In India? With six kids aged six and younger? In one vehicle? Ah yes, that is what we decided on! The Miller's, Murphy's and Fischer's all agreed that we would fly into Trivandrum, drive to the very tip bottom of India, and then back up the coast to fly out of Cochin four days later. And so we awoke early Saturday, raced off to the airport, flew off full of adventurous spirit and then piled into our Tempo Traveler.
We hurriedly (as much as six kids hurry) checked into the hotel and then back into the TT for the 88km, three hour ride South to the tip... what I liked to think of poetically as where the sidewalk ends. Three waters come together there - the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean.After a threatened mutiny and phone calls to the travel agent, we pulled over to fix the air conditioner in our rapidly heating car. Not an auspicious start...Most of the journey looked like this - a road a bit too narrow for us and a bit bumpy. I suspect most driver here would be great at geometry and billiards... if one car is traveling this way this fast, and this bus is coming at us this way while a motorcycle veers in between a stray dog and a cow while a pedestrian skirts the side, which way should I aim to get through...
The interesting part of this picture is that I took it from the window of the car...
Chandra and I agreed the safety senses get dulled not sharpened in India as a coping mechanism. And our driver owned apparently three English CDs - Abba, Bryan Adams, and Backstreet Boys. So it was, how do you say, a long ride.When we arrived at our first stop three hours later and our driver pulled over to a temple...twelve kids (those both under 7 AND those over 30) looked at him sideways and said "how about lunch instead?"
Sadly, with all the tour books and travel in India experience between us, none of us had brought a guide book to learn that "where the sidewalk ends" is a parking garage style viewing tower in a place with no beach to swim on, no good restaurants (the missing guidebook I just now referenced starts the Eating section with "there are plenty of fruit stalls and basic veg restaurants..."), and not much for to-dos with kids. 
The views were good and the wind was brisk.
A half hour later after a short walk up the beach, a quick hat recovery mission, we agreed that the three hours trip there wasn't likely going to be shorter going home. And this had been, uh, a "sunk cost" that sticking around wouldn't fix. But at least I can say we went...right?....that's worth something.... right?!? Ah, the poetry of Shel Silverstein alludes me now.The views on the trip home were as lovely as the way there (go figure).
And the parade of motorcycles didn't in fact make it faster...
But lest you think all was lost (and my attitude totally sucks), we made it back to the hotel in time for a walk to the local muni for wine, and to the beach in time for sunset. 
The kids enjoyed their beach time about seven hours later than planned, but that seemed quickly a memory.
And when darkness fell, they jumped into the pool with the dads with the same enthusiasm that the moms applied to settling down with a cocktail and a snack.
Dinner time brought worn out kids that ate peacefully while the adults savored a seafood meal of fresh lobster, savory fish and cheap wine. All in all, another roller coaster day!
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