Children's Day Special: My Favourite Holiday

Name: Mark Mascarenhas
Age: 7 years
School: Childrens Academy, Kandivali

This year during our summer holidays my family and I went to Singapore. We had lots of fun playing in the swimming pool at the beautiful hotel we were staying in. The hotel food was very tasty. We went around visiting different places and waterparks. We went to the museum at the Science centre and saw fossils of many dinosaurs. It was very scary, but interesting. We saw two Merlions, one was a waterfall and the other was a big one at Sentosa Island.

We went on a long boat ride along the Singapore River. On the ride, we saw the water and light show, which was being played at Marina Bay. The boat went under the bridges and then I was tired after the long ride, so I went to sleep. Next day we woke up early and went to Jurong bird Park. I saw many exotic birds and I took many pictures. My best picture was of an eagle, which was just about to take off. 

We took the cable car ride to Sentosa Island and I got scared that I was going to fall from such a height. From there we went to Universal Studios and we saw so many movie characters. I was very happy to see my favourite transformer from the movie and he was real! It was Optimus Prime , he posed with us for pictures and he wouldn’t listen to my mom. We went for a 5D show of Transformers. It was awesome! We sat in a car and it looked as if we were moving in all directions and we escaped from Megatron. Thank God Megatron didn’t shoot a real bullet. 

Next we went to took the Madagascar river ride. I really thought the boxes were going to fall on my head. I saw the penguins, Alex the lion, Gloria and Melman. It was just like in the movie and I had so much fun with my family.
I was sad when we left from Singapore, because I wanted to stay there and have some more fun but I had to come back because school was going to start soon.

Name: Eden Mascarenhas
Age: 11 years
School: Childrens Academy, Kandivali

Goa is not only about beaches but also zoo, spice plantations and waterfalls. I asked my dad whether we could go to Goa. So when my dad agreed, my brother and I were very excited. We packed our bags and left for Goa at 12:15 am at night by car. On the way we passed through many forests and ghats, we saw many coconut trees and finally we reached our ancestral home at Asagao, close to Mapusa. My dad was tired from driving through the night and he said that we would go out the next day.

We were ready the next morning. We packed our sand toys and swimsuits to go to the beach. It was fun swimming and making sand castles. After lunch we decided to go to the Bondla Animal Sanctuary close to Ponda. It is a place where some rescued animals are kept and taken care of. We saw many animals like the porcupines, monkeys, snakes, a cheetah and lions that were kept in large enclosures. We also saw a spotted deer grazing in the wild, so we stopped our car and took pictures; we even followed the deer wherever it went until it disappeared into the tall grass.

The following day we went to the spice plantations. When we reached there, we were offered some hot lemongrass tea to drink. We were then divided us into many groups. A guide then showed us green and red chillies, the vanilla plant which is the most expensive spice. He told us about the uses of its extract. We also saw fresh turmeric, coffee beans and five spice plants. On returning, according to their tradition the guide poured cold lemongrass tea down our backs and it refreshed us. After that they served us tasty food.

There was so much to do in Goa and we were having so much fun. We were not getting bored at all and after resting for a day we then went to the Dudhsagar waterfalls. To get to the waterfall our jeep had to cross through a flowing stream and we could nearly touch the water when we were in the jeep. On reaching we had to climb several rocks, I saw a lady wearing heels and trying to climb, we were wondering how she would reach up. As soon as we reached the top, we went into the water and we splashed around and swam. I was soaking wet and happy.
When we were returning from the falls we saw a Jungle Book theme park. So we went in and there we went on elephant rides through banana and spice plantations. After that we went for an elephant shower bath. We sat on an elephant in the middle of a river and it sprayed water on us with its trunk. I was so scared at first, but later it was exciting and fun.
I wrote down all these happy memories in my Goa diary, which we bought at the Reis Magos fort. Goa had so many fun things to do and I was very unhappy to go back home to Mumbai, but I had to because my school was about to begin and exams too.

Name: Natasha Francisco
Age: 11 years
School: St. Teresa's Convent High School, Santa Cruz



My trip to Australia two years ago was awesome! One of our first sightseeing trips, in Sydney, was to the zoo. Kangaroos, bats hanging upside down, koalas, eagles, penguins, there were a whole lot of animals. The best thing is that we could pet them and luckily for me I had a chance to feed a kangaroo and was allowed to pet the birds, including ducks. I also had the opportunity to hug a koala and it was ssoooooooooooooo cuuuuuuuuuuute!!! But I also saw scary and creepy reptiles like alligators, snakes and lizards. It was an exciting first day and by the time we headed back to the hotel it was getting quiet dark. 
The next day we went to Bondi beach. It seemed like a regular beach, but there was grass and only a little bit of sand and then the sea. We were playing on the grass when we saw some people in the sky, right above the sea, flying in seaplanes. Everyone was longing to get on one of the seaplanes, including me and much to my surprise, our group was already booked to fly in one of those planes. I was so happy. I got on one with my family and it was awesome! When we were up in the sky we cold see the small boats below us in the sea. They looked like plenty of sharks. It was just epic!

The next day we were headed to Gold Coast. Till date, it was the best place on earth for me! We went to the Warner Brothers Movie World and Dream World and met Tweety, Batman and Black Widow. Then all of them walked down the street, dancing and performing in a parade. When the parade was over we went on all the roller coasters. They were were scary, fun, creepy, and pretty much amazing all at the same time. There was one roller coaster, where you go up slowly like you‘re never going to reach the top.  And then all of a sudden you reach the top and stay there for one second and then you drop down so fast, its feels like your heart just came into your mouth. Of course, there were movies showing everywhere –3D as well as 4D movies. The 4D movies were kind of funny; before you knew it, you had water splashed on your face. We spent the whole day there and returned to our hotel pretty late. 

Our next stop was Dream World and we had twice the amount of fun we had in Movie World! Yes, we went on all the rides, but the best part was the tigers. THERE WERE WHITE TIGERS! There was a show and the trainers fed the tigers, hugged them and made them do all sorts of stunts! That was epic! It was so cute to see both the tigers playing with each other. From that day onwards I just wanted my own tiger! Again we spent the whole day there and returned to the hotel late in the evening. This was almost the last day we were in Gold Coast so, we went for a boat ride and I got to drive the boat; how cool is that? 
Next on our list was Melbourne. We spent most of our time in Melbourne going to museums and seeing holy places, but it was still fun, because we also visited the Melbourne Cricket Ground. So, that was my trip to Sydney, in short. Scary, fun, creepy, awesome and epic all at the same time...

Name: Madhav Godse,
Age: 10
School:  BAPS Swaminarayan Vidyamandir, Silvassa 

Last year in November, I travelled with my parents and friends to Hyderabad. I was very excited about my vacation and woke up quite early on the day we had to leave, although our train was at 10 in the night. I was all set with my backpack and we boarded the Hyderabad Express that night from Mumbai; the next day afternoon, we got off at a station called Begumpet. The bus we hired was already there to pick us up from the station to our hotel at Chirag Ali Lane. It was a crowded area and after we had freshened up and had lunch, we went to NTR Garden, an amusement park. We had a lot of fun and I enjoyed a ride in a toy train as well as a space ride, which was sort of like a virtual time machine simulator. I was a little afraid of the ‘slippery ride’, where we had to sit in a raft, which was pushed down by the force of the water on a slide. But that was not as scary as when my friend Ishaan and I had a race and got lost in the crowd. By mistake we had gone past the gates of the park without our tickets and then the security guard did not allow us to enter the park. We were quite scared, but our parents were looking for us too and finally found us. 

Our next stop was the Sudha Car Museum. There were lots of amazing cars. I was surprised to see vintage cars, a bat car, a ball car, the world’s largest tricycle, a mini bus, cycles, a laddoo car, a camera car and much more. It had received the Limca Book of World Records Award! I felt very very happy to visit this museum. We also visited the Golconda Fort, where we learnt all about the history of the fort; it was the second largest fort in India.

Another visit was Chowmahalla Palace, where I saw the king’s outfits, weapons and vintage cars as well as a Rolls Royce! A trip to Ramoji Film City was one of the best experiences ever, with exciting rides, a haunted house, a train ride and a chance to see all the sets. We also saw the beautiful Ramoji carnival and the parade! 

On the last day we visited the Salar Jung Museum where we saw the family’s musical clock, one of the main attractions. A crowd had gathered to see the toy man coming out and ring the clock. Within no time it was time to say goodbye and leave for home, but it was a memorable trip and I would like to visit this city again!