I have been debating whether to blog this holiday or not? It had been a bitter sweet week with Dada passing away and the family insisting I carry on with my holiday. This blog is after all my journal on all our travel experiences – both good and bad, it is something for me, Nita and the kids to remember all our experiences. So in the spirit of recording the experiences, I am blogging this and dedicating it to dada and my amazing extended family – love you all!!

Our first holiday since the India visit in Jan’20 and the first family break since our EU visit. Booked to fly out on the 5th of January with Vikash’s and Doc’s families.
On January 2nd my dada, Bhanabhai Kalyan passed away peacefully at the age of 97, only days short of reaching 98!
His funeral took place on the 5th and that very afternoon we boarded our flight to Launceston.
Was a very solemn time and going on a holiday was not at the forefront.
However the amazing family we have – Mum, Dad, and my kaka’s all encouraged us to continue with our holiday plans and celebrate Dada’s life.

Dada’s funeral finished around 2pm, all final rituals completed, we then headed off to the airport to catch our 4:35pm flight to Launceston.
Caught up with the gang at the airport, checkin done, flight was on time and after a quick snack for all, we were headed to Launceston – everyone wearing masks on board , the new way of travelling.

Landed to a COLD Launceston evening (per Brisbane standards).
Bags collected, 2 rental people movers sorted & loaded with all the luggage and we were headed to our hotel – Hotel Grand Chancellor.
Reached the hotel just after 8:45pm, was already getting late, and appeared most of the food outlets in Launceston were closed. The hotel kitchen had 15 minutes before it was shutting – lifesaver!

During dinner we raised our Glasses to Dada!! Cheers to a great man. Me and Doc talked about how Doc’s grandfather would be raising a glass with Dada tonight in heaven.

Time to call it a night, tomorrow was an early start – we were off to Cradle mountain.

This holiday in memory of our Dada
Bhanabhai Kalyan – 15th January 1923 to 3rd January 2021

Neha’s Vlog for Day 0