Anniversary Surprise - Romantic Weekend Getaway Spent Camping Under The Stars

By Author: Shewta
Total Articles: 21
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After going on consecutive treks exploring the surrounding Sahyadri ranges of Maharashtra for the past 9 months, I decided to take my girlfriend for a romantic night under the stars, with campfire and barbeque food. Also, it would be a crime to not enjoy the monsoons with some tea and pakodas with your better half and relive the clichéd Bollywood style monsoon romance. I scored more brownie points for picking a campsite on the banks of the beautiful Pawna Lake, Lonavala which guaranteed a stunning change of scenery during dusk and dawn.

Are you wondering why I chose to go camping with my girlfriend as a romantic gesture? Well, we have very hectic work timings on weekdays and she ends up working over many weekends too. We hardly get to spend time catching up in a more relaxed setting; sometimes for weeks on end. I researched many options and finally decided to pick camping in Lonavala by a lakeside as a surprise weekend getaway for her as it checked all the boxes for a romantic getaway.

I picked up my oblivious girlfriend on early Saturday morning under the guise of a regular weekend trip to Lonavala. It started ...
... as a beautiful drive with an early morning drizzle and a lovely nip in the air. We cracked the windows just a few inches down to enjoy the smell and sound of the rains till we hit the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. There was heavy fog as we drove up the Ghat section towards Lonavala. From Lonavala you branch away and head towards the campsite at Pawna Lake Lonavala which is near the Pawna Dam. This definitely raised some questions as to where we were heading exactly and she was pretty much convinced that I had lost my way.

After nearly 120 km and a delicious lunch in Lonavala, we arrived at the dreamy campsite with my girlfriend fast asleep in the car. Perfect surprise! Since we still had some time to begin our check-in, I decided to park the car close to the lake and wake her up to a dreamy horizon! Her adorably surprised expressions made the long drive worth it! After a brief walk along the lakeside, we continued towards the campsite to check-in and meet our camp leader.

Siddharth, who we were calling Sid by the end of the trip, welcomed us as we waited for our fellow campers to arrive. Soon, we had the campsite brimming with more couples and youngsters, including a small bike riders’ gang with their Enfields. {I did ask the operator to give me a campsite which had mostly couples or younger campers registered! ;)} We had a briefing session by Sid and then started settling down into our designated tents. We were informed about our itinerary in brief and we were to regroup around 9 pm once the bonfire was lit. Many decided to rest a bit as they had just reach from long rides and a few had come from Pune by local trains.

We decided to go for a walk by the lakeside once again to enjoy the different hues of the sky as the sun melted into the lake. We shared long stories about our stressful work days and soon realized we need to try and catch up on lighter topics if we had to make this a relaxing weekend after all! We had a great evening talking about our childhood stories of mischief, pranks on our school teachers and all the craziest punishments we ever received. Soon, we discussed some serious topics about our relationship and how we plan to create more opportunities to spend quality time in this hectic schedule of ours.

We could see the bonfire had been lit and our stomachs were already grumbling with hunger and the enticement of barbeque and camp food made the rumbles louder! We all gathered by the bonfire and the night became more magical as the biker’s gang had a guitarist! Soon the air was filled with delicious aromas of the campfire food and the cool breeze and we were lucky that the heaven had taken a pause with the rains.

Camping in Lonavala gave us so many memories of a wonderful evening together. The lilting music of the strings of the guitar made the experience even more romantic for the couples present and all of us joined in with songs from the 90s serenading the lakeside with our melodic voices. We were soon served freshly prepared dinner and all of us almost gulped down our food like we haven’t eaten in days. After a memorable night of singing under the stars and a few couple dances by the bonfire, we dispersed to call it a night. And just then the heavens opened up! We all retired into our tents for a blissful sleep as the sound of raindrops on the tents lulled us to sleep.

We woke up to a dreamy sunrise and rushed to the lake for a quick morning dip in the water. Hot tea and breakfast were waiting for us and we gathered once more to share more stories while some decided to go for short walks around the lake. Some of us even exchanged numbers to stay in touch once we got back to Mumbai. Soon it was time to check out of the campsite to head back home and back to our regular work schedules.

With heavy hearts but filled with wonderful memories, we retraced our beautiful drive back home. I finished the weekend with a very happy and relaxed girlfriend who wouldn’t stop talking about how lovely her Pawna Lake Lonavala camping weekend had been and how she couldn’t wait to explore more campsites around Mumbai!

Shewta has recently moved to Mumbai and has made it a mission to try something new in and around Mumbai once a month. She wanted to surprise her girlfriend for a romantic weekend getaway and chose camping in Lonavala at the beautiful Pawna Lake.