Let's Take a Journey to Asia...

Early December 2012, Richa Purohit sits in her living room on her laptop contemplating what to do for her and her husband’s upcoming 30^th anniversary.  Her very large social circle of friends are all suggesting that she host a big party, like they have done many times in the past. And let me tell you – Richa knows how to throw a party so I don’t blame them for asking!

 Picture: Parent's 25th Anniversary Party

But as she considers this idea, something just doesn’t feel right about hosting another large and lavish party. Even her husband has voiced his discontent with a boisterous party… it just felt to unoriginal. Richa is known to be a woman with enough energy to power a large building and the skills to multi-task and juggle many priorities. But above all else, she is a nurturing and caring wife, mother and friend that absolutely loves adventure, socializing and traveling. So it is only fitting that she decided to break the mold and plan an exotic trip to Southeast Asia!

 

Her source of inspiration for Southeast Asia was the desire to travel to a new part of the world, especially since both Richa and her husband grew up in India and have always been so close in proximity to this area. And of course, the food was a HUGE influencer! Richa absolutely loves Thai and Asian food, so this just seemed like the perfect opportunity to get away and indulge in amazing sites and great food. 

In addition, Richa and her husband were in talks with a potential business partner in Singapore so this also seemed like a great way to visit them and do some business - especially for her husband since this really helped convince him on this trip. The excitement and joy about this potential trip was palpable, and Richa knew she was on to something good!

Now came the fun part for her – research and exploration of their options! If Richa wasn’t a successful entrepreneur, her family always jokes that she should open a travel agency as a side gig because she is AMAZING at planning trips. That is her role for all family vacations and business trips, and she thrives on the opportunity to use her expertise to plan fabulous trips. She first started doing general internet searches and speaking to family and friends that have visited this part of the world. She realized quickly that using Google Maps to logistically plan the cities based on location was critical to ensure a smooth and logical trip. 

 

Another critical component of this research process was identifying which countries required a visa, as this really helped narrow down location options. Richa’s husband was overwhelmed at times of how many options there were, but Richa learned quickly to manage his expectations and conduct this research independently until decisions were made.

Since Richa was independently making the final decision on which cities to travel to, she was able to decide on the final five cities but not without a bit of pressure and stress. She had found so many great options and it was overwhelming at first to decide which cities were the right ones to visit. But it ultimately came down to choosing country capitals and locations with lots of sight-seeing options. And since Richa was booking most flight travel through American Airlines mileage and using strict criteria for hotel accommodations, price was luckily less of a concern. Now with the perks of booking mileage flights comes some pain – dealing with airline agents! 

Since mileage tickets have to be booked through an agent on the phone (their specific bundled ticket required this), Richa was constantly on the phone with agents any free time she had to come up with the perfect combination of flights. It was a “hit and miss” depending on the agent on the phone, but Richa clearly felt this step of the journey to be the most difficult and tedious. But without her knack of being extremely organized and savvy, she is confident that she wouldn’t have been able to get the flights she ended up getting!

So now that flights are booked, the planning and organizing went into go mode! Richa diligently called all hotels she hoped to book with to confirm availability and amenities, since this was a very important factor in booking hotel accommodations. An important amenity at the hotel was whether the property offered a breakfast package, because she has learned from past trips with family that this is an important and critical factor that helps start each day off right. 

She also asked about popular sight-seeing options and activities and was thrilled to learn that most bookings should be done when she arrived since prices tend to be cheaper and there is more variety to choose from. So this step was smooth sailing, and tying up any loose ends allowed Richa to feel even more confident and at ease about the upcoming trip. 

And they’re off! After a really comfortable flight in business class, Richa and Prakash reached Hong Kong well rested and eager to begin their exciting trip. Because of Richa’s meticulous planning and dedicated game plan of booking tours on the first day of arrival at each city, their trip was really smooth and relaxing! Although they managed to visit 5 cities in less than 3 weeks, Richa felt that they spent just the right amount of time in each city, except for Kuala Lumpur which got a bit boring at times. But no problems there – they just indulged in few extra spa treatments to kill time!

  

Richa cannot stop raving about the amazing food and service they experienced during their trip. A huge player in this was their business partners that took incredible care of them both in Hong Kong and in Singapore. They had a chauffeured car that took them sightseeing in Hong Kong, and then in Singapore their business partners personally took them out each day to the best sites and restaurants. Although they felt like they were on a marathon in Singapore, they thoroughly enjoyed their time! So much so that Richa would willingly move there!

On their return back home, they felt incredibly satisfied and thrilled with the experience. Richa and her husband proudly showed their family and friends all of their pictures, although they regret not taking even more to capture all the greatness they experienced! Richa and her husband both proclaim this trip as the “best trip we’ve taken alone without family” and her husband, the one who initially was wary about such a long trip, has officially declared “we need to do this every 6 months.” 

It is safe to say that Richa not only knows how to plan a vacation, but she also knows how to let go and enjoy when on the vacation as well. I can’t wait to go on the next family vacation planned by Richa, which happens to be this December to wonderful India! Bring on the fun, food, and memories!