing and that was the fact that it was our first beach trip together.

Having always been a mountain child, it was a bit difficult for me to be in the role of a beach baby but one should always be open to experiences, right? Plus, it was Amma’s 60th birthday and Andaman was decided after a lot of research and brainstorming – in other words, it was too late to back out now!

But to be honest, my five-day family trip to Andaman was one of the best ones I’ve ever had and after seeing our pictures and reading about the fun we had, you too would feel the same.

Day 1: Port Blair – Getting in touch with Andaman

We had booked our family package to Andaman via TravelTriangle (an online marketplace for agents and travelers) and true to their agent’s word, we were greeted by their representative upon our arrival in Port Blair. The airport was small and kind of ‘waiting for approval” cool and after a short wait of about 20 minutes, we exited. Later after meeting with our representative Mr. Debashish, our driver for the trip, Mr. Zaheer transferred us to our hotel – J Hotel which contrary to our expectations turned out to be great. The staff was thoughtful, the room was nice with a huge dressing table, and the food was finger licking good! The wifi was bad though!

Nonetheless, after resting for a while, we proceeded on to Chidiya Tapu which was a 40-minute drive from J Hotel. This place, which is also known as Bird Island and Sunset Point came after riding through roads that crisscrossed in and out of dense forests and frankly, it was awesome.

Later, upon reaching the beach, we came across several signs saying “Beware of crocodiles”. Our driver, Mr. Zaheer, informed us that these crocodiles were once kept in the zoo but had gotten free after the Tsunami. The authorities had also marked an area for visitors and we were here only. The sun too was blushing on its way out.