30th Birthday Trip at The Machan Feat. Volkswagen Vento & Peesafe

It was my 30th Birthday and I wanted it to be special and memorable. Hence wanted to go somewhere, but with the Mumbai floods and flights being cancelled and uncertainty I thought it was best to go somewhere around. A few years ago I had received an ad from The Machan, Lonavla to celebrate my birthday there, and it had since then been on my bucket list. So I thought, why not check that off the list? It's nearby and should be beautiful during monsoons. This was the first trip after kiddo that me and the husband went alone.

Lonavla during monsoons is absolutely magical, enchanting and breath-taking. But also risky, and you need a good reliable car so that you are not stuck anywhere. I was super happy to get the Volkswagen Vento's latest model for the trip. A royal midnight blue colored beauty - automatic dual shift gear system, rear parking camera, auto dimming rear view mirror, cooling glove box and more. Our drive was smooth and enjoyable instead of being stressful. And knowing that there are two front airbags makes you feel safer too.

We reached the property in about less than 2 hours from Navi Mumbai (remember to offline the map because once you start the upward hill climb, you loose connectivity). It was a beautiful place - truly a forest area where the only sounds you can hear are of rain, streams and birds. There was mist and fog everywhere, we were amidst the clouds and we had our own treehouse! The property is really well maintained, spick and span. The staff was polite and courteous too. 

How it could have been better? Our landline was not working and we had to wait for it to be fixed so that we could order room service, the in-room and al-a carte dining menu is very limited and check-in time could have been little earlier so that one can make the most of the stay (It is 2pm, 1pm at-least would be nice). But the nature, the tranquility and our jungle Machan with outdoor bathtub was an out-of-the-world experience overall. I was also glad to plan our trip during weekdays (Thursday-Friday) so that we escaped the traffic and crowd everywhere. Even the tariff is a little lower on weekdays.

I was also carrying a spray can of PeeSafe - because it's monsoons and you tend to want to pee a lot more, and by spraying the peesafe you get rid of all the germs and sanitizes the toilet seat. If you are a female reading this blog, you know how dreadful UTI's are and you definitely do NOT want that happening. Hence, better to carry a travel-sized bottle of PeeSafe. Got to know of it from watching Girliyapa's video, so thanks guys!

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